Carrier registration for texts in the US and Canada
What the brand profile collects for US carriers, how you submit it, what Growth Dept sends for you, and what each status means.
Last reviewed November 7, 2026
This article explains how Growth Dept ACR behaves. It is not legal advice. Ask your own counsel which rules apply to your store.
What carriers want to know
US carriers approve each business that texts from ordinary 10-digit numbers before those texts reach their customers. The approval is called A2P 10DLC registration. It has two parts: the brand (the legal company behind the texts) and the campaign (what the texts say, who gets them and how those people agreed). Growth Dept registers both with the carriers through Twilio on your behalf, from what you enter on the brand profile.
The US and Canada switch
Operating in the US or Canada? is on the brand's Information page under Brands. It is on for a brand you create there. When it is on, these blocks open:
| Block | Fields |
|---|---|
| Company details | Legal company name, Company email, Type of legal entity, Registration authority, Registration number, and for a public corporation its Stock exchange and Stock ticker |
| Company address | Street address, City, State or province, ZIP or postal code, Country |
| Company representative | First name, Last name, Email, Phone, Job title, Role |
| Text message sign-up | Sign-up page, Checkbox label, Shown once the box is ticked, Screenshot link |
Enter everything exactly as your registration records show it: carriers compare the legal name, registration number and address with the IRS or your country's registry. Use a company email on your own domain. Only an admin can change the company details, address and representative.
Text message sign-up says where shoppers agree to get texts. Leave the page empty when that is your store's checkout. Copy the checkbox label and the text shown once the box is ticked exactly, and add a public link to a screenshot of it: reviewers cannot reach a checkout without a cart, and a missing or unclear opt-in is a common reason for a refusal. The card recommends a wording and fills it in when both are empty; see the checkout wording ACR recommends.
The Support and policies block needs a terms page and a privacy policy page on the brand's own website. Carriers read both before they approve marketing texts; Check pages shows what they look for.
Submit for carrier review
The Carrier registration card at the bottom of the brand's Information page shows the registration's status, its steps, anything still missing and the text campaign ACR will register. An admin presses Submit for carrier review once the brand is saved. Publishing a campaign that uses the brand does the same the first time.
ACR first checks the brand the way carriers will: every field is filled in, a US EIN has nine digits, a US address has a two-letter state and a valid ZIP code, the representative's phone works, and the policy pages are on the brand's website. It also checks the text campaign it builds: at least two sample texts, each naming the brand, the opt-out line in the first one, and Require consent on in the campaign's Compliance step. Anything missing moves the brand to Needs attention, lists what to fix and sends nothing.
A brand that passes is recorded as submitted and waits for Growth Dept, which sends it to the carriers. Nothing is sent and nothing is charged to you when you press the button.
What ACR registers for your texts
ACR writes the campaign from your brand profile and the newest campaign that uses the brand, so carriers review the texts you will actually send. The card's What ACR registers for this brand's texts shows it before anything is sent:
- Use case: marketing, because cart reminders are marketing texts.
- Description: who sends the texts, to whom, why, the most texts one checkout can get and the hours they go out.
- How shoppers opt in: the sign-up page, that the checkbox starts unchecked and is not required to buy, the checkbox label, the text shown once it is ticked and the screenshot when you gave them, and the policy links. With the recommended wording, it describes Shopify's own checkout box under the phone field and quotes both texts.
- Sample texts: the text steps of the campaign's sequence and follow-ups, from your templates or ACR's default wording, with the first name shown as [first name].
- HELP reply: the brand name, that the texts come from its AI assistant, the support email, message and data rates, and how to stop.
Twilio answers STOP and START with its standard confirmation. ACR stops every channel for that shopper as soon as STOP arrives (see opt-outs).
What the statuses mean
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not registered | Nothing has been submitted. |
| Needs attention | Something is missing or a check did not pass. The card lists what to fix; fix it, save and submit again. |
| In review | Submitted. The card says where it is: waiting for Growth Dept, with Twilio, or with the carriers. |
| Approved | US carriers accept the brand's texts. |
| Rejected | The carriers turned the brand or the campaign down. The card gives their reason. Fix the details and submit again; Growth Dept sends the correction. |
Until the campaign is approved, ACR does not send texts from the brand's US local numbers: carriers would block them. Those text steps are skipped with the note “sms held”, and calls and email carry on. Toll-free and Canadian numbers are not part of this registration.
Twilio reviews the business details first, which usually takes up to two business days. Most brands are then registered within minutes, though some take several days. Campaign review takes up to five business days. Changing the company details, address or representative after submitting sends the brand back to Needs attention until you submit again.
What ACR does not do yet
- Run a separate process for Canada. The same switch covers both countries, and only US numbers are registered.
- Register a brand that texts from its own Twilio account. Those brands register in that account.