Save Money with SMS vs. MMS: When to Use Each [2024]

You could potentially be saving money by simply understanding when to use SMS vs. MMS…

How?

Let’s jump in and find out.

What’s the Difference?

If you’ve done much with SMS marketing you may know that there’s a difference between SMS and MMS.

SMS (“short messaging service”) are “regular” text messages—text-only (no graphics or other media) and often short.

MMS (“multimedia messaging service”) are “media” text messages—these contain not only text but also an image or some other form of media. MMS can also be much longer than SMS.

When it comes to your SMS efforts, this difference is important to note because of a couple of reasons…

• If you’re sending SMS, once you hit 160 characters in your message, the message will be split up and sent as 2 or more messages (although thankfully, most phones are “smart” enough to still deliver it as a single message)
• If you’re sending MMS, you can have up to 1,550 characters and can include a media file, but your message uses up 3 messaging credits, regardless of how long the message is.

How Knowing the Difference Can Help Save You Money

So how can you use the understanding of these differences to help yourself save money?

It’s by knowing the right situations you should be sending SMS vs. MMS, and vice-versa.

If you’re sending SMS when you should be sending MMS, you could be using more messaging credits than necessary—because with very long messages, your message will be split up into chunks the longer it is.

On the other hand, if you’re sending MMS when you should be sending SMS, you could be using more messaging credits than necessary—because sending an MMS costs 3 credits per message.

So in what situations should you use which method?

When to Send SMS…

The best situations to be sending SMS would be under the following circumstances:

• When your messages are less than 320 characters
• When your messages don’t require any corresponding images or other media to accompany them

If your message is less than 320 characters and doesn’t require any images, your message will only use 1–2 messaging credits, so that’s your best option for saving money.

When to Send MMS…

The best situations to be sending MMS would be under the following circumstances:

• When your messages are more than 320 characters
• When your messages do require a corresponding image or other media

If your message is more than 320 characters, then sending as SMS would count as at least 3 messaging credits anyway, so you could consider sending as MMS—that way, you’d be able to include an image or media file as well.

And if your message is more than 480 characters, you will actually save money by sending as MMS. Why? Because if you were to send it as SMS, it would cost you 4 credits or more at that point.

Sending as MMS costs 3 message credits regardless of length.

Make the Most of SMS/MMS

Are you making the most of SMS and MMS in your marketing and communication strategy?

As you plan out your texting efforts, make sure that you’re not sending messages longer than 480 characters as SMS.

Or for shorter messages, make sure that you’re not attaching images or other media if you don’t need to.

Haven’t gotten started yet? Try a texting platform account for free here.