Should you use phone companies' email-to-SMS gateways?

There are many ways to send an SMS or e-mail campaign to your customers. However, it’s best to avoid the “email to SMS” gateway. Why should you? In this article, we explain why.

Email to SMS gateways in a nutshell

Email-to-SMS gateways are services provided by phone companies. They allow you to send a text message from an email client using a specific email address. The email is automatically converted to an SMS. The text message is then sent to the specified mobile phone number.

The content of the message is preserved in the SMS. However, there may be some length restrictions: usually 160 characters per message.

In any case, these gateways are often used for the following purposes

Automatic alerts
Reminders
Notifications from monitoring systems or services
Any other communication that requires fast, reliable delivery to mobile phones.

Why avoid using these gateways?

Limited content

First, as mentioned above, SMS messages are limited to 160 characters. If the email exceeds this length, it may be truncated. It can be sent multiple times. This can make the message difficult for the recipient to understand.

Incompatible elements

In addition, emails can contain various elements that have little or no relevance in an SMS message:

Enriched text (HTML) ;
Images;
Attachments;
Various formatting elements.

These elements are not supported in SMS. This means that the rich content of an email may be lost or misinterpreted during conversion. In addition, there may be delays in the conversion and transmission of email content to SMS. This may result in unexpected delays. In addition, delivery reliability may vary by operators. It also depends on the network load.

Lack of security

Messages sent through these gateways may not be encrypted. This puts sensitive data at risk of being intercepted. What’s more, emails may pass through multiple servers before being converted to SMS. This increases the risk of compromise.

Restricted communication

Operators can apply spam filters to messages sent through their gateways. If a message is detected as spam, it maybe blocked or delayed. This can be detrimental to communication.

A paid service

Sending email is technically free. Sending an SMS through a gateway, on the other hand, can be expensive. This is especially true if the volume of messages is high. Some operators may charge for this service or limit the number of SMS messages that can be sent through their gateway.

Complicated management

Finally, replies to SMS messages may not go to the original email address. They may end up at a specific phone number. This complicates response management and limits two-way conversations.

Conclusion

Use Cocoapp for mass SMS delivery

At Cocoapp we offer an intuitive messaging platform. It allows you to send SMS messages to a large audience in an efficient and targeted way. We offer advanced features like contact filtering, message personalization and performance tracking. With our services, you can reach your target audience quickly and reliably. Whether for marketing campaigns, important alerts or mass communications.

Should you use phone companies’ email-to-SMS gateways?

Email to SMS gateways in a nutshell