Let’s cut to the chase, SMS messages and texts are the same thing. The only difference is that text messaging is an umbrella term for different messaging types—including SMS, MMS, and even OTT messaging services.

When you send a message via your phone using its cellular network, the text can either be an SMS or an MMS.

SMS stands for Short Message Service. It’s typically limited to 160 characters per message and includes only text. In contrast, an MMS or Multimedia Message Service lets you send videos, images, and audios—as well as longer texts of up to 1,600 characters.

But there’s a catch with MMS too, because it’s much costlier than sending SMS texts. In fact, some network providers or devices don’t even support MMS. If they do, they may not support all file types and sizes.

While most businesses opt to choose both these messaging types, it’s crucial to understand which will work best for yours so you can keep costs down while reaching your target audiences the right way.

Should Your Business Use SMS or MMS?

Despite how the tech behind texting is decades old, it would be wrong to assume that it’s not relevant anymore. That’s because text messages have a 98% open rate.

Thus, it’s no wonder that 52% of marketers plan to increase their SMS marketing budget when they can.

Essentially, SMS marketing is a great way to keep customers in the loop. Since text messages are to-the-point with no room for frills, you don’t need an extra resource to help you come up with catchy wording. They’re also inexpensive, and delivered immediately.

MMS, on the other hand, may require a designer to help with the images or videos in the message. This type of messaging also requires a reasonable data connection and more complex processing, which is why it is costlier.

Although MMS costs are higher, you may find it worth it for the support of multiple file types. In fact, most network providers support MP3, MP4, PNG, JPG, JPEG, and GIF files in multimedia messages. These files are limited to 5 KB in size, however, so it’s best to use the smallest file type you can to maintain quality and delivery speed.

SMS and MMS use cases

Typically, text messaging is used by a business’s marketing, customer service, and sales departments. Whether you should use SMS or MMS depends on the length and purpose of your message.

SMS is more effective when your business needs to send short updates such as:

  • Appointment reminders
  • Customer service updates
  • Parcel tracking information
  • Two-factor authentication codes
  • Text-only promotional messages
  • Order confirmation and delivery details

On the other hand, your business might use MMS when sending:

  • Long promotional messages with images or videos—for instance, during product launch campaigns and to make discount announcements.
  • Customer service messages that provide step-by-step technical support with images.
  • Sales messages such as nudges for prompting people to complete abandoned cart purchases.

At the end of the day, consider each messaging type’s use cases to decide when to send an SMS and when an MMS, but don’t forget to factor in the costs, too. While many mobile network operators (MNOs) offer unlimited SMS plans, the same can’t be said about MMS packages.

In fact, on average, an MMS is mostly 2-3 times costlier than blasting out an SMS.

This doesn’t mean that MMS is never worth the costs, though. In some cases, MMS can have a 300% higher engagement rate than SMS, so the higher ROI makes the costs of a well-executed MMS campaign worthwhile.

Long story short, when you only need to send small snippets of information, simply use SMS and save money. However, if the end goal is customer acquisition, MMS could be worth a try, as the benefit may justify the cost.

Remember though, due to the personal nature of text messaging, some people may find promotional texts to be intrusive. This is why it is crucial to send SMS and MMS texts sparingly, and only with permission. Similarly, it’s a good practice to avoid sending business text messages during unusual hours, to reduce opt-out rates.

Are These Green Bubbles or Blue Bubbles on iPhones?

When you receive a text on an iPhone, it’s in either of two text bubble colors: green or blue.

This is because iPhones—and other Apple devices such as iPads and Macs—have an in-built Apple-owned over-the-top (OTT) messaging service called iMessage. All messages exchanged using this service arrive in blue text bubbles.

These iMessage texts are not SMS or MMS texts as they’re sent over a WiFi connection or via data connectivity, rather than through a cellular network. In fact, they’re basically part of a third-party application and have other distinct features too. These include:

  • Typing indicators that let the receiver know when someone in the chat is typing a message.
  • Read receipts to let senders know when their message has been read.
  • Group chats in which up to 32 people can message in the same chat.
  • End-to-end encryption that ensures privacy protection, enabling only the sender and receiver to read messages.
  • Audio, video, and image sharing capability that doesn’t compromise on the quality of shared media.

The thing is, only Apple users can exchange iMessages. When an Apple user sends an iMessage to an Android user, the text is converted to an SMS or MMS. Similarly, when an Android user sends an SMS or MMS to an Apple user, it won’t get converted to an iMessage.

Therefore, these SMS and MMS texts are shown in green bubbles in an iPhone to differentiate them from iMessage texts.

Wrapping Up

SMS and MMS are both types of text messages. However, which of these you should use for your business depends entirely on your goals and requirements.

If you want to send short and direct messages, SMS is the way to go as it is convenient and affordable. On the flip side, MMS can be good for sending messages that are either lengthier or require an image or video to accompany the text.

Just remember that MMS is costlier than SMS, but it also has the potential to be more impactful. This can make the ROI worth the extra cost.

Ultimately the best way to decide between the two is by testing and reviewing what drives the best results for your business. Of course, you can always use a mix of the two.