The soaring digital adoption is driving more companies to communicate with their customers through digital channels. It’s here that the focus on A2P messaging intensifies. Short for Application-to-Person SMS, A2P SMS is now used for a range of use cases including two-factor authentication, customer notifications, and marketing purposes. The solution’s prominence is significantly reflected in the 2023 Rocco Research report that highlights the business impact of effective A2P SMS solutions and provides a detailed analysis of the leading A2P SMS solutions in the market.
The report rates the various solution providers across over 30 KPIs. Over the past decade, Rocco has adopted a market research approach based on:
- Vendor benchmarking – where MNOs rate their solution vendors for services like A2P SMS
- Market intelligence – where the Rocco team discusses product offerings with each vendor along with their views on a specific service
Global Teleservices has secured a Tier 1 rating for two KPIs: “Value for Money” and “Transparency.” As part of the portfolio of international messaging services, Globe Teleservices has been offering high-quality A2P SMS services to a global clientele and ensuring unmatched reliability.
But why is an A2P SMS solution important in today’s business environment, and what are its “must-have” functionalities? Let’s answer these questions in this blog.
Importance of A2P SMS Solutions
A2P messaging accounted for 70% of global messages in 2020. In fact, the number of yearly A2P messages is projected to cross 1.9 trillion by 2025.
According to Gartner, the open and response rates for A2P SMS are high at 98% and 45%, respectively. Contrarily, emails witness quite low open and response rates at 20% and 6%. This means customers are more responsive to A2P SMS than to business emails.
Besides, with A2P SMS, enterprises have a more cost-efficient mode of directly marketing their products to their customer base. A2P SMS solutions also enable enterprises to reach a wider audience, thus further reducing operational costs.
Additionally, an A2P SMS solution has a variety of use cases, including:
- Sending One-Time passwords (OTPs) securely for authenticating any online transaction.
- Sending timely updates for confirmation about hotel booking, airline tickets, or the status of shipped products.
- Gathering the customer’s feedback after a delivered service in the form of easy scores.
- Notifying the customer about emergencies in the form of canceled flights, unplanned service downtime, or a canceled order.
- Delivering a personalized or special offer to selected customers.
Thanks to the emergence of A2P SMS, businesses can reach their customers directly and instantly. Furthermore, they can receive immediate responses from their customers. However, not all A2P SMS solutions have the same functionalities. Here are some features that deliver business value to customers.
Key Features to Look for in an A2P SMS Solution
The global A2P SMS market is projected to reach $78.2 billion by 2028. With a host of providers to choose from, companies often struggle to pick the right solution provider that can satisfy their business requirements.
Here are four must-have features to look for in A2P SMS solutions:
1. Two-Way Messaging
A majority of A2P messaging solutions allow one-way SMS sent by the enterprise to the mobile user. In this mode, the recipient is not allowed, nor expected, to respond to the received message. With the emergence of rich communication services (RCS), A2P solutions can now feature two-way communication. RCS enables recipients to respond to their messages with a single touch.
Two-way messaging also benefits a host of advertisers and marketers with a personalized and interactive mode of communication. With two-way messaging, companies can instantly measure customer satisfaction.
2. Real-Time Analytics
Data-driven real-time analytics is now essential for organizations to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and related activities. Using analytics and reporting, A2P solutions can provide user engagement data with respect to metrics including:
- Message open rates
- Delivery statistics
- Click-through rates
With these data insights, enterprises can personalize their A2P messages and optimize their messaging strategy for the best results.
3. Regulatory Compliance
Consumer fatigue is a real challenge to A2P SMS providers. This can occur from a large volume of spam messages or even “phishing” messages sent from unknown entities. While evaluating A2P SMS solutions, ensure that they comply with data security and privacy regulations. Additionally, check if the solution provider has taken measures to protect sensitive data and message content.
By adhering to industry regulations, enterprises can reduce customer fatigue and avoid compliance-related violations resulting in financial losses.
4. Global Coverage
Enterprises with an international clientele need an A2P SMS solution that features global coverage and intelligent routing capabilities. With such extensive coverage, organizations have a direct connection with telecom operators across the world – thus ensuring an optimized delivery mode of messaging across countries. Similarly, intelligent routing enables the most efficient and dependable route or channel for transmitting messages.
Apart from these essential features, an excellent A2P SMS solution possesses capabilities like:
- Failovers to ensure high delivery rates for transmitted messages
- Scalability features that can adapt to rising volumes of messages over time
- Customized messages to tailor each message to the user’s preferences, thus improving engagement
- Support for multiple types of A2P SMS, including transactional messages, marketing campaigns, and interactive messages
Find all these and more in Globe Teleservices’ reliable and cost-effective A2P SMS solution. Using low-latency direct routes, we ensure faster delivery of messages and customer responses. Our A2P SMS solution enables enterprises to grow their subscriber base and build brand loyalty. Get in touch with us today to learn more!