Business texting isn’t just for one-on-one conversations with customers. Many brands use it as part of their sales and marketing campaigns and to improve the customer experience — by sending appointment reminders, delivery notifications, security alerts, and authentication details.

As a result, companies need the ability to send lots of messages each month without getting blocked by mobile phone carriers. (In other words, they need a large SMS throughput.)

In this post, we’ll look at the Campaign Registry’s Assignment Rule and give you some guidance on how to work through the registration and vetting process. Let’s dive in.

For the most-to-date information on A2P 10DLC, check out What is A2P 10DLC? And Why Does it Matter in 2022?

What is the Assignment Rule?

In July of 2021, The Campaign Registry (TCR) rolled out an Assignment Rule to determine messaging throughput. Under this rule, brands have to provide their EIN or tax ID number and legal name to TCR, so they can run a background check to verify you are who you claim to be, before green-lighting you to send messages to your customers.

Under the Assignment Rule, brands fall into one of three categories:

  #1: Verified and part of the Russell 3000

  If your brand is verified and is in the Russell 3000: congratulations, your brand will have the highest throughput possible.

  #2: Verified and is not part of the Russell 3000

  If your brand is verified and not in the Russell 3000: you will be given a default throughput by mobile network carriers (see chart below). If default SMS throughputs don’t match your business needs, you’ll need to go through additional vetting for higher throughputs.

  Additional vetting information can be found below as well.

  #3: Unverified

  When a brand is tagged as unverified, it’s usually because the legal name and EIN / Tax ID number don’t match. So naturally, it’s important to gather complete and accurate information before starting the brand registration process.

  However if, after going through the registration process, your brand is still considered unverified by TCR, you have two options. Either, you can go through the registration process again or work with a third party to get your brand verified.

    Note*:** If the brand registration information is accurate but TCR marks your brand unverified, we recommend going through a third-party (e.g., Aegis or WMC Global) to get your brand verified.*

How to Verify Your Brand Under the Assignment Rule

Registering your brand per the new Assignment Rule requirements follows several steps. Here’s how it works:

  Step #1: The process begins with a verification of the brand’s EIN / Tax ID and legal name.

  Step #2: Once verified, the next step in the process is for The Campaign Registry (TCR) to validate whether your brand is in the Russell 3000.

  Result: Your brand is either verified, verified and added to the Russell 3000, or unverified.

There are several paths you can take to get from initial registration to verification, though. Below, we’ve included a flow chart to show you how your brand might move through the Assignment Rule process.

Assignment Rule Illustrated

If you wind up going through a third-party vetting process — which isn’t required if the initially approved throughputs are enough for your business needs — you’ll receive a Brand Registration Score (aka Trust Score). This score will determine your Message Class or Tier, which will set a cap on your brand’s SMS throughput (T-Mobile) or Campaigns per second/minute throughput (AT&T). And all of this will apply whenever you send a standard campaign.

  Important note: Special campaign types will be granted higher throughputs based on mobile carriers’ pre-approval or post-registration process. If you’re unsure how to conduct the registration, we will gladly walk you through it.

Schedule a meeting with us to talk more about it.

How Do Third Parties Decide Campaign Throughput?

The table below illustrates how each mobile carrier regulates throughput based on a Message Class or Tier (this distinction is based on the provider’s preferences). Currently, Verizon and U.S. Cellular haven’t drawn this distinction, but we believe both companies will lean toward AT&T’s mandated SMS throughput model rather than T-Mobile’s.

Your campaign service provider will have mobile carriers’ specified throughputs built into their messaging platform. But if you exceed daily or per minute throughputs for your Message Class or Tier, carriers could easily block your message (and they probably will). As a result, you should check with your provider to make sure the right throughput controls are in place to avoid potential disruptions.

Don’t know which campaign type to use? Schedule a call with us.

How Do Carriers Know My Approved Throughput?

Mobile network providers and campaign service providers (like Telgorithm) work directly with TCR. When you create a campaign, the approved SMS throughput is shared electronically with both providers from TCR.

Once you’ve finished setting up your brand and campaign with TCR, you’ll need to connect your numbers with the relevant Campaign ID, which is done through your Messaging Aggregator (e.g., Telgorithm, etc). By linking these numbers, the Messaging Aggregator can update the Override Services Registry (OSR) and help you get your approved throughput with each mobile carrier.

What If I’m Not Happy With My SMS Throughput?

TCR created a vetting option for those who want to appeal their verification ruling for additional review. While this doesn’t guarantee a positive outcome, it does give you another chance to get your brand approved for your desired throughput.

TCR works with several vetting partners to make it easy to submit additional vetting requests for your desired SMS throughput. They include Aegis Mobile, WMC Global, and Campaign Verify. Here’s how their processes work:

• Aegis Mobile – Aegis mobile is one of several vetting partners approved by the registry. Through its partnership, The Campaign Registry has created an automated submission process within Aegis’ portal to submit the additional vetting request.
  The cost of this request is a one-time non-refundable fee of $40.00. And the request is usually completed within minutes. However, it can take up to a week to get the results.

Assuming your new Brand Score is good enough to get you your desired throughput, you won’t need to take additional steps with TCR or your Messaging Aggregator.

• WMC Global – WMC Global is another approved vetting partner of The Campaign Registry. After registering your brands and campaigns with TCR and receiving authorization to send messaging, you can select WMC Global on the TCR platform for added vetting. The decisions issued by WMC Global's RISQ Score will be automatically imported into your Brand’s profile in the registry, which will instantly give you the higher approved SMS throughputs. And the initial WMC Global registration process can take approximately one week to complete. But once completed, vetting is instant! Note: Once you receive your new Brand Score, you will need to import the results via the “Import Vetting” under each Brand page. Upon adding the Vetting ID, your Brand Score will update immediately. You can now apply for a new vetting

• Campaign Verify – Campaign Verify is another Campaign Registry-approved vetting partner. Campaign Verify is a non-partisan, non-profit service that US political campaigns, parties, and PACs can use to verify their identity.In fact, if your business is running political campaigns, you MUST go through Campaign Verify for additional vetting.

  If approval is given, they will give you a unique ‘vetting Identifier’. You can then import that identifier into your brand’s profile in the registry, and instantly get your higher SMS throughput approval. To find out how much it will cost, you will need to reach out to Campaign Verify directly.

  Note: Once you receive your new Brand Score, you will need to import the results via the “Import Vetting” under each brand page. When you add the Vetting ID, your Brand Score will update immediately.

All that being said, we recommend the following process when requesting additional vetting:

• For non-political campaigns:
  • Start your vetting process with Aegis Mobile. This will be the quickest way to get your new Brand Score. However, Aegis Mobile may not provide the best outcome for your business needs, even though it’s automated and embedded within TCR.
  • If you’re dissatisfied with the results from Aegis Mobile, you can email Aegis Mobile to appeal (although chances are the score won’t change drastically, if at all). You can also go through a vetting process with WMC Global, which may yield better results. As of publication, WMC Global is known to take a more holistic approach towards evaluating your business.
• For political campaigns:
  • You will need to start your vetting process with Campaign Verify.

Still have questions regarding the vetting process? Schedule a meeting with us.