Compliance

Ready handles 10DLC registration, opt-outs, quiet hours and litigator scrubbing. Getting consent is still your job.

Overview

US business texting follows two sets of rules: carrier rules (10DLC registration, enforced by the mobile carriers through The Campaign Registry) and the TCPA (federal law requiring consent before you text). Ready gives you tools for both. Having consent is always your legal duty.

10DLC registration

10DLC (10-digit long code) is the carrier program that lets businesses send application-to-person texts from standard local numbers. You need it for production sending. It affects deliverability and throughput.

Step 1: Register your brand

Open the Registration tab, click Register a new business, and enter your legal business name, EIN and business address. You must have an EIN (a US federal tax ID). Approval usually takes 1 to 5 days.

Step 2: Register a campaign

A campaign describes how you'll use SMS. Ready's AI writes your opt-in page, privacy policy and terms of service, and submits everything for you. Until your campaign is approved, you can send up to 500 texts. Once it's approved, full volume unlocks right away. A campaign you add later warms up on its own for a couple of business days.

Step 3: Phone number

Choose Buy a new number and Ready sets one up in your preferred area code. Or choose Use my Ready number and your current number moves to the campaign when it's approved.

Walkthrough: register your business (10DLC)4 steps

1. Open the Registration tab and click + Register a new business (or Start registration).
2. Step 1 · Your business: enter your Legal business name, EIN (9 digits, as registered with the IRS) and Business address (start typing and pick it; autocomplete fills the rest). Click Continue →.
3. In steps 2 and 3, confirm how you'll text (your use case). Ready files the carrier paperwork (TCR + compliance) for you.
4. Submitting registration moves you to the registered rate ($0.02/segment) right away. The 500-text limit comes off once your campaign is approved and you have a number.

A card on file is required ($35 upfront with a new number, $30 with your current Ready number).

Consent & TCPA

The TCPA requires prior express written consent before you send marketing texts. The recipient must have knowingly opted in (a checked box, a keyword, a form) to texts from your business at that number.

• Record when, where and how each contact consented.
• Every message should say who's texting and how to opt out (e.g. "Reply STOP to unsubscribe").
• API sends carry the same duty as dashboard sends. See the API reference.

Opt-outs & keywords

Ready processes opt-outs automatically and immediately. When a contact replies STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, UNSUB, CANCEL, END, QUIT, REMOVE or OPT OUT, or asks in plain words ("stop texting me", "take me off", "leave me alone"), they are removed from all future messaging and their DND status is set in your CRM. Replies like "spam" or "lawyer" count too. Nobody on your team can override this.

• Opt out: if you've texted them before, they get one confirmation text, then nothing more.
• Opt back in: START, UNSTOP, YES, SUBSCRIBE, RESTART or OPT IN.
• Help: HELP or INFO gets an automatic reply with your registered help message.

Each opt-out also fires the contact_opted_out webhook (and Zapier's opt-out trigger). See API → Webhooks.

Quiet hours & sending windows

Federal law (the TCPA) restricts marketing texts to 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM in the recipient's own local time. Ready enforces this at send time.

Where the contact is	Allowed hours (their local time)	Enforced by Ready
Federal floor (all US)	8:00 AM to 9:00 PM	Automatic
Florida (FTSA) & Oklahoma (OTSA)	8:00 AM to 8:00 PM	Automatic
Connecticut	9:00 AM to 8:00 PM	Automatic

A text that falls in quiet hours:

• Campaign and GoHighLevel texts are held and go out when the window opens.
• Inbox, API and Zapier texts aren't sent. You see a "wasn't sent" message with the time sending reopens, so you can try again then.
• Exception: an Inbox reply to someone who texted you in the last 24 hours goes through, since they started the conversation.
• Unknown time zone: if Ready can't confirm a number's time zone, the text isn't sent and you aren't charged.

Your own window (Settings → Compliance → Sending windows) applies on top of the legal floor. It can make sending tighter, never looser.

DNC & scrubbing

Opted-out numbers are blocked from every future send on your account (see Opt-outs).

TCPA litigator scrubbing is on by default. On import and before every send, Ready skips known TCPA litigators and DNC complainers. Choose which lists apply under Scrub lists in Settings → Compliance. Federal and state Do Not Call scrubbing are optional toggles there too.

Deliverability

Registered, consented sending is the base of good deliverability. To keep your numbers healthy:

• Only text contacts who opted in. High opt-out or spam-report rates hurt your sender reputation.
• Personalize and vary content. Avoid identical high-volume blasts.
• Use your own branded links and your registered brand name. These get a text blocked: public link shorteners (bit.ly, tinyurl and similar), look-alike brand names, and restricted content (cannabis and CBD, adult content, payday loans, debt relief, gambling).
• Watch each number's opt-out and delivery signals. Pause or rotate any number carriers start flagging.