Do You Want More Characters in Your SMS Messages?
SMS messages are short and sweet. As a means to communicate between friends or family with a quick “I’m running late” or “What’s for dinner?”, they are perfect. But for many other purposes, the maximum 160 characters for SMS messages may not seem like enough.
This seems especially true for SMS marketing where you have limited space to get your message, call to action, and all the legally required opt out information in each message. You might think the 160 character limit is some arbitrary number, or perhaps that it’s determined by some computer limitation. But there was real research behind the choice.
In 1985, Friedhelm Hillebrand was working on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMC) as chairman of the non-voice services committee. He and the other committee members were trying to develop a standard for text messaging, which was primarily used for car phones at the time. The wireless network used was bandwidth limited, so they wanted something that would work both on the network and be sufficient to convey a message.
Hillebrand’s approach was to type out random sentences (on his typewriter – anyone remember those?) and count the number of characters – letters, spaces, punctuation and numbers. More often than not, the sentences were about 160 characters. So he made the case to the other committee members that his research supported using only 160 characters.
Apparently they agreed, and today we’re still using the same standard. The Twitter 140 character limit is also based on Hillebrand research as well. They reserve 20 of the 160 characters for the senders name, leaving the 140 for content.
Given the popularity of Twitter and SMS messaging, it seems Hillebrand and his colleagues were correct that 160 characters were enough. As hard as it can be to write a short message that conveys an idea or drives a call to action, I think the limit works in favour of the popularity. If SMS messages were as long as emails, I’d bet people would read them less often. But when someone gets a text message they know it’s something they can glance at and read – no major investment of time. We’re all time strapped these days, so quick is often best.
Of course with fastsms you’re not bound by such limits as you can send three linked messages up to 456 characters long in total!
Related Articles
A2P SMS Messaging Market is Complex, But Growing
I came across an interesting article regarding the A2P market. It’s entitled “Growing Employment Rate to Benefit BFSI A2P SMS Market in Switzerland.” The contents summarise a new report from Transparency Market Research about the A2P market in Switzerland, specifically how it relates to BFSI or Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI). You might be thinking that sounds boring rather than interesting, but what drew my attention was the relationship of employment to A2P SMS messaging.
Application to Person – A2P SMS Market Valued at £45B by 2020
The Internet opened up mass communication in ways no one ever imagined it could. But there’s also another trend leveraging today’s communication technology: Communicating with just one person via applications. According to Transparency Market Research, the A2P SMS market will be worth over £45B in just a few years.
A is for API Integration [Infographic]
Emergency SMS Messages for Vehicle Accidents: A Fastsms API Case Study
This SMS messaging case study explains how a student at the University of West England used the fastsms API in an experimental project aiming to improve vehicle safety. The post is Q&A session between Thomas West, the student, and fastsms, relating how the project unfolded.
3 Reasons Why Enterprises Shouldn’t Build Their Own SMS Gateways
Enterprises are large companies. Sometimes that means they think they should be able to do everything themselves. But when it comes to SMS messaging, building an in-house gateway is more difficult than you might think. Read why finding a good SMS service provider is a better option.
SMS and Two Factor Authentication
The benefit of using SMS messaging for authentication is that people have their mobiles with them all the time. It’s convenient for them to receive the passcodes quickly so they can get logged in and do their business, whatever that may be. At its simplest, the procedure goes something like this...
Have a Mobile App? Promote it With SMS Messages
So you've got a great new mobile app, or an existing one without many downloads. With well over a million apps in both the Apple store and the Google Marketplace, it's no wonder you have trouble getting people to download it. How do you let people know about it, and make it easy for them to download?
How are A2P SMS, P2A SMS, and Notifications Different?
A2P SMS, or Application to Person SMS, messaging is when an application sends a person a text message just like you’d send a text to your mates. P2A SMS, or Person to Application SMS, messaging is when a person send texts to an application.
Referral Marketing Through SMS Messaging
What is one almost guaranteed way of getting new customers? Ask for them. Really. Studies show that 83% of satisfied customers are willing to recommend a company, product or service to their family and friends. Here's how you can use SMS to simplify and improve your referral marketing.