In the US, 5.5 billion text messages are sent daily, which amounts to 63,000 every second (CTIA Wireless Report).

97% of adults in the US own a cell phone, all of which are SMS-enabled. If you’re starting to think you should be making more of SMS as a business, you’re not alone. The US SMS marketing market size is on track to be worth $12.6 billion by 2025.

Regarding responsiveness, SMS boasts a 19% click-through rate, compared to email's 4% and Facebook's 1%. 95% of text messages are read and responded to within 3 minutes of being received and 90% of customers prefer SMS to direct phone calls.

It’s clear to see why businesses are turning more and more to texting. SMS is a valuable channel for both reach and ROI. However, the complexities of sending SMS as a business in the USA can often put brands off sending at all. This article covers some of the historical reasons this region is distinct from the rest of the world, as well as explaining the differences between your options for sending.

Unlike other parts of the world, mobile numbers in the US Region have area codes instead of a mobile-only prefix, so it’s not possible to know by looking at a number if it’s a mobile or not. This means that, traditionally, mobile users paid to receive calls and SMS, since it was not fair to burden the sender with any extra costs when they didn’t know they were contacting a mobile. For this reason, it has been more important to prove someone has opted in than in the rest of the world.

Today, call and SMS bundling and the introduction of toll-free numbers have made this less of a concern, but it has left a lasting, regulatory effect on how businesses must use SMS. In the US, text messages fall under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which is the main anti-abuse telemarketing law. This means that gathering compliant opt-ins is a crucial first step for any SMS marketing in the region.

There are many ways to gather phone numbers which have been opted in to receive marketing from your business. Asking for phone numbers at the point of customer signup is a great way to build a database. You may also want to leverage our Surveys, pages, and forms functionality to create on-brand data capture. Just remember to check with your legal team or key regulatory bodies that you are being compliant, and to specify you are asking for a cell or mobile number.

Since there's no way to tell if the number is cellular by its formatting, you must rely on your form capture to clearly specify what you’re asking for. Telling customers that you’re asking for this data in order to send SMS is both required and can also increase the likelihood of capturing a mobile number instead of a landline.

Unlike some other regions, options for sending in the US are limited, which can make choosing much easier.

You can’t send from:

You can send in three different ways:

Dedicated short codes have always been the best way to send SMS, but are expensive. Toll-free codes (beginning 8) have in the past been accepted by networks as better than long codes since the message recipient does not pay to receive messages.

Now that 10DLC is fully sanctioned, and since most people no longer pay to receive any messages, toll-free is relatively less attractive. All three messaging types now need to be approved in their own way before any messages can be sent through them. This guide dives into each option and includes comparisons between each so you can decide which type is best for you.

Dedicated short code

Dedicated short codes incur significant costs and require a set-up period of four to six weeks after finalising the application. They are the best option for professionalism and high volume. The application is more detailed than the others, and, once ready, is submitted separately to each of the main US networks for approval.

10DLC

10 digit long codes (10DLCs) are the default way to send marketing or other SMS in the USA. You can send from them as the sender ID and your customers can reply directly back to them. They work on all networks in the USA. They are not recommended for Canadian customers, but if a US customer has a small number of Canadian mobile numbers they should work with no separate regulation, but with throughput of only 1 msg/second.

10DLC is the quickest option to set up using a very structured approach of brands and campaigns, with typically about 120 msgs/second allowed. Since a 10DLC number looks like an ordinary phone number, it’s linked to a location; this can help your customers recognise you more easily. In Canada, 10DLC is not recognised so there is no registration process, but messages can still be delivered from the same US numbers, just more slowly.

Toll-free number

Toll-free numbers are another way to send messages in the USA and Canada.

Before use, the number must be verified by the networks. This involves the same sort of information as is needed to apply for a 10DLC. Once received, the application usually takes about a week, but can be longer, and the number can’t be used until verified.

10DLC and dedicated short codes have the following in common:

So what are the differences?

Toll-free numbers and dedicated short codes have the following in common:

So what are the differences?

Toll-free and 10DLC have the following in common:

So what are the differences?