What You Need to Know About International SMS Text Messaging

Following the world cup, there are many businesses all over the world that will be looking for cost-effective ways to keep in touch with global customers, which they can with international SMS.

We’ll take a look at the ins and outs of international SMS text messaging. Topics covered below will include which software to use, which accounts to register for and how to determine the cost of messages to the country you want to send messages to.

Which Software Should You Use?

Essentially there exists two types of software for the transmission of international SMS text messages:

1. Pre-designed software packages. These are software packages that have already been written by someone else and is usually free or available at a nominal cost and, in most cases, provide the business owner with an interface similar to that of the email inbox, with the added benefit of address book management and much, much more.
2. Application Programming Interfaces (API’s). Think of a human translator that mediates between speakers of different languages – the API is exactly like that. It allows communication with the SMS gateway (or SMS server, if you want) from a business’ native software environment using any of the available API languages.

These include HTTP/S, SMPP, SMTP, SOAP, XML, FTP and COM objects. Integrating any of these API’s within native software environments allow businesses to send international SMS text messages using their own databases and software.

Which Accounts Should You Register For?

Local SMS text account or international SMS text account? It is possible to register a local account in a different country to send international SMS messages. For instance, if you have a fair number of contacts in the United Kingdom, then it could be worth your while to register a local account in the United Kingdom to ensure that you save on costs when sending to them.

But, if the majority of your customers are located in South Africa or elsewhere and you only have a few contacts in the United Kingdom, then it might be better to register for an international SMS account or an account local to South Africa.

Take care to note that short codes are country specific. Regardless of the number of customers you have in a specific country, if you want to make use of a short code in that country, you’ll have to register for a local account in that country and apply for a short code accordingly.

Determining Cost

Ultimately it’s all down to cost for most business owners. How much will you pay for reliable international SMS text messaging (with the focus on ‘reliable’)? The long answer is that the costs for bulk messaging to any destination are cheaper than, say, messaging from a normal mobile phone. However, if you just want the short answer, go to this coverage page for reliable messaging prices.

For more information about the products you can use to communicate with potential or existing customer that you acquired during the world cup, simply go to our international SMS page.

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Tags: application programming interface, global texting, International SMS, local SMS, text messaging software