What Is 10DLC, and Why Does Every Insurance Agent Who Texts Need It?
By Aisel Verdieva
Content, APEX Sales AI
The short answer
10DLC stands for "10-digit long code": an ordinary ten-digit US phone number used by a business to text customers. The "A2P" you will see next to it means application-to-person: messages sent by software on your behalf rather than typed by hand on a handset.
Since 2021 the US mobile carriers have required every business that sends A2P texts from a long code to register who it is and what it sends. That registration is 10DLC. Without it, carriers filter or block the traffic. With it, your messages are delivered at a throughput the carriers assign to you, and your texts carry a verified sender identity instead of looking like a burst of spam from an anonymous number.
If you text leads from a CRM, a dialer or any automation, you are sending A2P. 10DLC is not optional for you.
Why the carriers built it
Long codes were designed for people texting people. Businesses used them for bulk sending because they were cheap and instant, and so did scammers. Carriers could not tell a Medicare agent following up on a quote from a phishing operation, so they treated all volume from long codes the same way: throttle it, filter it, sometimes block it.
10DLC replaced guessing with registration. A registered sender is a known business with a verified tax ID, a stated use case and sample messages on file. In return the carriers commit to a throughput tier, and filtering drops because the traffic is expected. Unregistered A2P traffic from long codes has been blocked outright since 2023.
What registration involves
Registration runs through The Campaign Registry (TCR), the industry body the carriers use, submitted from your messaging platform. It has two layers.
1. Brand registration: who you are
Your business is registered as a brand with its legal name, EIN, address, website and contact. The Campaign Registry verifies the EIN and legal name against business-registration records. Individuals without an EIN can register as a sole proprietor, but that path carries a low daily sending limit, so an agency or an agent with an LLC should register the entity.
A brand can also be vetted. Vetting is an optional, deeper check of your company by The Campaign Registry's approved vetting partner: it confirms the business exists as registered, matches the legal name, EIN and address to public and commercial records, and looks at how long the company has operated and whether it is in good standing. The result is a trust score from 1 to 100, and that score sets how much you are allowed to send. An unvetted brand gets the lowest tier by default. A low score is usually a mismatch between what you entered and what the records say, not a judgment on your business, and it can be corrected and re-submitted.
2. Campaign registration: what you send
Each distinct kind of messaging is a campaign with a use case. For an agent the usual ones are:
A campaign registration asks for a description of the use case, two to five sample messages, a description of how people opt in (with evidence: a screenshot of the form, the website wording or the script) and confirmation that STOP and HELP keywords are handled.
The campaign is reviewed by the direct connect aggregator, the company that hands A2P traffic to the carriers, before the carriers accept it. That review takes 3 to 6 business days. You can submit the registration from inside APEX as soon as your account exists; the wait is the review, not the paperwork.
What it costs
Registration is a pass-through charge. In APEX it is $49 to register your brand and campaign, or $91 with vetting included (the trust-score check described above). Both amounts go to The Campaign Registry and the carriers; APEX adds nothing to them.
Each message segment then costs $0.01, which goes directly to the carrier.
What it unlocks: throughput and trust
This explains most "my texts stopped going through" complaints.
Carriers assign throughput by tier. Some cap the number of segments your brand can send per day; others set a rate per campaign in messages per minute. In both cases the tier comes from your trust score, and it applies to your brand or campaign as a whole, not to each phone number.
Two consequences follow. Adding phone numbers does not raise your cap; only a better trust score does. Number rotation still helps, because it spreads reputation and keeps local area codes in front of your leads, but it is not a way around a cap. And a brand that was never vetted sits in the lowest tier by default, which is why a new agency can hit a wall on its first day.
If you are sending to a list, the deliverability diagnostic walks through what to check when volume stalls.
What gets campaigns declined
Reviewers reject for a predictable set of reasons. All are avoidable.
What 10DLC is not
10DLC is a registration with the carriers. It is not permission from the person you are texting.
Consent for marketing texts is governed by the TCPA and its state equivalents, and those obligations do not change because your brand is registered. A fully registered campaign sending to numbers that never opted in is both a carrier problem and a legal one. Keep the two in separate columns: where the TCPA rules stand for consent, and the state-by-state calling and texting hours for timing. Medicare marketing adds its own layer on top. You remain responsible for your own compliance; a platform can enforce guardrails, not consent.
10DLC versus the alternatives
| Route | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| 10DLC | Nearly every agent and agency | Registration paperwork; carrier-assigned throughput |
| Toll-free verified number | Notifications and two-way support at moderate volume | Separate verification; one number, no local presence |
| Short code (5 or 6 digits) | Very high volume, national brands | Leased at hundreds to over a thousand dollars per month; months to provision |
For local presence, which is what gets an insurance text opened, 10DLC is the only one of the three that gives you a number in the lead's own area code.
How this works inside APEX
You register your brand and campaigns during onboarding, on day one, and the review comes back in 3 to 6 business days. APEX keeps a registered sample-message set in step with your templates, rotates multiple registered numbers for local presence, and applies DNC and quiet-hours checks on every send, as described on the security and compliance page. The registration is filed under your business and moves with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ten-digit long code: a standard US phone number used for application-to-person (A2P) business texting. Registering that number's sender and use case with the carriers is what people mean by "10DLC."
If the texts are sent by software (a CRM, dialer or automation), yes. Volume does not change the classification; the sending method does. Texts typed by hand on your own phone are person-to-person and outside 10DLC.
You can submit it from inside APEX right away. The Campaign Registry verifies the business and the direct connect aggregator reviews the campaign before the carriers accept it, which takes 3 to 6 business days, longer if the submission is sent back for corrections.
No. 10DLC is a carrier registration. Consent is a separate legal requirement under the TCPA and state law, and it stays with you regardless of registration.
No. Throughput is assigned to your brand or campaign as a whole, not per number. A better trust score raises the tier; more numbers do not. Rotation helps reputation and local presence, not the cap.
Aisel Verdieva
Content, APEX Sales AI
Helping insurance agents grow their business through automation, compliance, and proven strategies.
