MMS Service (Multimedia Messaging): What to Know for 2024

MMS Services Help Drive Engagement

Picture this…

You type up a message, attach an engaging image, hit send—and the vast majority (if not all) of the people you’re contacting actually read your message.

Think that’s a pipe dream? It’s not!

The best MMS services can help you get there. How? By getting visual messaging to your customers in a way that they actually see and pay attention to.

But before we get more deeply into how you can get there using MMS marketing services (and why you should use MMS marketing), we’ll first talk about the what.

Don’t need all the in-depth info? You can jump right in and get a free MMS service trial for free now.

What is MMS? (Definition)

“MMS” stands for “multimedia messaging service” and simply means texts that include media, especially images.

In contrast, SMS (which means “short messaging service,” AKA “regular texting”) does not have capabilities to include images or other media.

Most of the time, MMS messaging would refer to texts that specifically have images attached. In contrast, SMS (which means “short messaging service,” AKA “regular texting”) does not have capabilities to include images or other media.

Not only can MMS messaging include images, it can also include significantly more characters per message (up to 1,600 characters) than “regular” SMS (160 characters).

SMS and MMS

Let’s dig a little more into the concepts of SMS and MMS…

Difference Between SMS and MMS

SMS refers to “short messaging service.” This is the technical term for “regular” text messages—the everyday text messages you send from your phone, without any images or other media files attached.

MMS, on the other hand, is a different text message protocol that allows for media files. Including a media file actually changes how your text message is processed, allowing both for media to be included in the message and for more characters in your message.

And both SMS and MMS, being processed through mobile carrier networks, are different from comparable web-based messaging apps such as Messenger and iMessage.

SMS vs. MMS

The ability to include images as well as longer messaging content gives you more flexibility with how you can use MMS for your business or organization.

Have a quick update for your customers? SMS would be just fine. Something a little more elaborate—a graphic detailing a promotion or a longer explanation of a new service, for example—would warrant the use of MMS instead.

People love visuals, and people love texting. And with MMS picture messages, you get the best of both of these worlds: by sending texts with graphics attached, you have the appeal of attractive visuals in addition to the accessibility and effectiveness of texting.

The primary downside to MMS when it comes to business texting is that sending them often costs more messaging credits from your messaging allotment than sending “regular” text messages. However, if you have a message that is long already, it may not cost you any more to use MMS. (For example, in the Mobile Text Alerts platform, if your SMS is 480 characters or longer, it will cost the same if not more credits as sending an MMS.)

So what is MMS messaging, and how does it compare to SMS? See the infographic below for a summary.

MMS allows you to send images and longer messages to your recipients. SMS messages only allow 160 characters of text.

Benefits of MMS Services

High Read Rates

It’s common knowledge that texting is one of the best ways to reach people in today’s society.

In fact, in the United States alone, people send around 2 trillion text messages per year.

People constantly check their phones—text messages have reported read rates of up to 98%.

And that’s why when you send a text message, you can almost guarantee that your recipients will actually read your message. (That’s certainly not true for virtually every other communication channel out there.)

Visual Engagement

MMS messages have the dual benefit of using both the power of texting and the power of visuals to really engage people.

Hubspot discusses how “the mental and emotional impact from an image happens almost instantly,” whereas with text only, it can take almost 10 seconds to process.

So coupling your text message outreach with attractive visuals has the potential to really engage people like almost nothing else.

What Should the Best MMS Services Include?

Convenient App and Platform

When it comes to finding the best MMS marketing services, you want one that will allow you to send bulk MMS easily and conveniently.

Having a mobile app is essential for convenience’s sake. You don’t want to have to go to a computer or a website to access the software every time you want to send a quick text!

An MMS platform will offer a free mobile app to give you more options for sending out your bulk MMS.

That being said, sometimes you just want a full experience – You don’t want to deal with mobile sites and apps. So you’ll want a service that not only offers the free mobile app but also a robust web platform.

The best MMS platforms will have both of these options, giving you more freedom and flexibility for how you handle your MMS marketing.

Organized List Segmentation

Most likely, you don’t want all of your messages to go out to your entire customer list every time.

You run different kinds of promotions and different types of bulk MMS. Not all of them will be relevant to your entire list, so the best MMS services will allow you to segment your list into organized groups.

You’ll want different options for sorting your contacts into these groups as well. For example, you may want to be able to add people into groups individually as well as by importing a spreadsheet file.

Your customers should also be able to subscribe themselves to your groups on their end. This option could be available via texting in a particular “keyword” to a specific number.

“

Text EVENTS to 402-501-5437 to receive updates on our monthly events!

Your MMS service should also include an option for people to sign up for your specific groups online.

Insightful Reporting

Every good businessperson knows that you need to be able to track the success or failure of your marketing efforts.

The same goes for MMS platforms. For example, you need to be able to view a delivery report to see which of your bulk MMS may have been sent to landlines (and thus failed to deliver).

Most of your bulk MMS will include some kind of call-to-action that includes a link for people to click, so you’ll want an MMS marketing service that can track who has clicked on the links within your messages.

This kind of reporting will help you determine the success of your campaigns so you can know if you need to make any changes.

