According to SellCell, phone owners around the world send 23 billion text messages every day, with 2 trillion SMS and MMS messages sent every year in the United States alone. Isn’t that incredible?
Despite how often we’re sending messages though, a lot of us still don't know what makes the message types distinct. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick crash course to help you get to grips with SMS and MMS messaging, and to show you the best uses for each in your business.
First, let’s break down the acronyms. We see “SMS” and “MMS” a lot, but what do they actually mean?
SMS Stands for Short Messaging Service
SMS describes basic text messaging. These are limited to 160 characters (including spaces), and you can’t use them to share videos or pictures.
In business, an SMS message is great for simple things like appointment reminders and order confirmations.
MMS Stands for Multimedia Messaging Service
MMS is a bit more versatile. This message type lets you use anywhere up to 1,600 characters—far more than SMS. MMS also lets you send and receive multimedia content like pictures, videos and audio but relies on either an internet connection or a connection via your cellular network as a result.
For your marketing campaign, consider using MMS to distribute sales fliers and coupons, or promote new products and events.
Advantages and Disadvantages of SMS and MMS
SMS and MMS are both great when you want to use a mobile device to engage with your customers with customers, but how do you choose the right one for you? To help you decide, we’ve listed our top pros and cons of SMS and MMS respectively:
Advantages of SMS
- Cheap to send.
- Quick and concise.
- Requires little time and effort.
Disadvantages of SMS
- SMS can’t send videos, pictures, or other media. This can make it harder to catch a customer’s eye when promoting products and upcoming sales.
- SMS is limited to only 160 characters, so you can only include so much information.
Advantages of MMS
- MMS is compatible with videos and pictures, so they’re far more pleasing to the eye. This is great for customer engagement, especially when trying to show off a product, as an image can significantly encourage customers to form an attachment to the packaging.
- Colorful coupon graphics are a lot more attractive than a plain message, so there’s a better chance customers will open the message and be attracted by your upcoming offers.
- A 1,600 character-limit provides more flexibility, which helps messages feel more informative, friendly, and personal.
Disadvantages of MMS
- MMS provides more advanced services and requires more data as a result. Because of this, they cost more to send.
- MMS isn’t compatible with every phone plan, which can mean missing out on potential customers.
- If you don’t have much experience with graphic design, you may need to hire someone to make your messages look professional. It’s very easy for messages to look amateurish, which can end up driving prospective customers away.
Interested in trying out SMS marketing for your business?
Now you know some differences between SMS and MMS marketing, we hope you’ll find it easier to decide which mass texting service is a better fit for your business. We advise using at least one method to build and maintain better relationships with your customers.
In our opinion, SMS is best for sending mass text messages to many contacts at once and requires less time, money, and effort compared to sending an MMS message. If you’d like to read more about the benefits of SMS, we have an article here listing our Top 10 Benefits of SMS Marketing Strategies.
We also recommend you check out SimplyCast's SMS marketing software!
Why SimplyCast?
SimplyCast provides a no-code SMS automation software that lets you send bulk text messages from your computer, allowing you to create a professional SMS campaign with no coding skills!
Want to try it out? Click on the button below to request a demo today and get in contact with one of our team members who will happily guide you through the application.
Updated October 3, 2024
