A2P 10DLC campaign rejected? The 8 reasons we see most, and the fix for each

1. The brand details do not match the tax record

Brand registration is checked against public business records. The legal name, EIN and address you enter have to match what the IRS and your state registry hold, character for character. "ABC Roofing" fails when the registered entity is "ABC Roofing Services LLC". A trading name goes in the DBA field, not the legal name field.

Fix: pull the exact legal name and address from your EIN confirmation letter (CP 575) or your most recent tax filing and copy it in. If the business moved, update the address with the IRS first, then register.

2. Your website does not say what the carriers need to read

The reviewer opens the website on your brand record and looks for three things: a Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, and a clear statement of how people opt in to text messages. The privacy policy has to say, in plain words, that mobile information will not be shared with third parties for marketing purposes. If that sentence is missing, the campaign is rejected even when everything else is perfect.

Fix: add the SMS terms and the non-sharing sentence to your privacy policy, publish a terms page, and make sure the site is live and loads over HTTPS. A parked domain or a "coming soon" page is treated as no website at all.

3. The opt-in is not visible or not described

The campaign form asks how a person consents to receive your messages. "Customers give us their number" is not an answer. The reviewer wants to see the exact place consent is collected: a web form with a checkbox, a keyword they text in, a paper form at the counter, or a verbal script.

Fix: describe the opt-in in one or two specific sentences and point to it. If it is a web form, the form itself needs a line under the phone field explaining that the person agrees to receive messages, with message frequency, "message and data rates may apply", and how to opt out. Upload a screenshot of that form in the opt-in evidence field.

4. Sample messages are missing the required pieces

Every sample message should contain your brand name and at least one of them must show the opt-out instruction, for example "Reply STOP to unsubscribe". Samples that read like a generic template, with no business name and no STOP language, are rejected for not matching the described use case.

• Include the brand name in each sample, exactly as registered or as your DBA
• Show "Reply STOP to opt out" in at least one sample, and HELP in another
• Make the samples match the use case you selected, not a different one
• Keep them realistic: a real appointment reminder, a real quote follow up

5. The use case does not fit the description

A campaign registered as "Customer Care" whose samples are all promotions, or a "Marketing" campaign whose description talks about two factor codes, is flagged as a mismatch. The reviewer reads the description, the use case and the samples as one story.

Fix: choose the use case first, then write the description to match it, then write samples that are obviously that use case. If you genuinely send both reminders and promotions, "Mixed" exists for that, and it is better to use it than to stretch a narrower category.

6. The content touches a restricted category

Some content is restricted or banned on 10DLC regardless of how it is registered: cannabis, firearms, tobacco and vaping, gambling, adult content, high risk financial products such as payday loans, and debt collection. Others, like alcohol or sweepstakes, need age gating and extra evidence. A campaign that mentions any of these in passing, even in a sample message, is rejected.

Fix: if your business is in a restricted vertical, say so up front and register under the correct special use case with the evidence it requires. Do not try to describe it as something else; the samples give it away and the brand gets a mark against it.

7. Public URL shorteners in the samples

Links through bit.ly, tinyurl and similar public shorteners are a known spam signal, and most reviewers reject samples that contain them. A link to your own domain is fine. A branded short domain you own is fine.

8. The campaign was registered under the wrong entity

This one is specific to agencies. A sub-account that sends messages for a client business has to be registered under that client, with the client's EIN, name and website. Registering client traffic under the agency's own brand is treated as misrepresentation, and when it is caught it can affect the agency's own approved brand too.

Fix: each client sub-account gets the client's own brand registration. What you can reuse from an approved setup is the campaign structure, the use case wording and the compliance page template on the client site.

How to resubmit properly

Read the rejection reason that came back. It is often terse, but it names the category. Fix that one thing and anything else on this list you can see, then resubmit once. Repeated resubmissions with small changes each time lower the chance of approval, because each attempt is reviewed against the history of the previous ones.

Campaign review typically takes a few days to a couple of weeks depending on the carrier queue, and that part is outside anyone's control. What you control is whether it goes through the first time.

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