The first SMS message was sent in 1992 and read “Merry Christmas”. Since then SMS has been on a meteoric rise, going from strength to strength and now used by millions of people and businesses across the world.
MMS came along 9 years later, with the first MMS capable phone being the Sony Ericsson T68i in December 2001 and the first MMS message being sent shortly after.
MMS was a great idea at the time, you could send pictures, attachments and more to your friends through your mobile phone. But it was not to last, when OTT messaging like WhatsApp was developed. Since then MMS has never really recovered.
This issue with MMS is that it costs a lot more than SMS. Currently sending an SMS to your friends and family will cost you anywhere between 10p-14p, unless it is included within your monthly subscription then it is free. MMS on the other hand can cost up to 4 times as much and can be around 45p a message, and even if you have unlimited text messages on your mobile phone contract, this will still cost you 45p.
The story is the same with business SMS providers. Some SMS providers offer MMS at 34p where sending a normal SMS would only cost around 3.6p. That means if you are send a message to 1,000 people, sending it as an MMS would cost you an extra £304.
What is worse is that not everyone has an MMS capable phone, with nearly 30% of all people in the UK not owning smartphone, and therefore cannot receive MMS. That means if you do send an MMS message to your customers, then potentially 30% of them won’t be able to receive it – that is a huge missed opportunity.
So why do some SMS providers still offer this dated solution? Well to be honest we don’t know, but we have taken a stab in the dark and thought of 2 reasons:
1. It makes it look like they have loads to offer, with extra features to their platform.
2. Because it costs their customers 3 times as much, meaning a bigger profit margin – more money for them, less for you.
Both not great reasons, and both not really beneficial to businesses or the end user.
Some businesses still use MMS because it is all they know, but what would you say if there was a way that you could send pictures, links, and more to your customers at no extra cost?
Other option to MMS
As we said above MMS was a great idea, with a huge emphasis on was. As technology has rapidly evolved, MMS has stood still, with other features have overtaken it, one of these being SMS Web Pages.
SMS Web Pages lets businesses create their very own landing page, filled with images, extra text, downloadable links and all for no extra cost. Like all Text Marketer products, it is so simple to use, and it only has a 5-step guide from start to finish.
SMS Web Pages is a great feature that all businesses can take advantage of, but as we developed SMS Web Pages to enhance SMS and give customers a better experience, SMS itself is also evolving to give businesses and customers an even better experience.
The future of SMS
SMS has been around for years and will continue to be around for years to come. SMS has continued to get stronger and stronger, and with technology rapidly evolving, SMS must also evolve . . . introducing RCS.
RCS stands for Rich Communication Services, it will allow people and businesses to send richer messages to customers. Allowing customers to interact with the SMS message, making their lives easier.
RCS will be coming out this year, but as a lot of new technology, it will take some time for it to really take off. Only the new Android phones will be RCS enabled and until Apple say yes to it, it will be some time before Apple users can use it too.
With SMS Web Pages giving businesses and users the same experience as MMS, and with RCS soon to be out, why do businesses still use MMS?
If you would like to talk about any mobile marketing options for you business then do get in touch on 0117 989 5139.