Campaigns and use cases

A campaign declares what kind of messages a brand intends to send. Carriers approve campaigns by category — a brand approved for "Customer Care" cannot freely run a marketing blast under the same campaign without re-filing.

Step 1 — Pick a use case

The first screen asks you what kind of messages this campaign will send. Low Volume Mixed is the most-common pick for agencies and is highlighted at the top of the picker — it lets you mix promotional and transactional content under modest volume (about 2,000 messages/day total across all your numbers).

Standard use cases

• Low Volume Mixed — Recommended for most agencies. A blend of customer care, account notifications, and occasional marketing under modest volume.
• Customer Care — Support exchanges, ticket updates, appointment confirmations.
• Marketing — Promotional content, offers, win-backs. Strictest review; requires explicit prior consent. Needs 2+ sample messages.
• Mixed Use (high volume) — Same blend as Low Volume Mixed but for accounts that send over ~2k/day. Needs 2+ samples.
• 2FA / Authentication — One-time codes, login verification, password resets.
• Account Notifications — Receipts, billing, deployment status, login alerts.
• Delivery Notifications — Order shipped, out for delivery, arrival ETAs.
• Appointment Reminders — Confirmations and day-before reminders.
• Fraud Alert — Suspicious-activity notices and account-safety warnings.
• Security Alert — Account-security warnings and incident notifications.
• Higher Education / K-12 Education — Student + staff communications.
• Polling / Voting — Surveys and voting prompts.
• Public Service Announcement — Government PSAs and community alerts.
• Machine-to-Machine — Automated device/system notifications.

Special use cases (separate review)

• Political — requires separate verification at campaignverify.com; opt-in must explicitly mention donation solicitation if applicable.
• Charity / fundraising — donation language required in the opt-in.
• Emergency — life-safety alerts; restricted access; explicit vetting required.
• Sole Proprietor — single-operator brand without an EIN; lower throughput cap.

Step 2 — Brand & strategy

Pick the approved brand to attach this campaign to, write the campaign description (40+ characters), and describe how subscribers opt in.

Sub-use-cases (Low Volume Mixed and Mixed Use)

If you picked Low Volume Mixed or Mixed Use, Step 2 also asks you to pick at least two sub-use-cases — the specific message categories your campaign will send. The carrier scores trust off this list, so leaving relevant categories off can cause rejection.

• 2FA / Authentication
• Account Notifications
• Customer Care
• Delivery Notifications
• Fraud Alert
• Higher Education
• Marketing
• Machine-to-Machine
• Polling / Voting
• Public Service Announcement
• Security Alert

Step 3 — Compose messages

The final step is where you write what subscribers will actually see.

Auto-responses (all required)

• Opt-in confirmation — sent immediately after someone opts in. Must include the brand name, frequency, HELP, STOP, and "Msg&data rates may apply".
• Opt-out confirmation — sent after someone replies STOP.
• HELP auto-reply — must also mention STOP (e.g. "Reply STOP to unsubscribe").

Keywords

Three sets of inbound keywords, each comma-separated. Subscribers can text any of these to trigger the matching auto-response:

• Opt-in — default START, YES, UNSTOP
• Opt-out — default STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT
• Help — default HELP, INFO

Sample messages

Every campaign asks for 1–5 sample messages. These are the single biggest determinant of approval after the brand-vs-website match.

When you pick sub-use-cases, the form seeds one labeled sample per sub-use-case — each pre-filled with category-appropriate copy that carries the right HELP / STOP / rates disclosure. Low Volume Mixed, Marketing, and Mixed Use require at least 2 samples; other use cases need at least 1.

Rules

• Reflect the use case. A "Customer Care" sample whose body is "Buy now! 20% off!" will be rejected as inconsistent.
• Include the brand name at the start: [Your Brand]: ...
• Carry the disclosure language across the campaign — at least one sample must include "Reply HELP", "Reply STOP", and "Msg&data rates may apply".
• Don't use URL shorteners (bit.ly, tinyurl, t.co). Use a branded domain link or no link at all.

Examples that pass

[Acme Pizza]: Hi Jane, your order #4821 is ready for pickup at our Main St location. Reply HELP for help, STOP to unsubscribe.

[Northwood Dental]: Reminder: your cleaning is tomorrow at 2pm. Reply C to confirm, R to reschedule, or call us at (512) 555-0123.

[Hilltop Realty]: Hi Mark — the listing at 412 Oak St just had a price drop to $389k. Want a tour this weekend? Reply STOP to opt out.

Compliance links (required)

Both URLs are required on every campaign. DCA reviewers visit both to verify your business is real and your data-handling is transparent. Pages must load (no 404), be publicly accessible (no auth wall), and clearly cover your SMS program.

• Privacy policy URL — must explicitly state phone numbers and SMS opt-in data are not shared with third parties for marketing.
• Terms & conditions URL — covers your overall product terms.
• Embedded link sample (optional) — if your messages embed URLs, this is a sample URL the carrier may visit to verify it's safe and on-brand.

Content attributes

Yes/No attestations the carrier needs to score your campaign correctly:

• Embedded link — your messages include URLs.
• Embedded phone number — your messages include phone numbers.
• Number pooling — multiple phone numbers send under this same campaign.
• Age-gated content — Yes if messages contain 21+ / age-restricted material (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, firearms).
• Direct lending or loan arrangement — Yes if messages relate to credit, loans, or other financial-products offers.

Submit for internal review

Clicking Submit for internal review creates the campaign draft and runs our platform compliance checklist. We verify:

• Sample messages include HELP, STOP, and Msg&data rates language at least once.
• HELP auto-reply mentions STOP.
• Sample count meets the carrier minimum for your use case.
• Privacy and Terms URLs load and are publicly accessible.
• Sub-use-cases (when applicable) are coherent with the description.
• Description and opt-in workflow meet the carrier's 40-character minimum.

If anything fails the check, we surface the exact field to fix before any FUEL is charged. Once the check passes, you confirm the FUEL charge for carrier registration and the campaign goes out for carrier review.

Throughput

Throughput is measured in message segments per second (MPS). A segment is up to 160 GSM-7 characters, or about 70 characters when the message contains emoji or non-Latin script. Throughput is determined by the trust score of the brand and the campaign type — higher-trust brands plus higher-tier campaigns deliver more segments per second. A Low Volume Mixed campaign on a sole proprietor brand might cap at about 1,000 segments per day; a standard brand on a 2FA campaign can clear millions per day.

After approval — attaching numbers

Numbers attach to a campaign after carrier approval. The flow is Brand → Campaign → Number:

1. Register a brand (almost-instant approval for clean filings).
2. Create a campaign under the approved brand (this page).
3. After carrier approval (1–3 business days), open the Numbers tab and attach one or more phone numbers to the campaign.

You cannot attach a number to a draft or pending campaign. The Numbers tab will only show campaigns in Approved status.