Jacob Morrow
2024-10-12 14:02:34
Marketing in the digital age has greatly evolved. Businesses nowadays have to use multiple communication channels, such as SMS, to reach a wide audience base. Companies can make sure that they are maximizing their reach, sales, and overall profitability by choosing the right form of communication.
The open rates of text messages can be as high as 98%.
So, knowing the differences between short code vs. long code is important to ensure you are making use of text message marketing most effectively.
What is an SMS Short Code?
Definition
As the name suggests, SMS short codes have only 5 or 6 digits to make sure the customers can easily remember them. It plays a vital role in building brand identity and making sure a business can leave an impression on the target audience for a long period.
SMS short codes have an extremely high speed, also called throughput. As a result, they are typically considered to be a premium form of SMS communication and marketing.
SMS short codes have many benefits, including better open rates, higher engagement, greater speed, and better security and scalability.
If you want to learn more about the different types of SMS short codes, their detailed benefits, and examples, you can check out our comprehensive guide to shortcodes.
What Is an SMS Long Code?
Definition
Long codes are quite different from SMS short codes because they typically have 10 digits. Toll-free numbers are also an example of long codes. It is possible to enable the voice features in long codes and use them for voice calls as well as for two-way texting.
Some of the providers also allow landline numbers to be text-enabled to streamline the customer experience. Since the throughput rate of SMS long codes is significantly lower than that of shortcodes, they are not ideal for large-scale mass text blasts or alerts sent to a wide audience.
When Should You Use Long Codes?
- 10-digit long codes (10DLC) can be used for sending alerts, notifications, and marketing messages to a small audience base.
- Toll-free numbers are also long codes in nature. They are important for government authorities and organizations that want to allow people to call them quickly without worrying about the number as the receiver pays the bill.
- When you want to send marketing or two-factor authentication (2FA) messages to the users.
Benefits of SMS Long Codes
-
You can enable text on an existing landline business number to ensure
customers have the option of calling you or sending a message.
-
It supports both short message service (SMS) and multimedia messaging
service (MMS).
-
Long codes are useful in establishing a consistent channel of
communication, especially for businesses.
-
SMS long codes bring a human touch to communication as a 10-digit number
makes the message appear as if it is coming from a real person instead
of a bot.
Disadvantages of SMS Long Codes
Despite numerous benefits, there are a few prominent disadvantages and limitations of SMS long codes as well:
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Slow delivery time due to less throughout rate.
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The longer number of digits in long codes means they are more difficult
for customers to remember.
-
The long code SMS is typically not suitable for organizations with a
large audience base.
If your business has a greater focus on personalized customer service, you are likely to find long codes to be more useful than short codes.
Short Code vs Long Code: Differences Summary
Source:https://i.ytimg.com/
Now that you are familiar with the overview of both SMS short codes and long codes, let’s come to the crux of the topic. Let’s explore the key differences between short code vs. long code in terms of key features and applications to fully understand their differences:
- Capabilities: Long codes support faxes and calls. As a result, they are much more than just for text messaging. On the other hand, shortcodes can only be used for sending and receiving text messages.
- Registration: It is possible to use unregistered long codes to send messages. Proper registration of a short code is compulsory for sending any message from such a number.
- Throughput: Shortcodes have a higher throughput rate that ultimately translates into high speed, delivery rate, and greater open rate. As a result, shortcodes are preferred over long codes for mass marketing, greater security, and sending urgent alerts and information.
Long Code vs Short Code: Which One to Choose?
Choosing between long code vs short code might seem difficult at first. But the good thing is that once you consider your requirements and the key features of different SMS codes, you can make the right choice.
Some of the key factors and requirements you should consider in this process are:
1. Find Out Your Campaign Objectives
First of all, you must have a clear idea about your campaign goals and objectives.
If you want to run a large-scale marketing campaign, you should choose shortcodes. It has a higher throughput. Moreover, businesses can create memorable numbers for customers with shortcodes.
Hence, shortcodes are more suitable for promotions, subscriptions, and time-sensitive communication.
However, you should choose an SMS long code if you want to run a small marketing campaign for a small business. Long codes also offer more personalization options, so you can expect to make the maximum impact with long codes in a small business.
Source:https://www.eztexting.com/
2. Consider the Level of Campaigns
The level and scale of a marketing campaign also affect the selection of SMS codes.
If you are planning to run a local or country-specific campaign, you should go for long codes.
However, if you have a bigger ambition and want to reach an international audience, you should choose short code for greater scalability.
3. Determine Your Budget
Determining your budget is another vital component of choosing between long code vs short code.
If you are running a small business with a limited budget, you are likely to find long codes to be much more cost-effective.
On the other hand, if you have a reasonable budget to allocate towards text message marketing, you can consider investing in shortcodes that often also require a separate application and ongoing charges.
This is the reason why shortcodes are said to be more suitable for large-scale businesses or organizations capable of running large-scale marketing campaigns.
4. Volume of Messages
One of the quickest ways to choose between short code and long is by considering the expected volume of messages.
If you are running a high-volume campaign, you should choose shortcodes to handle the load efficiently. However, if you want to run a small-scale campaign with a limited volume of messages, you can go for long codes.
5. Choose the Right Platform
Last but not least, choosing the right messaging platform can make or break the success of your marketing campaign.
Some of the factors you should consider to choose the right messaging platform are:
- User-Friendliness: Make sure that the platform of your choice has a user-friendly interface to manage an SMS marketing campaign.
- Versatility: You should choose a platform that offers versatile engagement and marketing channels, including SMS.
- Deliverability: The deliverability rate and speed of SMS has a direct impact on the success of the marketing campaign. So, the platform must be capable of ensuring high deliverability.
- Tracking: The SMS marketing and engagement platform should also be capable of analyzing the performance of the messages you send.
- Global Support: Most businesses nowadays have a global audience. So, you should choose a platform that is capable of sending text messages around the world.
Considering these factors, the best platform to engage your customers with SMS is EngageLab.
EngageLab is the best customer engagement platform that can help you run a successful marketing campaign across multiple channels, including SMS. It is a one-stop solution for businesses as well as individuals who want to create, run, and manage a successful text messaging campaign.
Moreover, the features and reliable working process of EngageLab ensure your SMS is delivered to a global audience with great speed. It complies with all the relevant global laws and best practices to deliver marketing messages, authentication notifications, alerts, and any type of message to over 200 countries and territories.
EngageLab has a user-friendly interface to help you automate SMS marketing procedures and make sure you reach your target audience by crafting engaging and relevant messages. Higher throughput in EngageLab brings speed and security that every business needs to enhance the effectiveness of their SMS marketing.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that when it comes to the debate between short code vs long code, there are several differences in terms of their applications, capabilities, number of digits, throughput, security, and overall usage in marketing campaigns.
By analyzing your specific requirements, you can make the right choice between long code or shortcode. The best recommended way to navigate this process is with the help of a reliable platform like EngageLab, which supports running both small- and large-scale SMS marketing campaigns.
Get Started For FreeSign up for a free trial version of EngageLab today and see how it can help you reach a wider audience with reliable marketing and engagement strategies.
Learn more EngageLab and make SMS marketing more easier today.
