New Year: 2023 SMS Trends to Carry Into 2024

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2023 is coming to a close and we’re coming to a new year on the SMS landscape.

The digital landscape is always changing and it can be difficult to keep up—and to know where things are going next.

So we’ve compiled a brief list of some potential trends that may continue into 2024, to help you keep on top of things and make sure you’re getting full use of texting for your business.

Some of these suggested trends are more conceptual and some are more specific. But all can be helpful to you as you consider your business texting strategy moving forward.

Trend #1: Carriers Cracking Down

Although the actual legal requirements for business texting have actually loosened over the past couple of years, 2023 saw lots of ups and downs in regards to mobile carriers and service providers cracking down on their own regulations.

As a result, many businesses had to make sure they were following carrier guidelines or else risk their messages getting blocked as spam and not getting delivered.

Moving forward, businesses like yours need to continue to be careful not to send messages that could be construed as spam. And you would do well to keep an eye on your delivery reports to make sure your messages are being delivered as expected.

If you start to see delivery issues, you can reach out to your SMS provider to ask for insight on what you could be doing differently to get better results.

Trend #2: Including Business Name & Opt-Out Instructions

This practical action item was already suggested in prior years. But with the carriers cracking down more on spam messages, now it’s more important than ever to follow carrier regulations to a T.

Including your business name and opt-out instructions in every message that you send is an easy, practical way to give your messages an even better chance of not being flagged as spam.

It does make your messages longer, so you lose some space in your character limits, but the tradeoff is worth it. You get better delivery rates, clearer messages (since there is no confusion with your recipients about who the message is coming from), and healthier messaging lists since people who aren’t actually interested will simply opt out, so you won’t waste resources sending them more messages.

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Trend #3: AI

Of course, we can’t mention 2023 trends without mentioning AI.

As you probably know, AI took off this year and has now become a staple within businesses, with hundreds of tools available to help improve business processes.

Even if all you do is use ChatGPT or Google’s Bard tool to help you plan and create your SMS messages, you can save a lot of time and effort. But the potential is so much more than that.

SMS platforms have developed their own AI solutions, such as Mobile Text Alerts’ SmartSMS Suggest, Shortener, and Image Generator. These tools can help you streamline your business text messages so that you can save even more time.

And as we go into 2024, more AI opportunities are sure to arise!

Trend #4: 1-on-1 Messaging

Do you primarily use your business texting for mass messaging?

You could be missing out on some effective engagement opportunities.

You can consider using 1-on-1 messaging to really engage people individually and foster communication with your audience. This could be customer care follow-ups, transactional notifications, individual reminders, or any number of other use cases.

It can be time-consuming to engage in this level of individual interactions, but it can pay off—and you’re able to automate things through auto-reply messages, integrations, and API.

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Trend #5: RCS

Recently, Apple shocked the world with the announcement that they will be adopting RCS.

In case you’re unaware, RCS has historically been known as Android’s “alternative” to iMessage—offering similar benefits to iMessage and other chat apps (such as Messenger). These benefits include features such as high resolution images, read receipts, and typing notifications.

However, RCS was not supported on Apple devices, so just as only those with Apple devices could enjoy the benefits of iMessage, only those with Android phones could enjoy the benefits of RCS.

Apple’s surprise announcement means that there will now be a universally accepted messaging option that offers rich messaging features beyond what simple SMS and MMS can offer. This means that it’s very likely RCS could become the future of messaging, possibly replacing SMS and MMS.

No action is necessary at the present time, but Mobile Text Alerts is continuing to keep its pulse on the trends in regards to RCS and we’ll let our audience know when and if any changes need to be made.

Keeping Up with the Trends…

Do any of the above trends surprise you?

Keeping up with the trends can help make your messaging strategy as effective as possible—ultimately saving you time and money.

If there are any trends that you haven’t been taking advantage of, you’ll want to consider what you can do to jump on the bandwagon and get the most out of your business texting.

What 1 Trend Can You Focus on Right Now?

Out of the above list (or any other trends you may be noticing in the business texting world), what 1 trend can you focus on right now? It’s not typically a good idea to try to do everything at once, but 1 step at a time is often doable.

So select 1 of the above trends (aside from RCS, which is more of a prediction than a current trend) and put in some initial efforts to try to implement it into your texting strategy this month.

Don’t have an SMS platform yet (or thinking of switching)? Get a free Mobile Text Alerts trial today.