The 10DLC campaign form asks you to choose a use case from a dropdown before you've sent a single message. Most first-time registrants have no frame of reference, so they pick "Marketing" because it sounds the broadest. Then the reviewer reads sample messages about appointment reminders and rejects the campaign, or approves it and the traffic gets treated as promotional. The use case isn't a label you pick once and forget. It's a claim about what you'll send, and carriers check your description and samples against it.
This post works by industry. For each one we cover which use case usually fits, a campaign description written the way reviewers expect, two sample messages, and the opt-in wording that goes with them. Treat the wording as a starting template, not a guarantee. Reviewers judge your whole submission together, and your website and opt-in page have to back up what you write.
How reviewers read a campaign submission
A campaign submission has four parts that must agree with each other:
- Use case: the category of traffic (Marketing, Customer Care, Account Notification, Delivery Notification, 2FA, Mixed, and so on).
- Campaign description: a few plain sentences covering who sends, who receives, why, and how often.
- Sample messages: usually two or more real examples, each with your brand name and opt-out language.
- Opt-in description: how a person agrees to receive texts, specific enough that a reviewer could go and check it.
Most rejections come from a mismatch between these parts. A typical one is a "Customer Care" use case paired with a sample message containing a discount code. Another is a description that says "customers opt in on our website" when the website has no SMS consent checkbox. We cover the consent wording itself in the opt-in language that clears registration. This post focuses on matching use case to industry.
The general rule for picking
- If every message responds to something the customer did, such as booking, buying or asking, start with Customer Care, Account Notification or Delivery Notification.
- If any message promotes something the customer didn't ask about, you need Marketing, or Mixed if you send promotions alongside other traffic.
- 2FA is for one-time codes only. Keep it on its own campaign.
For the long version of that logic, see matching use case to what you actually send.
Quick reference: use case by industry
| Industry | Typical use case | Add a second campaign when… |
|---|---|---|
| Dental, medical, med spa | Customer Care or Account Notification | You start sending promotions (whitening specials, membership offers) |
| Home services (HVAC, plumbing, cleaning) | Mixed | Promotional volume grows past the occasional seasonal offer |
| Ecommerce / DTC | Marketing + Delivery Notification | Almost always split from the start |
| Real estate | Customer Care or Mixed | A brokerage has many agents (structure matters more than category) |
| SaaS (your own product) | 2FA + Account Notification | You add product marketing |
| Restaurants | Marketing | You add order-ready texts at volume |
| Staffing and recruiting | Customer Care or Mixed | You send job promotions to large candidate lists |
| Schools and colleges | Higher Education | Rarely needed |
| Nonprofits | Charity (special use case) | Separate any non-fundraising program updates if volume is high |
Healthcare and dental
Use case: Customer Care if you send reminders plus replies to patient questions. Account Notification if you only send reminders and confirmations.
Campaign description example:
Bright Smile Dental sends appointment reminders, confirmation requests and rescheduling messages to existing patients who provide their mobile number and agree to texts on our new-patient intake form. Patients receive about 2 to 4 messages per appointment. Patients can also text us with scheduling questions, and our front desk replies.
Sample messages:
Bright Smile Dental: Reminder, you have an appointment Tue 3/12 at 2:30 PM. Reply C to confirm or call (555) 201-4400 to reschedule. Reply STOP to opt out.
Bright Smile Dental: Thanks for confirming. See you Tuesday. Reply STOP to opt out.
Leave procedure names, diagnoses and treatment details out of the messages. That keeps you clear of HIPAA trouble, and it keeps the samples looking like plain scheduling traffic. If you also want to send "20% off whitening this month," either switch the use case to Mixed or register a separate Marketing campaign.
Home services
Use case: Mixed is usually the honest choice. A plumber sends booking confirmations, "tech on the way" texts, invoice links and the occasional seasonal tune-up offer. Mixed exists for exactly that combination.
Campaign description example:
Northside HVAC sends appointment confirmations, technician arrival updates, invoice and payment links, and occasional seasonal maintenance offers to customers who request service through our website booking form or by phone and agree to receive texts. Customers receive up to 6 messages per job and no more than 2 promotional messages per month.
Sample messages:
Northside HVAC: Your technician Mike is on the way and should arrive by 10:15 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
Northside HVAC: Fall furnace tune-ups are $89 through Oct 31. Reply BOOK and we'll call to schedule. Reply STOP to opt out.
If you say phone opt-ins count, the description has to say how consent is captured on the call (for example, "the agent asks and notes consent in the CRM"). "Customers opt in by phone" with no detail is a common reason for pushback.
