It’s not surprising that texting is becoming more and more popular and is a fantastic tool for businesses to rapidly engage with their connections. According to researchers, the use of mobile devices and corporate text messaging is a force that won’t go away anytime soon. In reality, MMS messaging, the next generation of text messaging, is already here. But how do they differ?
SMS MESSAGING: WHAT IS IT?
Short Message Service, or SMS, is the most established, widely adopted, and commonly used texting technology available today. It is supported by all mobile networks and devices. Every day, more than 6 billion SMS messages are exchanged only within the United States. Each of these communications is restricted to 160 alphanumeric characters—a fancy word for both letters and digits.
HOW DOES MMS MESSAGING WORK?
MMS, which stands for “Multimedia Message Service,” is most frequently used to transfer multimedia items, including images, videos, GIFs, and audio files. The number of communications sent and received annually went from 57 billion to 96 billion alone in the U.S. These communications are not limited in length as SMS is.
Which is better for you, SMS or MMS?
Identify the aims and objectives of your communications before choosing between MMS and SMS. Do you want to send graphic or text-only messages? Do straightforward texts or vibrant images better engage and elicit responses from your contacts? Your content and communication goals: are they constrained by the character limit? All of these factors should be taken into account while deciding between these two messages.
A Side-by-Side Comparison of MMS and SMS
Given that you likely send several SMS messages each day, you’ve certainly already begun to comprehend what an SMS is. However, it could be simpler to understand SMS through visual means, particularly given how different two pieces of material might appear when employing SMS versus MMS messaging as a method.
Comparison of the appearance of SMS and MMS messages:
SMS vs. MMS: Pros and Cons
There are benefits and drawbacks to each communication technique, even though SMS and MMS messaging are both great methods to interact with your clients. Depending on the use case or the goal, one may occasionally be superior or more efficient than another.
Benefits of SMS
- Short and to the point, SMS messages. They don’t take a lot of time or effort because of the 160 character restriction.
- Sending SMS texts is less expensive than MMS messaging.
- The majority of American carriers have plans with unlimited texting, so your users most likely won’t pay anything.
SMS disadvantages
- Videos, pictures, and occasionally even emojis cannot be sent using a standard SMS message. MMS can be the best option if you want to provide your consumers something more attention-grabbing.
- The 160-character SMS character restriction might be restricted if your use case calls for sending large messages.
Advantages of MMS
- People are drawn to messages in their inbox that feature an image or a video, therefore MMS communications are often more eye-catching.
- Because MMS has a 1600 character restriction, it is a good option if you need to send text blasts with a lot of material in each message.
MMS disadvantages
- MMS messages have higher sending fees. You might wish to restrict how frequently you send MMS messages if your company is like the majority of cost-conscious enterprises.
- MMS messages cannot be received by everyone. Nowadays, the majority of people have smartphones, but not everyone does, and certain cellular plans may not have MMS enabled.
- If you wish to send specially created images or films, you might need to spend extra money on hiring someone to assemble them for you.
- Cost variations No matter which SMS marketing solution you choose, MMS communications will always be more expensive than SMS messages. This is due to the fact that it takes far more data to be sent by the carriers than a typical SMS message.
Two to three times as many text messages will be used for MMS marketing with Guni SMS as there would be for a single SMS. Depending on the plan you have with us, this will change.
A message sent to everyone on your text messaging list would take 200 of your 1,000 monthly text message allotment, for instance, if your plan allows you to send 1,000 texts per month and you have 200 people on it.
Depending on the plan you have, sending an MMS messaging to the same list might take 400 to 600 messages.
Is MMS truly worth the extra expense, you might wonder?
On average, MMS messaging initiatives get 15% to 20% higher levels of engagement than conventional SMS communications. Select a Tweet Additionally, they have a nearly 10-fold higher likelihood of being distributed via social media or among friends. In the end, it still boils down to your use case and what makes sense in each specific circumstance.
Whether you send messages from a short code or a regular 10-digit number will also have an impact on the cost of SMS and MMS. A 5- to 6-digit phone number is called an SMS short code, and it is used to send texts in bulk. When sending more than 5,000 SMS in a single blast, short codes are the preferred choice.
The cost of messages is always greater since they are designed to handle large quantities. Having said that, the majority of SMS marketing software providers now in use employ short codes by default.
Do I need to use MMS or SMS?
It’s time to choose the sort of message that would work best for you after defining SMS and SMS. Understanding your use case and what your end customers are most likely to interact with can help you decide between SMS and MMS. Do you need to share a brief message with folks and ask them to click on a link? SMS could be the best option in that case.