{"id":1008,"date":"2022-07-21T14:37:45","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T14:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1008"},"modified":"2023-11-10T13:15:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T13:15:45","slug":"a2p-sms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/a2p-sms\/","title":{"rendered":"What is A2P SMS?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What is A2P SMS?<\/h1>\n\n

A2P SMS\u00a0<\/strong>or application-to-person SMS is the\u00a0sending of SMS messages from a business application or system to an individual.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

When you receive a text from a company like an appointment reminder\u00a0or a code, that’s an A2P SMS.<\/p>\n\n

A2P SMS messaging is also known as business SMS, enterprise SMS, transactional and sometimes bulk SMS or SMS marketing.<\/p>\n\n

Just to add to all the terms, A2P SMS is also known as\u00a0MT SMS<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

The term A2P SMS specifically refers to the activity of a business sending text messages rather than an individual sending messages to another.<\/p>\n\n

A2P Texts are often automated and are triggered by an event. For example an order confirmation text might be triggered by a customer making a purchase.<\/p>\n\n

Exciting stuff.<\/p>\n\n

How does A2P SMS Work?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

A2P SMS works by integrating the sending of texts into a software application, system or website.<\/p>\n\n

Usually the business uses an\u00a0SMS API<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to integrate SMS, which allows their system to programmatically control the a2p sms flow, based on their own requirements.<\/p>\n\n

Occasionally, companies will use a\u00a0bulk SMS service<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to manually upload mobile numbers and send messages in batches to their customers.<\/p>\n\n

What is an A2P SMS gateway?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

A2P SMS gateway is simply another term for SMS API or\u00a0SMS gateway<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

What can A2P\u00a0SMS\u00a0be used for?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

A2P\u00a0SMS is used for a much broader range of applications than it used to.<\/p>\n\n

Here are some of the most common ways that companies use a2p SMS.
\u00a0
SMS Delivery Notification<\/strong>\u00a0– notify date and time of a package delivery
SMS for 2fa\u00a0(2-Factor Authentication)<\/a><\/strong> – send unique codes via SMS
SMS Appointment Reminders<\/strong>\u00a0– confirm date and time of appointment
SMS Order Confirmation<\/strong>
SMS Server Alerts – send alerts on server status<\/strong>
SMS to Highlight Important Emails<\/strong>\u00a0– Can increase email open rate by 27%
Promotion\u00a0<\/strong>– \u00a0Sales and Marketing texts
Customer Surveys and Polls<\/strong>
SMS Job Availability Alerts<\/strong>\u00a0– alert candidates to new job opportunities
Customer Support by SMS<\/b>
Integrate SMS into workflows – <\/b>Integrating SMS into workflows<\/a><\/strong> can increase customer engagement<\/p>\n\n

A2P SMS also\u00a0supports the sending or emojis<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0although\u00a0that’s rarely a good idea.<\/p>\n\n

What are the Benefits of A2P Messaging for Business<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Business SMS has been around since the late 90s and despite being very basic, it\u2019s popularity continues to grow.<\/p>\n

Mobile messaging research company Mobile Squared reported that,<\/p>\n

\n

“SMS accounted for 96% of the total business messaging spend in 2022, with 10% more businesses spending on SMS following the disruption around the globe caused in 2020.!”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They also predict that SMS will grow by an astonishing 87%<\/a><\/strong> between 2019 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n

There are several reason for its continued longevity…<\/p>\n\n

No one ignores SMS<\/strong>
Unlike other messaging channels like WhatsApp and Facebook\u2019s Messenger where you can easily mute groups or conversations, SMS retains the ability to grab our attention for every single text.<\/p>\n\n

Research by Mobilesquared revealed that 90% of texts are read within 5 minutes of landing on the phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

SMS is low cost<\/strong>
Typical costs to send an A2P text have reduced by about 65% in the past decade. Back in 2002, you could expect to pay about 10 pence for business text, in 2022 the cost is around 3 pence.<\/p>\n\n

\"Business<\/figure>\n\n

There\u2019s almost no SMS spam<\/strong>
Since GDPR came into force in 2018, bringing with it\u00a0new a2p SMS regulations<\/a>\u00a0and the penalty for sending SMS spam became potentially ruinous, spam has dramatically reduced.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

This means that companies sending A2P text messages enjoy incredibly high response rates<\/p>\n\n

Response rates to A2P SMS are high<\/strong>
SMS enjoys the highest response rates<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of all the communication channels. Compared to email, which struggles to achieve even 1% response rate, SMS rates are often 20% or more.<\/p>\n\n

SMS is trackable<\/strong>
Using\u00a0short links in texts<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0allows you to track exactly how many customers are clicking through to your mobile optimised website directly \u00a0from the text.<\/p>\n\n

