How Text Messages Are Sent: From Beginning to End
We live in a golden era of technological revolution. Every day, mind-blowing breakthroughs challenge our former understanding of the world. Although SMS text messages are nothing new, their application in how we communicate continues to advance and evolve.
Far too often, we walk through life enjoying the products of innovation without stopping to think about how they work. We power up our smartphones and instantly connect to the world through the internet. Have you ever stopped to think, “How does that happen?”
That’s what we’re going over today. Keep reading for a refresher about text messages — what they are and how they work.
What is a text message?
SMS is an acronym for Short Message Service and is the standard bearer of all forms of text messaging.
Recent innovations like Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), iMessage from Apple, Rich Communication Service (RCS) from Google, and online messaging apps (like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp) all owe their origins to SMS text messages.
A common component of all the various messaging formats is that they involve sending written messages over cell carrier networks, data streams, and the internet.
SMS text messages have been around since the early 1990s, and are limited in their message capacity, hence the word “short.”
One of the hottest stories on the tech internet right now is the battle between Google and Apple over Apple’s refusal to incorporate RCS into iMessage.
iMessage is one of the world’s most beloved messaging apps and is only available on iOS devices. Messages sent between iPhones and Android devices resort back to SMS and MMS messages.
This lack of support for iMessage on non-iOS devices leads to reduced image and video quality on outside messages due to the data cap limitations placed on SMS and MMS.
While MMS can carry more than SMS’s 160-character limit, it is still limited to just 3.5MB of content. Highly advanced cameras on phones today take pictures that are usually much higher than that.
The SMS standard
With SMS, a user types out a message on their phone, selects a recipient, clicks send, and the message is then sent and delivered to the phone associated with the number.
SMS messages have the most significant limitation on the size and complexity of the message sent. Despite this drawback, it remains the global standard of text messaging between all devices.
Although Google and Apple are at odds with one another over iMessage, users of both can still communicate via text thanks to SMS.
Many initially expected RCS would become the new gold standard due to its advanced features, but lack of widespread usage and issues with connectivity have limited it from overtaking SMS.
Sending data
To work correctly, messaging apps such as iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and RCS must have an internet connection via mobile data or wifi.
Without data connecting, the messaging services will resort back to SMS. Therefore, data is necessary for these newer messaging technologies to function correctly.
Messaging apps that use data aren’t generally restricted at the same scope as MMS or SMS because of the bandwidth that data provides. iMessage, for instance, can send a file as large as 100MB, grossly more than MMS’s 3.5MB.
The limit on file size for data messages like iMessage and Facebook Messenger is set by the company that provides the service versus cell carriers or technological limitations.
A quick search of the Google Play Store will present various data messaging options. However, as mentioned previously, they all resort to SMS when data is unavailable.
What are the advantages of text messages?
Text messages offer many benefits and advantages when it comes to communication. Personal communication via text benefits from the efficiency of getting information quickly without all the fluff that usually comes with verbal communication.
For example, cell phone calls often include a lot of chit-chat. You’ll ask the person on the receiving device how they’ve been and what’s going on in their life, and then you’ll get to why you called.
If you’d like to bypass the standard pleasantries and get straight to the point of your communication, texting is a better way of utilizing your mobile device than phone calls.
Corporate and business communication via text benefits from the vast data collection that texting offers and its popularity. Customers and mobile phone users prefer to communicate via text over all other forms of communication (including voice calls).
Moreover, text messages have a 98% open rate versus email’s 20%. These statistics tell an important story for marketing strategies.
Investing marketing capital into resources that give the greatest Return on Investment (ROI) begins with successful delivery and engagement of marketing messages.
Developing an extensive SMS contact list of phone numbers will improve your mobile communication strategy and increase the chances of your new messages getting read.
Broadcasting ability
Broadcasting is a powerful function of the mass texting service offered by TextSanity.
The federal government regulates how businesses can communicate with customers via text; therefore, our broadcasting service only sends messages to users who have opted into receiving text messages from your company.
Through the use of SMS keyword campaigns, your company can gather data that allows you to segment your customers into special categories defined by you called tags. For instance, a restaurant may have categories that group steak lovers into one segment and vegetarians in another.
Once you have set up your segments and categories, you can quickly and efficiently broadcast a mass text message to that tag’s contacts with our broadcasting tool. TextSanity makes this process more straightforward than manually entering each desired recipient.
You can use a tag for your broadcast. Tags allow you to send your message to contacts on the spot by selecting the desired tags.
Store-and-forward service
Store-and-forward service provides data backup options for your SMS text messages with TextSanity. We have simplified scheduling and sending mass text messages.
Scheduling text messages allows marketing teams to plan ahead for planned events, sales, or information sharing. For instance, if a business conducts four annual fundraisers, marketing content can be scheduled for the entire year.
Tags are essential on the TextSanity platform and open up a vast realm of possibilities for marketing. Assigning tags allows you to efficiently and simply target a specific audience. Tags are beneficial in every tool available on our platform and shouldn’t be neglected.
Private conversations
Text messages are an efficient method of communication for various reasons, including their inherent privacy. Unless you have your phone set up to read your text messages aloud, people around you can’t hear the conversation you are having via text.
This is convenient because whether you’re in a board meeting, meeting with a client, or listening to a presentation, you can engage in essential communications via text without disturbing those around you while remaining present at the same time.
Privacy is a huge concern in the digital age. The ability to conduct private or confidential conversations without fear of someone learning the information they shouldn’t be privy to is a huge benefit.
Integrations and enhancements
TextSanity has resourceful integrations to make your mass business texting even more straightforward, such as WordPress, Zapier, and API.
The WordPress plug-in is a great way to get customers to opt in to receive SMS text messages. Zapier lets you easily import existing contacts into your TextSanity account.
Collecting data, assigning tags, and defining audiences are the hallmarks of business SMS texting. At TextSanity, we want to help you capitalize on the enormous potential of SMS texting. As a result of that mission, we continue to innovate our platform and offer additional functionality.
The bottom line
The bottom line is simple — SMS texting is the best way to communicate and market to your customers and prospects. There is no other medium available to your business to serve these purposes better, and there is no better company to help you achieve it than TextSanity.
We set out on a mission to make SMS business texting affordable, efficient, easy to use, and profitable for our clients.
We’re in love with texting because we know customers prefer to communicate with businesses they spend their money with through texting versus any other method of communication.
SMS business texting will propel your marketing to the next level and increase sales and profits. Contact us today to connect with our team and discover more.
