SMS A2P 2022 STUDY

MARKETING OR NOTIFICATION?

WHEN ARE THE SMS SENT ?

As in 2020, SMS notification in 2021 remains evenly spread over the week. The only difference in 2021 is that Monday is slightly less popular and all other days of the week are more popular. The peak of sending is now on Tuesday and a decrease in the number of sendings takes place until Sunday.
On the marketing side, Fridays remain the favourite day for marketers to run their promotional campaigns via SMS. But it is Monday that now takes second place, replacing Tuesday, which is clearly decreasing compared to previous years. Saturday's share is also increasing year on year.

If the wide time slot from 8am to 8pm has been asserting itself year after year as the time slot representing the vast majority of sendings (marketing and notifications combined), 2021 is the year where this time slot reaches a kind of plateau (91.12% of SMS sent, against 91.15% in 2020).
In general, 2021 sees the morning becoming increasingly popular with businesses (33.69% of sends).
The 10am-11am time slot continues to be the preferred sending time (+3.29 points compared to the previous year), and the 11am-12am time slot is also gaining ground (+1.76 points). Only the 9-10 a.m. time slot loses 2.64 points.
Shipments are down after 4pm compared to last year (-1.84 points), probably due to the deceleration of delivery services and Click and Collect.

TO WHICH OPERATORS?

The distribution of SMS sent by operators is extremely stable from year to year, in line with their market shares:
Orange (30%), SFR (25%), Bouygues Telecom (20%) and Free (15%). The only slight change is that NRJ Mobile (5%) gains 1.39 points in 2021.

The rise of SMS notification announced in 2020 has indeed taken place in 2021. While SMS marketing has not returned to its pre-pandemic level, the digitalisation of exchanges has been confirmed and notification has driven the growth of A2P SMS as a whole.

The vaccination campaign is obviously not unrelated to this sharp increase in traffic. Online medical appointment booking platforms have seen an explosion in the number of SMS reminders and confirmations of appointments.

The SMS OTP (one-time password) has also played a major role in this growth. It had been impacted by the cessation of its use for banking transactions, but is finding a second wind in the multiplication of accounts requiring strong authentication. Connection to cryptocurrency wallets, remotely accessible company platforms (with the development of teleworking), or accounts hosting sensitive data are all new uses involving a strong need for security, to which the SMS provides a response.

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BAROMETER 2021

How will companies use SMS in 2021?

What are the trends in 2021 concerning the use, sending habits and content of A2P mobile messaging? How will this evolve in comparison to 2020? What impact has the Covid-19 crisis had on mobile marketing?

Sending A2P (Application to Person) SMS messages is a popular practice for brands. Highly effective, it allows them to establish a direct and immediate link with their contacts.
While new messaging channels (RCS, WhatsApp Business, etc.) are arriving on the A2P mobile messaging market, SMS retains its supremacy as the preferred mobile communication medium for brands to communicate with their customers and contacts, directly on their mobile.

This is the second major survey dedicated to SMS A2P, smsmode^© analyzed more than 170 million SMS sent by some 1917 French brands and companies between 1^er September 2020 and January 31, 2021.

SMS STUDY A2P 2021

MARKETING OR NOTIFICATION?

The number of SMS notifications sent was higher (58.34%) than the number of advertising SMS (41.65%). 2020 is thus the first year in which SMS notification has become the main use of A2P SMS and has dethroned advertising SMS, the historical use of this communication channel by companies.

Despite the health situation linked to COVID-19, the volumes of A2P SMS sent remained stable (+0.16% compared to the previous year). It should also be noted that COVID-19 had little impact on notification mailings. On the other hand, marketing mailings were dependent on containment measures (-21% for the period from November 1 to 20, 2020 compared to the previous year).
SMS marketing operations linked to major promotional events(Black Friday 2020 or winter sales 2021), both postponed due to the health situation, were largely less impacted and suffered a decrease in sending volume of "only" -7%.

WHEN ARE THE SMS SENT ?

In terms of sending habits, there are no major changes compared to our previous study in terms of variations in notification traffic over the week: SMS notification sending is done in a decrescendo from Monday to Friday with a strengthening of sending at the beginning of the week.
On the other hand, on the advertising side, in 2020, marketers preferred Tuesdays and Fridays (and to a lesser extent Mondays) to carry out their promotional campaigns by SMS, a real change compared to last year when Thursday was the day preferred by marketers to carry out their campaigns.

