How do I register my Political Campaign for 10DLC?

🛑 This article is only for political clients registering for 10DLC. If you are not a political campaign, committee, PAC, or 527, please go to How do I register for 10DLC? for general instructions. 

10DLC is a new messaging standard introduced by US phone carriers to prevent spam 📲TCR (The Campaign Registry) is the entity that vets 10DLC registrations. 

Political campaigns are legally required to go through steps to verify that they are legitimate campaigns in an effort to prevent spoofing. These regulations affect all peer-to-peer texting vendors, not just Hustle, but Hustle makes the process as simple as possible for your campaign ✨

This article will walk you through the steps to register your political campaign to send text messages in Hustle, and gives important recommendations to ensure your registration is approved and you can start texting as quickly as possible. 

Please note: This registration process can take some time and must be completed before you can start texting, so make sure you go through the steps below as soon as you can!

STEP ONE: Register With Campaign Verify (CV), the entity that vets political organizations.

This process happens outside of Hustle, on the Campaign Verify website. Apply for vetting by filling out the form at https://www.campaignverify.org.

Once CV has completed vetting, they will give you a CV Token for the current political cycle that you will use to register a brand in Hustle.

Your CV token will look something like this: 

• cv|1.0|tcr|10dlc|f2253eaa-72fb-444c-987c-98d6b4399ad9|dfadlWJp4HkSf063HZJbnszPwO-XIdCOYBXKQLD8tw

A CV token can only be used for one brand registration. Even if you used the token for a different texting vendor, it cannot be used again in Hustle. If you have an active CV account and need a second token, you can get one by following CV’s instructions here. For any questions about Campaign Verify's process, you can reach out to their support team at support@campaignverify.org

All the remaining registration steps can be accomplished in your Hustle admin panel 🙌

🔥Hot tip! While you are waiting for your CV token, you can begin registering a brand in Hustle, then Edit the brand to add your CV token as soon as you receive it 🎉

STEP TWO: Register Your Brand in Hustle

Per TCR, a brand is defined as a legal entity with an Employer Identification Number or EIN. For more information about brands, see What are 10DLC brands? 

Unless you are messaging for multiple legal entities, you will only need to register one brand in Hustle.

Account Admins can register account level brands by selecting Add Brand on the compliance page and filling out the Brand form with your EIN and campaign details. Per TCR, an EIN is required to register a brand in Hustle. If you don’t yet have an EIN, you can apply for one here. 

When filling out the form, you'll need to select political committee = Yes and enter your CV token in the field provided.  

For Legal Formation, the form will pre-select Charity, Non-Profit Organization. This can include any 501(c) or 527 organization (non-profits, labor unions, political campaigns, and issue advocacy organizations). 

Once the CV token is added, your Brand will show as Active in Hustle. This means you are ready to register a campaign to use for messaging 🤠

STEP THREE: Register Your Campaign in Hustle 

A campaign tells the phone carriers the purpose of your messaging. One campaign can be applied to up to 49 groups to use for messaging, so most clients do not need to register more than one campaign. 

After your brand shows as Active in Hustle, you can register a political campaign by selecting Add Campaign on the compliance page and entering the required information. 

Before registering a campaign, please note all campaigns will be subject to a manual review by the downstream Direct Connect Aggregator (DCA). This review process can take up to one business week, and if rejected will take longer. To avoid rejection be sure to follow all recommendations below.

We strongly recommend you review and include the following to avoid a rejection: 

✅ Political campaigns are required to follow CTIA guidelines for text messaging opt in process 

✅ Include a link to a working website - this can be a social media page, as long as it is accessible and verifies the business identity. If there’s prohibited content* on their website, the campaign will be rejected.

*The following types of content are prohibited on 10DLC: CBD, Cannabis, Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco. 

✅ Per CTIA Guidelines, message senders are to maintain an easily accessible and compliant Privacy Policy and make clear that consumer information is not being shared with third-parties for marketing purposes. The privacy policy should be referenced in the call-to-action/opt-in when submitting a campaign for vetting. We recommend linking directly to your Privacy Policy in the submission. 

Your campaign may be rejected for privacy policy reasons if there is no policy present, or if the privacy policy is non-compliant. If a privacy policy is non-compliant, it is generally due to the sharing of consumer information with third-parties for marketing purposes.

✅ Review your Opt in Methods: Most rejected campaigns are due to opt in methods, so it’s very important to make sure your methods are compliant before registering your campaign. 

Step 3 of the Campaign Registration will ask about your opt-in methods, and you should include a clear and concise description of how an end user signs up to receive messages. 

Opt-in must be 1 to 1, can't be shared with third parties, and can't be implied. It must be clear, conspicuous, and can't be obscured within the terms & conditions and/or other agreement(s). All entities sending text messages are required to follow CTIA guidelines for text messaging opt in process. 

If you indicate in your registration that you collect opt-ins through the website, TCR will check the website to confirm there is a place to process opt-ins and that all forms collecting phone numbers contain clear opt-in language. Here’s one example of a form on a website collecting opt-ins with compliant language: 

Compliant opt-in method examples (based on approved campaign submissions):

• Entering a phone number through a website
  • Example: Customers opt-in by visiting www.examplewebsite.com and adding their phone number. They then check a box agreeing to receive text messages from the example brand.

• Clicking a button on a mobile webpage
• Sending a message from the consumer’s mobile device that contains an advertising keyword

• • Example: Consumers opt-in by texting START to (111) 222-3333.
  • Important: If consumers can opt in by texting a keyword, the response should include the brand name, confirmation of opt-in enrollment to a recurring message campaign, how to get help, and a clear description of how to opt out. 

• Initiating the text message exchange in which the message sender replies to the consumer only with responsive information
• Signing up at a point of sale (POS) or another message sender on-site location
• Opting in over the phone using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.
  • Example: "Hustle: You’re now opted-in to our platform notifications. For help, reply HELP. To opt out, reply STOP."

Non-Compliant opt-in method examples (based on rejected campaign submissions): 

• The Voter File, or accessing any public database with phone number information
• Purchased list of phone numbers 
• Texting existing customers without prior explicit opt-in 

Even if the Opt in Methods section indicates that opt-ins are collected outside the website, all lead intake forms on the brand's website will be reviewed by TCR. If the phone number field is required, the disclaimer about the SMS opt-in must be included. Otherwise, the campaign will be rejected. 

Once you submit your campaign, it will show as Pending during the review, which can take up to one business week. 

If your campaign is Rejected, or is still Pending after one business week, please email our support team at support@hustle.com for help. Once your campaign is showing as Approved, you can proceed to the final step! 🙌

STEP FOUR: Apply Your Campaign To Groups

Once your campaign shows on the Compliance page as  Approved you can apply it to your groups, and you'll be finished with your 10DLC set up! 

Note: You may initially see a banner on the group 'TCR Campaign Changed - Processing may take several minutes' - this banner will disappear on its own as soon as the campaign has successfully been applied to the group. 

Run into any issues or have any questions?  Email our support team at support@hustle.com.