Broadcast Text Messaging: What Is It & How to Use It

Broadcast Text Messaging: What Is It & How to Use It

Your customers check their phones 96 times a day. Email open rates hover around 20%, if you're lucky. Meanwhile, SMS messages get opened within 3 minutes and have a 98% open rate.

The math is pretty simple.

Broadcast text messaging lets you send a single message to your entire contact list (or specific segments of it) and reach people where they already spend their time. It's not a group chat where everyone sees each other's responses. Each recipient gets what looks like a personal text from your business and can reply directly to you without exposing their information to others.

This guide covers what broadcast messaging is, how it works technically, when businesses actually use it (appointment reminders, flash sales, service updates), and how to implement it without annoying your customers or running into compliance issues.

What is broadcast messaging?

Broadcast text refers to the process of sending a message to a large contact list. As long as the recipient consents to receiving a text broadcast, similar to how they would sign up for a company’s marketing newsletter, the message will end up in their inbox like any other text. A broadcast text message may also be compatible with MMS elements, allowing marketers to weave in fun, attention-grabbing elements like GIFs or images.

MMS group vs. broadcast message

What is the difference between broadcast vs. MMS? At first glance, it’s easy to identify their similarities. After all, MMS and broadcast texts both allow senders to deliver a message to multiple recipients.

In MMS threads, every person in the group can respond to the original sender, creating long text message chains that everyone can see. On the other hand, in a text message broadcast, recipients can respond to the sender privately—without seeing group information or interacting with one another. With broadcast messaging, you can ensure that your customers’ personal data, like locations and phone numbers, remains fully protected.

A broadcast text message also helps businesses maximize reach while ensuring high deliverability rates. While MMS has a limit to its recipient quantity, broadcast messages can reach an unlimited number of people, allowing you to send messages in bulk.

How does broadcast messaging work?

Broadcast messaging follows a relatively simple process:

1. The user establishes a contact list to determine who will receive their messages.
2. The user then chooses a business messaging platform that will help deliver their message to the intended recipients. (Using a reliable messaging service is crucial, especially if a company is sending out a bulk text message—or if the user wants to segment different messages to subscribers.)
3. The user drafts their message, including visual elements wherever necessary.
4. The user schedules or sends the message.

How can businesses use broadcast text messaging?

Organizations might use business broadcast messaging for the following:

• A new and exclusive product promotion for subscribers
• An important status report during a natural disaster
• A campus-wide update for university students
• An out-of-office text alert for company employees
• A scheduled change for a doctor’s appointment

Essentially, businesses rely on a text message broadcast to connect with customers across multiple channels and boost engagement. Whether providing customer service or engaging with marketing, broadcast messaging builds the key digital relationships that contribute to higher customer satisfaction, according to common use cases.

Reminder alerts

Reminder alerts notify customers of an upcoming appointment, event, or product promotion. This type of broadcast keeps them in the loop, inviting response and strengthening connection with your business.

These alerts can also save you time and resources, especially if you’re a retailer, medical clinic, restaurant, or any business that involves booking appointments.

Feedback requests

Feedback requests are always valuable for businesses, as these allow you to identify problems and implement changes. While sending a feedback survey through email can be effective, an SMS survey might garner higher engagement—especially since SMS has a 98% open rate.

Plus, customers are likely to take notice when you tailor your services to meet their needs and expectations. The payoff will be well worth your effort.

Customer service updates

Customer service updates keep consumers informed, with quick, efficient communication and high visibility being critical. With frequent updates, you can assure your customers you’re working to finding solutions from the start of their journey to actual completion.

Most customer service broadcasts pertain to orders received and shipped, but these can also remind shoppers of abandoned shopping carts and thank them for their purchases. Short and simple, broadcast texts show customers they’re valued.

Send messages to bulk audiences with Twilio

Broadcast messaging is a powerful way to connect with every customer through the comfort of their mobile devices and a few by opt-in channels. Plus, with many use cases and a simple integration process, you can strengthen your digital relationships and demonstrate your ability to meet customers where they are with broadcast messaging through the Twilio SMS API.

Twilio's SMS API, coupled with the message scheduling feature, helps you reach your audience—no matter the size—and manage opt-ins by channel. This enables businesses to send bulk messages with simple, powerful solutions that ensure security and reliability.

Want to learn more about the benefits and implementation of broadcast messaging for your business strategy? Contact Twilio today to get started.

Frequently asked questions

Q. What is broadcast text messaging?

Broadcast text messaging sends a single SMS or MMS message to multiple recipients at once, with each person receiving it as an individual text. Recipients can't see each other's phone numbers or responses. Each reply goes directly back to your business privately, making it ideal for business-to-customer communication at scale.

Q. Is broadcast messaging legal?

Yes, but only if recipients explicitly opt in to receive messages from you. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), you need written consent before sending marketing texts. This means checkbox opt-ins on forms, keyword replies to shortcodes, or clear agreement at point of sale.

Q. How many people can I send a broadcast message to?

There's no technical limit with proper broadcast messaging platforms. You can send to 100 people or 100,000 people with a single campaign. This is different from group MMS, which maxes out at 10-20 recipients depending on the carrier.

Q. What's the difference between broadcast messaging and bulk SMS?

They're essentially the same thing. Some platforms use different terminology, but the functionality is identical—one message goes out to your entire list or selected segments, and each recipient receives it as an individual text.

Q. Do I need special software to send broadcast text messages?

Yes. You can't send broadcast messages from your regular phone. You need a business messaging platform like Twilio that handles the infrastructure for sending thousands of messages, manages opt-ins and opt-outs, tracks delivery rates, and keeps you compliant with regulations.