Collecting phone numbers the right way (texting consent & 10DLC)

Why the checkbox is unchecked — and optional — on purpose

On every Electbase signup form, the texting-consent checkbox is unchecked by default and never required. That's not an oversight. It's the design.

Valid texting consent has to be a real choice the supporter makes. A pre-checked box isn't a choice — it's an assumption. A required box isn't a choice either — it's a toll. Either one produces consent that carriers and courts don't recognize, which means every text sent on the back of it is a problem. So the checkbox sits empty, the supporter can submit the form without touching it, and when they do check it, you have consent that actually holds up.

Yes, fewer people opt in this way. Those are the only opt-ins worth having.

What the disclosure text means

Next to the checkbox you'll see language like:

"By providing your phone number, you agree to receive text messages from [your campaign]. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies."

Each phrase is doing a job: it names who will be texting (your campaign, not a mystery sender), acknowledges the supporter may pay carrier rates, and sets expectations about frequency. Your privacy policy is linked right there too. This is the disclosure carriers expect to see adjacent to the phone field, and Electbase places it there automatically.

Behind the scenes, Electbase also stores a timestamp and the URL of the page where each supporter opted in. If your texting vendor or a carrier ever asks you to prove consent, that record is your answer.

What "10DLC" and "Contact Source URL" mean

10DLC (ten-digit long code) is the carrier registration system for organizations that send texts from regular phone numbers. Before your texting vendor can send at volume, your campaign registers: who you are, what you'll send, and — critically — where your contacts came from.

That last item is the Contact Source URL: a public webpage carriers can visit and see, with their own eyes, how people opt in. Your Electbase signup page can be exactly that URL — the compliant checkbox, the disclosure text, and the privacy-policy link are already on it. When your texting vendor asks for your Contact Source URL during 10DLC registration, you point them at your page.

Campaign Verify is one more piece for political committees: a verification token that confirms to carriers you're a real registered committee. It costs $95 and is paid by the campaign. Your texting vendor will tell you when you need it.

The one rule that actually gets campaigns in trouble

Here it is: never import purchased lists, rented lists, or voter-file phone numbers into your texting or email tools as if those people opted in.

Those people did not agree to hear from you. Uploading them next to your real opt-ins doesn't make them opt-ins — it makes your whole account look like spam. This is the violation that gets political accounts suspended by texting platforms and email providers alike (it's an explicit acceptable-use violation at Mailchimp, for example — political content is fine; imported lists that never consented are not). It can also create legal exposure under the TCPA.

Voter-file outreach has its place — through tools and channels built for it. Your opt-in list is a different thing: smaller, cleaner, and yours because people asked to be on it. Keep them separate.

Quick checklist

1. Leave the texting checkbox exactly as Electbase ships it: unchecked, optional, disclosure adjacent.
2. When you sign up with a texting vendor, give them your Electbase signup page as the Contact Source URL.
3. Budget $95 for the Campaign Verify token if you're a political committee.
4. Only text people who checked the box. No exceptions, no imports.