As for the sending hours favoured by companies, SMS operations (marketing & notification combined) are still mainly - and this trend is increasing year after year - carried out throughout the wide 8am to 8pm time slot (representing 91.15% of SMS sent).
Two trends can be noticed :
- a shift in sending preferences towards the morning, and more specifically between 9am and 12pm (+4.1 points over 1 year), the time slot where delivery notifications are sent, a booming sector that is increasingly using the SMS channel,
- an increase in the number of messages sent at the end of the day, from 6pm to 8pm (+2.3 points compared to the previous year) which reveals the rise of Click and Collect and meal delivery services traditionally using this time to send their notification messages.

TO WHICH OPERATORS?

There was also little change in the distribution by French mobile network. The ranking of operators receiving A2P SMS campaigns is therefore composed of : Orange (31.38%), SFR (24.87%), Bouygues Telecom (20.37%) and Free (17.89%) and is consistent with their respective market shares.

WHAT CONTENT FOR A2P SMS?

The content of SMS campaigns conducted in 2020 is 160 characters or less - i.e. 1 SMS per message - in the vast majority of cases (73%).
As for the evolution compared to the previous year, we can note both a tendency towards shorter and shorter messages (+1 point increase for SMS with between 80 and 120 characters), and, at the same time, a rise in long and detailed messages (+2.6 points for messages of more than 160 characters over 1 year).

WHAT PERFORMANCE?

This year, 2021, sees the rise of SMS notification. Reflecting a latent trend that we have been observing for several years, the surge in informative messages can be explained in part by the transformation and digitalisation of the economy, of which the crisis linked to Covid-19 will ultimately have only been an accelerator.

The very gradual arrival of new mobile messaging channels (WhatsApp Business or RCS) should not disrupt this growth in the coming months. Reserved for notification - and in addition to conversational commerce messages for RCS - these new channels are building strategies that place highly targeted and interactive One-to-One communications at the centre. All in all, these practices foreshadow the mobile marketing of the future.

DOWNLOAD THE STUDY IN PDF FORMAT (French)

Our free downloadable white paper will help you discover the new mobile messaging channels and the new opportunities they offer for your communication.

PDF AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH, FRENCH AND SPANISH

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WHATSAPP BUSINESS, RCS AND OTHERS.
New A2P mobile messaging channels
for your business

SMS has been an established part of the A2P (Application to Person) mobile messaging landscape for 15 to 20 years now. And now new formats are suddenly coming to the fore. Between those that are already established in the panel of communication tools(push notification and WhatsApp Business API) and those thatarrive on the market(RCS and Verified SMS).

In a context where the use of instant messaging by individuals is exploding, this new market that is opening up for companies is synonymous with new opportunities to get in touch with their customers. And companies have understood this.

Indeed,aware of the stakes and the potential offered by these new channels, companies' expectations are high. The first French companies are now beginning to use these new channels in their omnichannel strategies and are beginning to see initial feedback.

With this new white paper smsmode^©we have put together a a complete overview of our new channels... so you can choose the best support.

Through the 28 pages of this white paper, discover the functionalities offered by each of these new channels, their features, their compatibilities and their potential.

TREND

3 pillars: multimedia, conversation and security

PRODUCT SHEET

WhatsApp Business

PRODUCT SHEET

RCS - Rich Communications Services

PRODUCT SHEET

Verified SMS

PRODUCT SHEET

Push notification

A2P MOBILE CHANNEL COMPARISON

Summary of available features

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STUDY 2020

How will businesses use SMS in 2020?

Our A2P 2020 SMS study highlights, identifies and provides insight into 2020 trends in usage, sending patterns, content and other significant issues in A2P mobile messaging.

A2P SMS (also known as Business SMS) remains an essential and unavoidable mobile interaction channel between companies and their customers.
On the eve of its 30th anniversary, SMS remains an essential mobile communication channel. While the number of P2P SMS (between 2 people) exchanged is decreasing, A2P SMS continues to grow... and therefore to be a powerful medium in the mobile communication landscape.

To establish this study, smsmode^© has collected a vast array of data. More than 83 million SMS messages sent by some 1,299 brands and companies between October 15, 2019 and January 14, 2020, were analyzed.

SMS STUDY A2P 2020

MARKETING OR NOTIFICATION?

With nearly 65,000 SMS sent per month and per advertiser, the use of A2P SMS is a practice that is well established among marketing professionals.
Almost as many SMS notifications (48.73%) as advertising SMS (51.27%) were sent by companies. SMS notification is a more recent use in SMS communication and is on its way to dethrone SMS advertising and become the main use of A2P SMS.