Can you receive replies using\u00a0A2P\u00a0SMS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Yes, you can receive replies to your outbound SMS.<\/p>\n\n

To do this you need to set the originator or\u00a0sender ID<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(who the message is from) as a reply number.<\/p>\n\n

If you put your own mobile number, then replies will be routed back to your phone.<\/p>\n\n

You can also use a\u00a0virtual mobile number<\/a><\/strong>, provided by your SMS supplier.\u00a0
In this case, replies will be routed back to you via email or pushed to a URL that you can set.<\/p>\n\n

\"replies<\/figure>\n\n

Is A2P SMS secure?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

A2P SMS is not end to end encrypted<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in transit or at rest. So in theory anyone that manages to intercept your text, will be able to read it.<\/p>\n\n

It does raise the question of the suitability\u00a0of SMS as a way of sending 2fa security codes. But in practical terms, the chances of your SMS being hackled are tiny.<\/p>\n\n

So despite the inherent\u00a0security\u00a0flaws of A2P SMS, it’s the only universal messaging channel that everyone can use and for that reason alone, SMS is likely to continue as a major option\u00a0for delivering 2fa codes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

How popular is A2P messaging?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Mobile squared reported that 1.3 million businesses started using A2P SMS in 2020 an increase of 20%.<\/p>\n\n

A2P SMS traffic increased 14% between 2019 and 2020. This is very strong growth for a very basic messaging channel that has been around since 1994.<\/p>\n\n

Between 2019 and 2020 global A2P\u00a0SMS spend increased by 51.6%.<\/p>\n\n

Despite the limitations of SMS compared to other messaging platforms, SMS continues to enjoy very strong growth.<\/p>\n\n

\n

We were originally thinking that SMS would start to plateau in 2022. What we\u2019re actually seeing is that SMS is going from strength to strength.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Nick Lane – Chief Analyst – Mobilesquared<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

All this is in stark contrast to\u00a0P2P SMS messaging<\/a><\/strong>, which is declining very rapidly.<\/p>\n\n

Could anything replace a2p SMS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

According to more research by Mobilesqaured, A2P business messaging accounted for 99.2% of all business messaging traffic in 2019.<\/p>\n\n

But that dominance looks set to change. They predict that by 2024 the market share of A2P SMS \u00a0will have dropped to 59.3%.<\/p>\n\n

New messaging channels will become more popular as businesses look for richer ways of communicating than just 160 plain text characters.<\/p>\n\n

Market share of business messaging apps in 2024<\/p>\n\n

Business SMS 59.3%
WhatsApp Business App 15.8
WhatsApp Business API 13.7%
RCS Messaging<\/a>\u00a011.3%<\/p>\n\n

\"Business\n
Data source – MobileSquared<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n

Which industry sectors send the most a2p SMS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

The following is a breakdown of industry sectors that use The SMS Works SMS API for sending a2p messages to their customers.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Why choose The SMS Works for your a2p SMS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

There are literally dozens of UK companies offering A2P SMS services<\/a><\/strong>, so you\u2019d expect us to briefly list\u00a0a few reasons why we think we deserve to make your short list.<\/p>\n\n

Low cost<\/strong>\u00a0– We\u2019re among the\u00a0lowest cost SMS providers<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in the UK and we guarantee to beat any like for like quote.<\/p>\n\n

Pay only for delivered texts<\/strong>\u00a0– Unlike almost all other SMS companies we only charge for delivered texts, all failed SMS are refunded – it\u2019s a fairer and more transparent way for working.
Robust and reliable<\/strong>\u00a0– We\u2019ve invested in our\u00a0SMS infrastructure\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>to ensure the platform can handle the most demanding applications.
UK based data centres<\/strong>\u00a0– All our servers and\u00a0data centres are UK based<\/a>
Comprehensive A2p SMS documentation<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Copy and paste code snippets<\/a>\u00a0to help get you up and running fast
Rapid support<\/strong>\u00a0– We\u2019re here to help fast. We aim to respond to all support requests within 2 hours, but we\u2019re often much quicker.<\/p>\n\n

Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

What is P2P SMS?<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0The consumer relation to A2P SMS, here’s a quick explanation of P2P SMS.<\/p>\n\n

Transactional SMS<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Hang on, isn’t transactional SMS the same as A2P SMS? There are actually slight differences. Here’s the low down.<\/p>\n\n

How do email and SMS open rates compare?<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Of course you shouldn’t be choosing between email and SMS, you need both. But it’s quite interesting to compare them.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is A2P SMS? A2P SMS\u00a0or application-to-person SMS is the\u00a0sending of SMS messages from a business application or system to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t