With the recent introduction of the A2P standard by U.S. phone carriers, businesses now have a way to ensure that their texts are delivered to customers and prospects. A2P also benefits consumers who will now be protected from receiving unwanted messages, especially those from scammers and spammers.
What is A2P?
A2P stands for application-to-person messaging. A2P messaging allows businesses to send text messages to a mobile user through a business application (e.g. calendar invites). This is a new iteration of traditional P2P messaging, or person-to-person messaging, which is defined as a two-way message conversation between two humans. A2P allows for businesses to send their current and prospective customers various marketing messages and promos, appointment reminders, payment alerts, one-time PINs, passcodes, and other info via text.
U.S. carriers do not treat P2P and A2P messaging equally. Traffic via A2P differs from P2P in terms of the type and volume of traffic allowed. In the United States, a system known as “US A2P 10DLC” allows businesses to use standard 10-digit long code (10DLC) phone numbers to send A2P messages to their customers. This has become the new standard for businesses to send SMS to their customers and prospects in the US.
Why should you care?
To build trust amongst mobile telcos and, as a result, to be able to send high-volume, high-deliverability messages over long codes, businesses must register their brands and campaigns with all key carriers. Otherwise, the texts your business sends to customers are subject to higher rates of filtering and blocking. Moving forward without A2P registration with carriers could result in your messages never reaching the end user at all.
As businesses continue to make the switch to A2P 10DLC, it is important to ensure that you minimize your costs and stay compliant. 10DLC offers a more common experience when it comes to engaging with both prospective and current customers. Carriers like Verizon will also charge additional fees on A2P 10DLC. Regardless of direct and indirect costs, registration is important for any business using SMS for customer communications. Doing so would help a company build trust with carriers, gain a much higher text deliverability rate, and allow telcos to more effectively identify and block messages from scammers.
How can Verse help you become A2P compliant?
As of the end of October 2021, the Verse A2P feature is now available. Registration applies to all businesses sending more than 3,000 messages per day to the United States and those who use more than five long code numbers for messaging to the United States, regardless of the message volume.
To spare our customers the trouble and costs of doing it themselves, Verse will register your company so that you are in compliance with various U.S. phone carriers’ standards for A2P. This will come at no additional cost. All you need to do is fill out your company’s business profile so that we have the required information needed for registration. This registration will set your business up for continued success as Verse develops and integrates with an array of services to further improve SMS capabilities.
Already a Verse customer? Register here.
Not a customer but interested in the Verse solution? Get more info here.
What about phone calls?
You may have read our blog post on Verse’s response to the STIR/SHAKEN legislation that the FCC has passed in order to lessen the power of robocalls. If you are interested in reading more about it and getting our assistance with this regulation compliance, here’s the article Attack of the Robocallers: How the FCC’s STIR/SHAKEN Legislation Changes the Way Businesses Make Calls to Their Customers.