However, these two uses of SMS deserve to be differentiated as their uses are so far from each other. As a one-to-one informative communication, the volumes of SMS notifications vary little over the weeks. On the other hand, and not surprisingly, we could say that advertising by SMS is strongly punctuated by periods of commercial activities (sales, Black Friday, period before Christmas, etc.) during which we count an advertising pressure 3 times higher than during a period without notable commercial activity.

WHEN ARE THE SMS SENT ?

In terms of sending habits, the beginning of the week (Monday and Tuesday) is more conducive to sending SMS notifications. Nevertheless, we can observe that notification traffic remains fairly steady until Friday and quite high at the weekend (especially on Sunday when Monday's appointment reminders are sent).

On the other hand, as far as advertising is concerned, marketers clearly prefer Thursdays to carry out their promotional campaigns by SMS (+52.20% of traffic observed on the marketing channel compared to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or even Friday).

Concerning now the question of the sending time. The times of day chosen by companies to carry out their SMS operations - marketing & notification combined - are quite extensive and cover the wide time range from 8am to 8pm: 93.76% of SMS are sent during this period.

There is a slight preference for the late morning and early afternoon - 51.91% of SMS are sent during this period - with a small peak in the early afternoon(between 1pm and 3pm) and sustained activity in the late morning between 10am and 1pm.

TO WHICH OPERATORS?

The breakdown by mobile network operator in mainland France of A2P SMS campaigns is consistent with their respective market shares .

The Top 4 operators are therefore composed of : Orange (32.91%), SFR (26.32%), Bouygues Télécom (19.37%) and Free (18.12%).

WHAT CONTENT FOR A2P SMS?

Our analysis shows that the technical constraints and possibilities of SMS - as well as their optimisations - are quite well used by communication professionals.
The personalization of the Sender ID or personalized sender is well known and well used by professionals. More than 9 out of 10 SMS are sent with this functionality.

WHAT PERFORMANCE?

DOWNLOAD THE STUDY IN PDF FORMAT

Download free of charge, our white paper will let you discover the 9 cases of application of the informative SMS to be integrated in your communication.

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9 marketing action sheets
around the information SMS

The mobile channel has the clear advantage of being able to disseminate relevant information in an individualised, personalised and personal manner, all in real time... which certainly positions the mobile as the number one channel for customer relations! Customer follow-up, security, distribution of alerts or information, etc.; there are as many possible uses of relational communication as there are needs in terms of direct marketing.

But in which cases should you use informative SMS?
What tools and functionalities are available? And what are the strengths and precautions to respect in the communication plan?

Through this white paper, which includes 9 simple, clear and easily applicable action sheets, we wanted to offer you a complete and exhaustive overview of the potential of SMS used for information purposes. The ideas and advice we share are the result of proven experience and can be easily and effectively integrated into yourcustomer relations improvement process.

Through 9 action cards around the informative SMS grouping each of many practical tips and tricks, explore all the possibilities offered by the SMS for sending information and notifications on mobile.

Downloadable free of charge, our white paper will help you discover the 4 cases of application of SMS advertising to be integrated into your communication.

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4 marketing action sheets
on SMS advertising....

The mobile phone is today an essential link in digital advertising and one of the main channels of interaction between a brand or a company and its customers. Even if it must be used with care, the mobile phone remains a highly effective promotional tool. And in this respect, SMS has a prime position; integrated in multichannel and cross-channel strategies, it offers the advantage of very high potential campaigns.

But what are the possibilities offered by SMS advertising?
For what purpose? And how can you integrate it into your communication plan?

This white paper contains 4 simple, clear and easily applicable action sheets, giving you all the keys and tips for each application of SMS marketing. So many possibilities for SMS advertising that you can then adopt and adapt to your communication and your sector of activity to ultimately improve the performance of your mobile communications.

Free Download our White paper:

Our white paper "How to develop and implement a communication by SMS? SMS advertising through 4 action sheets" of 24 pages of advice on mobile marketing, can be downloaded by filling in this form:

Through 4 action sheets on SMS advertising, each containing many practical tips and tricks, explore all the possibilities offered by SMS in the implementation of commercial actions and promotions on mobile phones.

Download free of charge, our white paper will let you discover the 10 best practices essential to carry out your marketing campaigns via SMS.

PDF AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH, FRENCH AND SPANISH

FREE WHITE PAPER

10 good SMS practices to carry out a successful SMS campaign!

Free Download our White paper:

Our white paper "10 best practices for running an SMS campaign ", with 16 pages of mobile marketing tips, can be downloaded by filling in this form: