What Is a Bulk SMS Gateway?

Bulk messaging has become a popular marketing tool, with many companies using it as their go-to option when running marketing campaigns. Many businesses embrace this technique because it’s effective in reaching large numbers of prospects and is very affordable.

For this marketing technique to be effective, it’s important to understand how a secure bulk SMS gateway works and the necessary elements that have to be put in place. If you’re just getting started, it’s a good idea to peruse bulk SMS examples to familiarise yourself with the fundamentals of creating bulk SMS messages.

You should also understand the various methods of sending bulk messages and the tools needed for each. This includes understanding what a bulk SMS gateway is and how it works.

Bulk SMS Gateway Explained

Whether you’re doing the bulk messaging yourself or hiring someone to do it for you, you have to be familiar with the bulk SMS gateway. Let’s explore some important facts about bulk SMS messages that will help shed light on the concept.

First, bulk messaging is done through an SMS application on a website. The SMS application is fed phone numbers of the people you want to send text messages to.

The system simultaneously sends the message to all the phone numbers entered. Your message will be sent to their mobile phones and other devices that support SMS messaging.

In most cases, messages sent using this software application can’t be read unless it is first translated into a machine language. The system will then convert the message to a language that can be read by the phone. This message will be sent from the computer system to the recipient’s device through a network. For your message to move from the computer to the intended devices, it must go through an SMS gateway.

Previously, SMS gateways were pieces of hardware–they needed radio frequencies and SIM cards to facilitate the free flow of messages. Fortunately, advancing technologies have given rise to cloud computing, which has led to the development of SMS gateways based in the cloud.

These gateways are seamless and can rapidly convert and deliver messages to the intended destinations.

How Bulk SMS Gateways Work

An SMS gateway facilitates communication between bulk messaging computer software and the recipient’s device. It serves as a bridge between you and your intended audience and can facilitate messaging across various protocols and systems. The process of facilitating communication between a sender and receiver starts when the sender crafts an SMS text using the web application.

The sender then addresses the text to the recipient using their mobile phone number. When the sender clicks the send button, the message goes to the gateway from a mobile application, computer software, or a web interface. The message is processed by the gateway based on the selected settings (e.g., message format, encoding, and decoding) and confirms the phone number of the recipient.

Then, the gateway forwards the message to the receiver’s network either directly or through an aggregator that then connects to the receiver’s mobile network operator (MNO). Once the MNO receives the message, it forwards it to the receiver’s device.

The MNO will send a confirmation message to the gateway when the message is successfully delivered to the receiver. This confirmation message can be forwarded to the sender if requested.

Final Thoughts

When you’re choosing a bulk messaging company for your marketing campaigns, ensure they have a reliable gateway so that your SMS messages can be delivered safely to the intended recipients without putting their personal details at risk of theft and manipulation.

160.com.au is a leading specialist in the art of bulk SMS messaging and provides a safe and reliable platform that meets all your privacy compliance and security needs–every time!