Even though you exchange text messages on a regular basis, you may be unable to answer the question “What is SMS?” And you can be even more perplexed when it comes to distinguishing between SMS and MMS. These two phrases are used interchangeably but relate to two distinct sorts of message. SMS and MMS are two methods for sending what we generally refer to as text messages. The most basic distinction is that SMS refers to text messages, while MMS refers to communications that include a photo or video. We’ll go through the differences in further detail below.
Understanding the difference between SMS and MMS can offer you a better understanding of how to communicate with your clients and which mass text messaging service is appropriate for your organisation.
What exactly is SMS?
Let us begin with a definition of SMS. What is the difference between a text and an SMS gateway message? There is no distinction between. Is SMS a kind of text message? Yes. SMS stands for Short Message Service, which is a fancy way of saying text message.
While you may refer to a number of other communication kinds as “texts” in your everyday life, the distinction is that an SMS message comprises just text (no photos or videos) and is restricted to 160 characters. For example, iMessages aren’t actually text messages, despite the fact that most people refer to them as such. SMS is one of the earliest texting methods, having been established in the 1980s. Despite an increasing variety of alternate modes of communication, it is also the most extensively employed.
Now that you’ve mastered the meaning of SMS, here are some frequently asked questions.
What happens if an SMS has more than 160 characters?
Depending on the length of the SMS message, it will be divided into numerous messages. By 2020, most carriers will have chained these communications so that they arrive in the correct sequence.
How widespread is SMS?
Every day, about 6 billion SMS messages are exchanged in the United States.
What distinguishes SMS from iMessage or WhatsApp?
iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat are examples of “Over The Top” (OTT) apps. These do not need a cellular network to transmit since they depend on the internet. The receiver must have the same app downloaded on their phone in order to receive these messages. For example, all iPhones have iMessage installed, therefore if your receiver has an iPhone, your message will default to an iMessage. If they aren’t, your iPhone will revert to SMS, which shows as a green bubble rather than a blue bubble on your iPhone.
Will SMS ever be phased out?
Experts expect that RCS communications will eventually replace SMS messaging as the primary protocol.
What exactly is MMS?
MMS is an abbreviation for Multimedia Messaging Service. Consider it an improvement to the basic SMS message. The biggest difference between SMS and MMS, as you may have figured, is that you may transmit multimedia in your messages. This covers material such as movies, images, audio snippets, GIFs, and other animations. Furthermore, MMS permits up to 1600 characters of text in your message, which is much more than a conventional SMS.
A side-by-side comparison between MMS and SMS
You’re definitely beginning to comprehend what SMS is by now, particularly because you presumably send many SMS messages every day! However, it may be simpler to understand SMS visually. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of SMS and MMS. When utilising SMS versus MMS communications as a strategy, two pieces of same material might seem quite different. Also, although the graphic below is based on an iPhone screen, when it comes to SMS versus MMS, Android, iPhone, and other smart phones all follow the same pattern.
The Benefits and Drawbacks of SMS versus MMS
While both SMS and MMS are fantastic methods to contact with clients, they both have perks and limitations. Depending on the use case or your desired outcome, one may be better or more effective than another.
SMS Has Many Advantages:
- SMS texts are brief and to the point. They don’t take much time or effort because of the 160 character restriction.
- Sending is less expensive.
- Most carriers inAustralia provide unlimited texting plans, so there is likely no cost to your consumers.
SMS Disadvantages:
- A typical SMS message cannot include movies, images, or even emoticons. MMS may be the way to go if you want to give your consumers something more eye-catching.
- SMS has a character restriction of 160 characters, which might be restrictive if your use case necessitates sending a lot of information.
MMS Advantages:
- MMS Messaging are often more visually appealing since consumers gravitate toward messages in their inbox that feature an image or video.
- If you need to send text blasts with a lot of material in each message, you may use MMS since the character limit is 1600.
MMS disadvantages:
- MMS messages are more expensive to transmit. If you’re like most budget-conscious organisations, you may wish to restrict how often you send MMS messages.
- MMS messages are not available to everyone. While most people now own smartphones, not everyone does, and some may not have MMS enabled on their cellular contract.
- Because you may not be a designer, you will need to engage someone to put together the images or films that you will submit, which will obviously cost you money.
Cost differences between MMS and SMS
MMS messages will always be more expensive, regardless of which SMS marketing solution you choose. This is due to the fact that it needs carriers to transfer much more data than a typical SMS message. While prices vary by provider, MMS marketing using Guni will utilise two to three times the amount of text messages that a single text message would. This varies based on the plan you have with us.
For example, if you have a plan that allows you 1,000 text messages per month and have 200 contacts on your text messaging list, sending an SMS message to your whole list would use 200 of those 1,000 messages.
If you sent an MMS message to the same list, it would take 400 to 600 messages, depending on your package with us.
MMS marketing efforts have 15% to 20% better engagement levels than standard SMS communications on average.
They are also almost ten times more likely to be shared with friends or on other social media platforms. At the end of the day, it all boils down to your use case and what makes sense in each individual scenario. Another factor that influences SMS and MMS costs is whether you send your messages from a short code or a conventional 10-digit number. An SMS short code is a phone number that is used to send bulk text messages. When it comes to sending large amounts of text messages in a single blast, short codes are the way to go. The cost of communications is inherently greater since they are designed to handle huge volumes. Having said that, most SMS marketing software providers presently employ short codes by default.
Should I send an SMS or an MMS?
Choosing between SMS and MMS necessitates an understanding of what your end consumers are more likely to interact with as well as your use case. Do you need to send a fast message and have people click on a link? If so, SMS may be the best option. MMS is the way to go if you want to truly capture their attention, can afford the extra expense, and need to show them something physically.
Finally, the most crucial thing is to measure your outcomes and make modifications to fine-tune your plan and get the highest ROI possible. To balance expenses and engagement, most Guni customers will send a combination of SMS and MMS messages.
Guni is a renowned leader in SMS and MMS marketing, serving over several companies in Australia. Whether you want to utilise SMS or MMS for marketing or basic bulk text message communications, we offer a solution that is simple to use, inexpensive, and we’d love to educate you more about.
If you’re looking at other messaging solutions and want to talk to a real person about your choices, don’t be afraid to contact us. We’d love to talk.