Ecommerce
Use case: Register two campaigns, Marketing for promotions and Delivery Notification (or Account Notification) for order traffic. Order texts are the messages customers actually want, and you don't want them sharing a campaign with a promotional calendar.
Marketing description example:
Fernway Goods sends product launches, sale announcements and cart reminders to customers who check an unchecked SMS consent box at checkout or join through a keyword on our site. Subscribers receive up to 6 messages per month.
Delivery Notification sample:
Fernway Goods: Order #1042 has shipped. Track it here: fernway.co/t/1042. Reply STOP to opt out.
Marketing sample:
Fernway Goods: Our spring collection drops Friday at 10 AM. Early access for subscribers: fernway.co/spring. Reply STOP to opt out.
Use your own branded domain in links, not a public URL shortener. Shared shorteners are a common filtering trigger, both at review and after approval. Content-level blocking after approval covers the rest of that list.
Real estate
Use case: Customer Care if agents reply to inquiries and send showing confirmations. Mixed if you also send new-listing alerts to opted-in buyers.
Campaign description example:
Harbor Realty agents send showing confirmations, replies to property inquiries and new-listing alerts matching saved search criteria to buyers and sellers who submit a form on our website with an SMS consent checkbox. Contacts receive up to 8 messages per month.
Sample message:
Harbor Realty: Your showing at 412 Elm St is confirmed for Sat at 11 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
Expired listings, FSBO lists and purchased data are cold contacts. Reach those people by phone and mail. Text them only once they've opted in or replied. A submission that describes texting purchased lists will get rejected, and it should.
SaaS (texting your own users)
Use case: 2FA for login codes on its own campaign, and Account Notification for billing alerts, usage warnings and status messages. When codes and promotions share a number, both tend to get filtered. We explain why in the transactional/marketing split.
2FA sample:
Your Ledgerly verification code is 482913. It expires in 10 minutes. Don't share it.
Account Notification sample:
Ledgerly: Your card ending 4412 was declined. Update billing at app.ledgerly.com/billing. Reply STOP to opt out.
If you're a platform that texts on behalf of your customers, each customer usually needs its own brand and campaign that describes their traffic. Ready sub-accounts each carry their own numbers and registration, and you can check status through GET /v1/registration (see the quickstart).
Restaurants, staffing and education
Restaurants: Marketing, with a description that names the opt-in (table tent QR code, keyword, online ordering checkbox) and a frequency cap such as "up to 4 messages per month." If you add "your order is ready" texts at volume, register a separate notification campaign.
Staffing and recruiting: Customer Care when recruiters text candidates who applied. Mixed when you also send new job postings to your candidate pool. Write a description that says candidates opt in on the application form. A sample such as "Apex Staffing: A forklift role near you pays $21/hr. Reply YES for details. Reply STOP to opt out." reads clearly as Mixed.
Schools and colleges: Higher Education is a dedicated use case for accredited institutions. Describe enrollment, financial aid and campus alert messages sent to students and applicants who provided consent.
Nonprofits, political and advocacy senders
Charity and Political are special use cases with extra requirements. On Ready, advocacy alerts (call your representative, sign a petition, attend a hearing), donation appeals and voter texts all need our written OK before the first send. Email support@tryready.com and wait for our reply. Signing up and registering is not enough on its own for this traffic.
What the registration costs, and when two campaigns are worth it
Registration on Ready has no setup fee. The monthly cost is $25/mo for registration and $2 per number. You pay $25 at submit, which covers the first month, and most approvals take 2 to 7 days.
Worked example (assumptions: one brand, one number per campaign):
- Mixed only: $25/mo for registration and $2/mo per number
- Marketing + Delivery Notification: one brand, two campaigns and two numbers
The second campaign and number buy you two things. Order texts don't suffer when a promotion draws complaints, and you can describe each campaign precisely. For an ecommerce store sending order updates daily, that's worth it. For a two-truck plumbing company that runs a promotion twice a year, Mixed is fine and the split is overkill. Sending is the same either way, $0.0075/segment plus a $0.0045 carrier fee, so the number of campaigns changes only the fixed monthly line. Every 10DLC fee explained has the full breakdown.
The practical takeaway
Choose the use case that describes your least transactional message, because that message is the one reviewers will check. Then make the description, samples and opt-in page tell the same story. Put the brand name and "Reply STOP to opt out" in every sample, use your own domain in links, and state a monthly frequency.
If you register on Ready, you confirm your business details and we write the use case, description and samples for you from them. Developers who need a second campaign can add one through the API. You can start here.