How to Send SMS, Email (Text via Email & Together) in 2024

We live in the age of texting (also known as SMS).

There’s no use denying it – emails are dying.

But they’re not quite dead yet.

Though texting via SMS and chat apps have become ever more prevalent, email persists.

And these 2 sending methods – texting and email – can and should be used together to reach all the people you’re trying to reach.

There are a few ways you can do that, including:

Sending an SMS by emailing in
Sending an email by texting in
Sending SMS and emails together on a large scale

How to Send an SMS by Email

If for whatever reason you want to send out a text message by submitting an email through your email client (like Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail), here’s how.

A couple things you need to know in order to do this include…

Your recipient’s phone number
Your recipient’s “SMS gateway address.”

What’s an SMS Gateway Address?

The gateway address is an email address that will have the recipient’s phone number at the beginning and a carrier-specific handle at the end.

For example, for the phone number 402-718-8843 (which is on Verizon), the gateway address would be 4027188843@vtext.com.

You can find the gateway address of a phone number by going to a “carrier lookup” site such as FreeCarrierLookup.com.

Type the phone number into the search bar and it will tell you the “gateway address” you need to know in order to send emails to that phone number:

Some common gateway email address handles include:

Verizon: @vtext.com
T-Mobile: @tmomail.net
Sprint: @messaging.sprintpcs.com
AT&T: @txt.att.net

A more complete list of SMS gateway addresses can be found here.

Sending Your SMS

Once you’ve found the gateway address, you're ready to send out your message.

1. Log in to your email provider

Whether you use Gmail, Outlook, or some other provider, you can log in to your email provider of choice in order to get ready to send your SMS via email.

2. Enter your recipient's SMS or MMS gateway address

In the "To" section of your email, input the SMS or MMS gateway address of your recipient's phone number (see "What's an SMS Gateway Address?" above).

Note: If you’re going to be including an image or other media in your message, you may need to use the “MMS Gateway Address” (rather than the “SMS Gateway Address”) that shows up when you search the phone number at FreeCarrierLookup.com.

(MMS refers to text messages that contain media.)

3. Compose your message

Write up the message that you're wanting to send into the email composition section. Remember that text messages are generally better when they're shorter and to-the-point, so don't type as much content as you may normally type in a regular email.

4. Click "Send"

Once your message content is all typed out, select "Send" and your message will be delivered to the intended recipient's phone.

To recap... Once you’ve (1) entered the appropriate address as the recipient, (2) typed up your message, and (3) hit Send, your message will be sent to the recipient’s phone as a text message.

The text message will show up on the recipient’s phone with your email address as the sender.

Get a Free 14-Day Trial with Mobile Text Alerts

How to Send an Email by SMS

Just like you can send a text message by submitting an email, you can also send an email by submitting a text message.

A caveat: we would not recommend this option, as these messages are sometimes blocked by the recipient’s email provider. But we’re mentioning the option here for good measure.

This is far less complicated so not much explanation is needed.

1. Open your phone's text messaging app

Whether you use the default messaging app or some other app, open it up.

2. Compose a new text message

Tap the "new message" icon in your text messaging app to start a new text message.

3. Input your recipient's email address

Instead of entering a phone number as the recipient for the message, enter the email address you're trying to reach. (You can input it just like you would a "normal" phone number in a regular text message.)

4. Compose your message

Type out the message content that you were wanting to send. (Tip: You don't need to be as succinct as you might be in a regular text message, since longer message content flows without an issue in an email format.)

5. Tap "Send"

When you're ready for your message to go out, hit "Send."

This should send the text message as an email to your recipient’s email inbox. However, as mentioned above, these messages can get blocked, so this option is not recommended as a reliable way to send messages.

How to Send SMS and Emails to Your Whole Contact List

So far, the mentioned options would only work for low-volume situations.

For instance, if you’re trying to text or email a family member or friend.

These options would not be feasible for sending messages in large quantities.

Online platforms like Mobile Text Alerts allow you to send SMS and emails on a larger scale.

With these platforms, you can manage a database of phone and email contacts. Then you can send messages to these contacts with just a few simple clicks.

Here’s how it works.

1. Add contacts into the database.

You can add contacts into the database in a variety of ways, including:

Adding individually
Uploading a list via a spreadsheet
Allowing recipients to automatically add themselves by sending a text into a particular phone number
Allowing recipients to automatically add themselves by scanning a QR code
Allowing recipients to automatically add themselves by filling out an online form
Connecting to your CRM or other software by way of integrations, such as Zapier.com or API

2. Schedule/send your messages.

Once you have your phone numbers and email addresses loaded in, you can easily go to the “Send a Message” section of the platform.

You can select what date/time you’d like your message to go out, select the recipients for your message, and type out your message content.

(Note that you can organize your contacts into different segments if you want to have more control over who receives your messages.)

Click Send and your message will go out to the selected recipients’ phone numbers as well as email addresses.

You can set it up in a couple of different ways:

You can set it up to send to recipients’ email addresses only if there is no phone number listed for the user
You can set it up to send the message both as a text message and an email (if the recipient has both a phone number and email address listed)

Using an online texting platform in this way will let you reach more people without having to go through a bunch of manual work.

It’s ideal for people who want to send:

Promotions for their business
Internal updates for their employees
Notices to a larger group (such as for a church or other non-profit group)

Get 50 Free Messages to Try It for Yourself

Online messaging platforms open up flexibility to get messages out more easily to more people.

Interested in giving an online messaging platform a try for yourself?

You can get 50 free messages to test it out here (no credit card required).