What is the Campaign Registry (TCR)?

What is the Campaign Registry (TCR)?

What is the Campaign Registry (TCR)?

What is the Campaign Registry (TCR)? https://www.voicenext.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/What-is-the-Campaign-Registry.png 1024 680 VoiceNEXT | Your Next Phone Company VoiceNEXT | Your Next Phone Company https://www.voicenext.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/What-is-the-Campaign-Registry.png

Understanding The Campaign Registry (TCR) for Business SMS

In today’s world, mobile communication has become an integral part of our daily lives, so the need for a streamlined, transparent, and secure system for managing messages is vital. As text messaging continues to play a crucial role in business communication, particularly for marketing and customer engagement, the regulation and management of these communications has become essential to prevent fraud, abuse, and spam. Enter the Campaign Registry (TCR), a centralized organization in the SMS ecosystem, specifically designed to enhance the security and authenticity of application-to-person (A2P) messaging in the United States.

The Need for TCR in A2P Messaging

A2P messaging describes messages sent from applications (such as marketing platforms, customer service tools, or automated notifications) to individual mobile users. While these messages are essential for businesses, they are often targeted by bad actors who abuse the system for spam, scams, or illegal activities. This has led to an increase in unwanted text messages and a decrease in trust for mobile messaging.

To address these challenges and reduce fraudulent activity, an organization was needed to authenticate and properly manage these messages. This led to the creation of the Campaign Registry.

What Exactly is the Campaign Registry?

The Campaign Registry (TCR) is a centralized system introduced by The Wireless Association (CTIA), in collaboration with mobile carriers in the U.S., to regulate and monitor A2P messaging traffic. The TCR acts as a registry for businesses and organizations that want to send A2P messages to consumers. It works by ensuring that each campaign (or messaging use case) is properly registered, and the sender’s identity is verified.

To summarize, it’s a platform where businesses must register their messaging campaigns, providing crucial details about the campaign’s purpose, the type of message being sent, and the sender’s information. This registration helps mobile carriers filter out deceptive or harmful messages, thus maintaining the integrity of the messaging ecosystem.

Key Components of TCR

1. Campaign Registration

Businesses must provide detailed information about the type of message they plan to send, known as a “use case.” For example, the use case could be promotional, customer support, or informational. The objective is to ensure that the right messages reach the correct recipients without violating carrier policies or consumer trust.

2. Sender Identification

TCR requires businesses to authenticate their identities when sending A2P messages. This helps prevent spoofing (where a sender impersonates someone else) and ensures messages are legitimate.

3. Campaign Types

The Campaign Registry categorizes campaigns into different use cases, such as:

  • Promotions (Marketing): Used for sending promotional and advertising messages.
  • Customer Care: Used for customer service messages like appointment reminders or order updates.
  • Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Used for sending security codes and verification messages.
  • Other Categories: Includes alerts, notifications, or any other legitimate use case.

4. Compliance with Carrier Policies

The TCR works alongside mobile carriers to ensure that all messages conform to carrier policies. This reduces the likelihood of messages being blocked or flagged as spam.

5. Transparency & Accountability

By requiring businesses to register their campaigns, TCR increases accountability and transparency in A2P messaging. This also helps mobile carriers identify and block malicious traffic.

Why Is TCR Important?

1. Reducing Spam and Fraud

One of the main goals of the TCR is to reduce the increasing problem of spam and fraudulent messages. By verifying the legitimacy of the sender and the message content, it helps prevent bad actors from abusing the messaging system.

2. Improved User Experience

 As consumers become more wary of unsolicited messages, TCR ensures that only legitimate messages are delivered to users, reducing the chances of unwanted texts and enhancing trust.

3. Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

With constantly evolving regulations surrounding consumer protection, the TCR ensures that businesses comply with the latest standards and practices, keeping them on the right side of the law and ensuring that consumers are not receiving content that is prohibited.

4. Optimizing Message Deliverability

Messages that are registered in the Campaign Registry have a higher chance of reaching their intended recipients without being blocked or flagged as spam. This helps businesses achieve better engagement rates for their campaigns.

5. Building Trust

Transparency in registration builds trust with consumers. When consumers see that businesses are following proper procedures to ensure security, they are more likely to engage with the messages they receive.

How Does TCR Affect Businesses?

For businesses, TCR registration is now an essential step for sending 10 Digit Long Code (10DLC) A2P messages. The process involves a few key steps:

  • Registering the Brand: Businesses must provide detailed information about their company to TCR. TCR will vet the business information to verify the business’ identity.
  • Registering the Campaign: Businesses must provide detailed information about the messaging campaign and the use case(s) for the messages they intend to send to customers.
  • Receiving a Campaign ID: Once registered, businesses will receive a Campaign ID that must be used for future A2P messaging. This campaign ID will be assigned to any/all telephone numbers that the business will use for sending text messages.
  • Ongoing Compliance: Businesses must ensure that they continue to comply with TCR regulations, or their messages may be blocked or face penalties.

Failure to comply with TCR regulations can lead to various consequences, such as message filtering, higher costs for messaging, or even complete suspension of messaging services.

Challenges and Considerations for Businesses

While the TCR offers many benefits, there are also numerous challenges for businesses:

  • Cost: Depending on the type of messages being sent and the volume of traffic, there may be fees associated with registering campaigns. Additionally, TCR charges phone companies “vetting” fees for both Brand and Campaign registration. When a business or campaign does not pass vetting, the fees may be levied more than once until the Brand and Campaign are successfully registered. These vetting fees may be passed on from the phone company to the business.
  • Time: The registration process can be time-consuming, especially for larger businesses with multiple use cases.
  • Ongoing Monitoring: Businesses need to continuously monitor their campaigns to ensure compliance with TCR regulations. Currently, TCR regulations change frequently.

Partner with VoiceNEXT Today

The Campaign Registry (TCR) is a critical step forward in ensuring the integrity, transparency, and security of A2P messaging in the U.S. By registering campaigns, businesses can avoid the drawbacks of spam and fraud, improve deliverability, and enhance consumer trust. Though it adds a layer of complexity, the TCR ultimately benefits businesses by streamlining the messaging process and ensuring that only legitimate communications reach consumers.

For any business looking to engage in A2P messaging, understanding and complying with TCR guidelines is no longer optional—it’s an essential component of successful, compliant, and consumer-friendly communication strategies. VoiceNEXT is a registered Campaign Service Provider with TCR. Ready to get started with compliant messaging? Contact us today.

VoiceNEXT | Your Next Phone Company