The Short Message Service (SMS) is a text-based function of the global wireless telephone network. While most individuals utilize SMS for Person-to-Person (P2P) communication in their daily lives, Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging has seen significant growth. A2P messaging allows applications to send SMS directly to users. In 2019, over 1.2 trillion A2P SMS messages were transmitted globally. Organizations, governmental bodies, and educational institutions leverage A2P SMS through Amazon Pinpoint to maintain communication with their audiences. Typical applications include transactional messages, targeted promotions, or even mass communications.
With over 5 billion mobile phones in the world today, slightly more than half are smartphones. The widespread availability of SMS makes it an ideal option for many mass communication endeavors. SMS works without requiring Wi-Fi or data, supports two-way communication, and boasts an impressive open rate exceeding 90%.
Use Cases
Numerous scenarios necessitate that organizations, governments, and educational institutions rapidly connect with their audiences via SMS. Here are a few examples:
- Organizations: Special operating hours, time-sensitive promotions.
- Governments: Alerts regarding new programs or updates, announcements of upcoming events.
- Educational Institutions: Daily or weekly updates, notifications regarding school closures or other changes.
Getting Started
You can utilize Amazon Pinpoint to send transactional messages instantly or to create SMS campaigns. When launching a campaign via Amazon Pinpoint, you can select a pre-configured template, create a targeted audience segment, and analyze response metrics post-campaign. To facilitate your initiation into SMS messaging, we offer the following tutorials:
- Delivery via Console: Launching a campaign in the Amazon Pinpoint console using SMS as a channel.
- Immediate Delivery via API: Implementing SMS APIs from your application for immediate outreach.
- Campaign Delivery via API: Utilizing campaign APIs with SMS as a communication channel.
Organizations must take specific actions when opting to use SMS for mass communication. The primary step involves collecting accurate contact information and ensuring recipients have granted permission to be contacted. SMS operates as an opt-in communication channel and is subject to various regulations worldwide. This often means obtaining explicit consent from recipients before sending SMS.
Establishing a web-based registration page is one effective method for securing consent from your audience. The Amazon Pinpoint Developer Guide includes a tutorial for creating an SMS registration system. For optimal SMS practices, including effective design for SMS-based mass communications and acquiring opt-in from your customers, refer to SMS Best Practices.
Other Important Considerations
An effective SMS for mass communication should be clear, concise, and ideally under 160 characters. Although messages exceeding 160 characters can be sent, they may incur additional charges as multiple messages. A straightforward example is a school notification regarding a snow day:
“Two-hour snow delay on 1/5 (Jan 5). Follow up today at 9 PM PST. https://amzn.to/a – FROM Alpha School District, 1/4/2021.”
As the situation evolves, updates can be issued, but avoid redundant information:
“School closure on 1/5 (Jan 5). https://amzn.to/b – FROM Alpha School District, 1/4/2021.”
If recipients have frequent inquiries, consider setting up an SMS bot. Learn more about two-way SMS bots in this insightful article. While it may seem that any SMS service can send these messages, several crucial factors need consideration when selecting an SMS provider, such as the scalability of their network. Although many mass communications are localized, partnering with a provider capable of global outreach is essential for message deliverability. Amazon Pinpoint can navigate through global provider networks, and in case of failures, it resorts to redundant routes.
Conclusion
SMS remains a vital channel for customer engagement across diverse applications, including mass communication. Amazon Pinpoint serves as a robust marketing and developer communication service, facilitating global messaging through various channels, including SMS, push notifications, email, and voice. Begin your journey today: https://aws.amazon.com/pinpoint. For further insights, check out this other blog post here; they provide valuable information on the topic. Also, you can visit https://chvnci.com/?p=3735, an authority on SMS communication best practices. Additionally, https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-training-onboarding-automation-2021-11 is an excellent resource worth exploring.
Leave a Reply