Easy Reply Monitoring

Another important feature of the best MMS platforms is the ability to easily monitor and respond back to your customer’s replies.

Your customers will most likely engage with your bulk MMS promotions and will text back with questions or comments.

You want to be able to see when people engage with you and respond back in a timely manner.

You need an MMS service that allows you to easily manage these replies—a missed opportunity for engagement could very well be the difference between gaining and losing a sale.

Ideally, your MMS marketing service will have some kind of option for you to be notified via email or text when a new reply comes in from your customers. Then you can know to go in and send a response back!

Now that we’ve been over some of the primary features that the best MMS services should offer, let’s discuss what exactly you can do with MMS—in other words, the how.

How You Can Use MMS Services

Earn New Sales

Earning sales is the goal of much of marketing, right? MMS marketing can directly impact your bottom line by allowing you to earn new customers.

Below are some different ideas of ways you can use bulk MMS to convert leads and get more sales.

Pique Your Lead’s Interest by Texting Promotional Images

People are drawn to attractive visuals. They don’t like to just read a big chunk of text, as effective as even that can be sometimes.

As a matter of fact, the brain is very good at gathering information through images.

According to Trafton, Anne, (2014, January 16) In the blink of an eye, MIT News Office...

“

...a team of neuroscientists from MIT has found that the human brain can process entire images that the eye sees for as little as 13 milliseconds.

Knowing that people are visual creatures, it follows that including an appealing image via MMS marketing will attract their attention and lead to winning more sales.

Bulk MMS is a double whammy, because it not only takes advantage of people’s attraction toward visuals, it also uses a medium through which people are highly engaged: texting.

You know the potential of texting (which we’ll discuss further later on), and combine this with the power of images, and you get the best of both worlds!

Here’s a specific example.

Suppose you’re running a holiday promotion of 25% off any purchase of $50 or more.

You could send out this promotion to an email marketing list of leads, and you’ll get some responses. It may be mildly successful and leave you happy with the results.

But you’re probably aware that sending this same campaign to the same group via a text-only SMS message will undoubtedly yield a huge increase in response (considering that texts are read up to 98% of the time).

Now imagine the response if you send this same text campaign along with an image of an appealing graphic showcasing the promotion!

Increase Professionalism by Including Your Company Logo

One issue with regular SMS campaigns is that there isn’t a lot of control over how the message looks.

It’s typically just a string of text, and can sometimes even come through in multiple parts if the message is too long.

This can result in messages sometimes looking less than professional—some customers may even question whether or not the message actually came from your business.

While that issue can be worked around, and while regular SMS are still an excellent and effective way to market, bulk MMS can further help by allowing you to include your company logo in your message.

Including your company logo in your MMS marketing helps establish your message as coming from your business, increasing professionalism and credibility, which can lead to earning more sales.

Tailor Brands in their article 7 Reasons Why a Logo is Important says:

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So, why is a logo important? Because it grabs attention, makes a strong first impression, is the foundation of your brand identity, is memorable, separates you from competition, fosters brand loyalty, and is expected by your audience.

(As a bonus, bulk MMS can also allow you to include longer messages without concern of the message getting split up into multiple parts, thus boosting your professionalism even more!)

Boost Repeat Business

Not only can MMS marketing be used to gain new customers, some of the same principles can also be applied for promotions to current or former customers in order to gain repeat business.

Draw Customers Back to Your Business by Sending Images of New Products

It can be hard to get former customers to come back and take advantage of your services.

They might feel like they have everything they need from you. They may have moved on to newer things.

Or maybe they just need a bit of a nudge to try your business out again!

You’re probably already releasing new products and services regularly. Why not send out a bulk MMS update to inactive customers when your new product is released?

In your MMS, you can include an image of the new product (if applicable) or a graphic announcing the new service.

The visual appeal just might bump them in the right direction so that they want to try you out again.

Promote Events and Deals by Texting Fliers and Graphics

Running a promotion soon? Hosting some kind of online or in-person event?

Here’s one way to help drive up engagement to your promotion or event: bulk MMS.

Text out a flier or graphic about your event/promotion encouraging your former customers to participate.

You can also include “scarcity” language (for example, “one day only!”) and combine that with the visual appeal of your graphic to really maximize the potential boost in repeat sales.

Discover more about 5 SMS marketing tools and features to drive repeat purchases.

MMS Services FAQ

Here are some answers to other commonly asked questions about MMS services.

What Is Multimedia Messaging?

Multimedia messaging as it relates to text messages involves sending texts that include a media attachment of some kind (often an image).

For business purposes, multimedia messaging is offered on most texting platforms but typically uses up more messaging credits from a user’s message allotment.

What Is MMS Used For?

MMS is used for any communication purpose needed. People use it for personal texting, for internal business communications, for marketing, for customer service, or for any other communication need

What Are Multimedia Messaging Services?

“Multimedia messaging service” is the full name for MMS and refers to the protocol used to send out multimedia text messages via mobile carrier networks.

This is in contrast to “short messaging service” (SMS), which involves text-only messages sent via the same networks. MMS is also different from internet-based messaging services such as Messenger, WhatsApp, and iMessage.

“Multimedia messaging services” may also refer to texting platforms, such as Mobile Text Alerts, that allow you to send multimedia text messages.

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