In Focus

Email formats: choose or lose

Sara Johnides
Email Posted on October 31, 2007

Short message service (SMS)

SMS messages are short text messages sent to and from a mobile phone, fax machine and/or an IP address. Consisting of no more than 160 alpha-numeric characters, SMS messages cannot include images or graphics of any sort, due to the nature of this format. The limit of characters keeps this message extremely short, making it even more important to make sure content is as exciting and relevant as possible for your target market. The topic of your message, as well as your primary target market, will help you determine the time and frequency of your messages. It is important for organizations to keep in mind that targeted advertising based on subscriber profiles enhances the mobile user's experience.

SMS best practice tips:

  • Keep copy and content interesting and concise. Use language your target market can relate to.
  • Include some level of personalization to increase message impact.
  • SMS messages should be 160 characters or less.

 An example of an SMS message


All three message formats deliver unique value and content to consumers. Regardless of the format you use, it is pertinent for the success of your campaigns to set proper expectations for your subscribers and deliver exactly what you promised.

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Comments

sri vikas
sri vikas November 8, 2007 at 12:32 AM

exceptionally well written article! as i am in charge of my company's email marketing campaign this artcile helps in understanding various ideas on how to make a email/sms letters engaging and effective. thank you

Sara Johnides
Sara Johnides November 1, 2007 at 10:29 AM

Peter- Thanks for your comment. I appreciate your thoughts. The image I provided was a simple visual example of what a text message would look like on a handheld. In fact, I did some research and the limit of 160 characters isn't even absolute. SMS character limitation is ultimately determined by your network, model of device and carrier. Although 160-characters is a limit most of us email marketers have learned to abide by, there are always exceptions to the rule. – Sara Johnides, Premiere Global Services

sanket tupe
sanket tupe November 1, 2007 at 4:37 AM

it is right, we can not predict what will be future of email marketing, I am into web hosting business, 2 year ago i stared yahoo group now i have 4600 member in it and it excite me when i send one email to my group, people forward it to their friend and those are not member of my group they come to know about my group from email which they receive from thier friend in this way now every week 150+ new member subscribe my group, look into advantage that yahoo group have u dont need to send muliple email just send one email, ur email reaches to all member, some time people heats promotional email, some peopel like to receive funny stuff by email, some peopel intrested in knowing hollywood gossips so what i suggest is let them what they want for example in my yahoo group peopel prefer to read hollywood celebrites picture and gossips but as a email marketer i am targeting my services and at the same time i can not forgot intrest of reader so i provide hollywood celebrities picture and i alos advertise my services with line "low cost reliable hosting: gromohosting.com" after every picture i used in email it really excite me I will recommend yahoo group inorder to promote services using email marketng

Peter Nelson
Peter Nelson October 31, 2007 at 8:36 AM

Good article but the image with the text message is misleading. The example is way over 160 characters. This is giving a distorted view of what one could achieve. Having struggled with crafting the right combination of words, abbreviations, and "substitutions" for broadcast text messaging this strikes a nerve for me. Thanks.