Our SMS integration (Twilio) requires EZLynx to provide additional information for customer accounts to ensure no disruption to their texting service. These requirements are being driven by cellular carriers, and they include providing your agency's Employer Identification Number (EIN). EINs identify enterprises as legitimate businesses, and a validation of this information will prevent SMS messages from being blocked or flagged as SPAM. 


Because of this, Agency Admin, you will want to register your brands for your agency through EZLynx if you plan to use our Text Messaging product during the 45 day grace period. Once the 45 day grace period is up, if you have not registered, Text Messaging will be disabled for your account. 


This article address some common questions about this Text Messaging Registration process. To learn how to register your agency, check out our Text Messaging EIN Registration article!


TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is in this for me?


Telecom requirements continue to evolve. These new requirements are being driven by cellular carriers, and they include providing your agency's Employer Identification Number (EIN). TAX-EINs identify enterprises as legitimate businesses that submit annual tax filings, in addition to their business name, business type, and company status. A validation of this information will allow for seamless registration and prevent SMS messages from being blocked or flagged as SPAM. 


Due to these changes in telecom carrier rules, our SMS integration (Twilio) requires EZLynx to provide additional information for customer accounts to ensure no disruption to their texting service.  We strongly recommend the registration be completed as quickly as possible to ensure communications between your agency and its insured continue to be successfully sent and received. 

What do you mean by service disruption?


Carriers have warned that they will begin filtering texts from unregistered businesses. This could include delayed delivery or even no delivery at all. What's worse, your agency would not be aware that this filtering had occurred. Our priority is to ensure no disruption to your texting service through EZLynx. We anticipate that eventually unregistered messaging will cease to be supported altogether. So, it's important that you complete your registration as soon as possible. To register, check out our Text Messaging EIN Registration article!

Where is my agency's information being registered?


The EZLynx Text Messaging service is powered by Twilio. Twilio has informed us that there are new registration requirements associated with A2P 10DLC messaging. A2P 10DLC refers to a system in the United States that allows business to send Application-to-Person (A2P) type messaging via standard 10-digit long code (10DLC) phone numbers. This is the type of text messaging your agency conducts in EZLynx. These new requirements are being driven by the cellular carriers, in an effort to significantly reduce SMS/Text spam and fraud.

How long will the registration process take?


Filling out the information registration form in EZLynx is very easy and very fast. However, the registration approval process on Twilio's end may vary between a few hours to 30 days, so we highly recommend submitting your registration as soon as possible. Please keep in mind, if your first submission is declined, you will not be able to submit another registration for yourself. You must go through the EZLynx Support Team for the second registration attempt, so please double-check all information before submitting to Twilio for approval.

If Text Messaging is disabled for my agency, will text messages sent by our customers be captured in EZLynx?


No, as services are disabled, no data is captured from the Vendor. This is why it's very important to complete the registration process as soon as possible. To register, check out our Text Messaging EIN Registration article!

If Text Messaging has been disabled for my agency, once my registration has been approved how long will it take to reactivate the service?


Once approved, it may take 24 hours for services to be restored.

I do not want to register, what happens next?


Text messaging services will be disabled for your agency upon the cutoff date.

I do not want to register, and Text Messaging is on my contract; do I get a discount since we will not be using Text Messaging services? 


For questions about your contract, please reach out to your Sales Manager.

How do I write my own Privacy Policy?


If your package includes our Essential Website, a Privacy Policy will be included on the website by our website team. 


If you do not have an EZLynx Website, you may want to explore some publicly available tools that other businesses have found helpful, such as Termageddon and Termly. We don't specifically endorse any particular provider, but we're happy to share these as general resources for you to review. If you decide to use a third-party tool, we recommend carefully reviewing the generated terms to ensure they align with your specific business practices and compliance requirements. 


Twilio's Help Center has these tips to share about Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions: 

  • Every registration needs to include both a privacy policy and terms and conditions, and they need to meet specific requirements that protect your customers and keep you compliant with industry standards. Both are required for approval. In your privacy policy, Twilio checks for language that makes it clear that Messaging Consent data isn't being shared, sold, or bought. Here's an example of the language Twilio looks for: "All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information won't be shared with any third parties."
  • Your Privacy policy must: 
    • Disclose what data you collect and how it's used.
    • Explain that mobile information and opt-in consent won't be shared with third parities or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes (required by CTIA)
  • Your terms and conditions should generally include: 
    • Program or brand name
    • Program description
    • Message and data rates may apply disclosure
    • Message frequency (or recurring message disclosure) 
    • Customer support contact information
    • Complete opt-out instructions (HELP and STOP), displayed in bold 
    • Link to the privacy policy
    • Disclosure that states "Carriers are not liable for any delayed or undelivered messages" 
  • We recommend consulting with your legal counsel to make sure that your terms of service and privacy policy are compliant with applicable laws and consistent with standards for your particular campaign and industry. 
  • Pro tip: Consider creating messaging-specific privacy policies and terms and conditions rather than updating your main company documents. Dedicated messaging policies are easier to keep current if requirements change.