What is MMS?
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is a type of text message that includes a media attachment, such as an image, GIF, PDF, or video. With MMS, you can send media in your initial message, along with text up to 1,600 characters, all in a single message. MMS messages can be used to boost engagement, deliver richer content, or optimize your outreach.
This guide will walk you through how MMS works, what file types are supported, how to set it up, and how to troubleshoot common issues. MMS messaging is currently available to U.S. and Canadian accounts only.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- What is MMS?
What Files Can I Send?
The file types accepted for MMS in ThruText:
| Media Type | Description | File Extensions |
|---|---|---|
| Images | Static visuals like logos, flyers, graphics, or photos. |
|
| Gifs | Looped visual content |
|
| Videos | Short, mobile-friendly video clips. |
|
| Documents | PDFs like flyers, forms, or simple one-pagers. | |
| Contact Cards | vCard file to let recipients easily save a contact. |
|
File Size Requirements
Most major mobile carriers support media files up to 750 KB for MMS. To help meet that threshold, our media library will transcode, or compress and convert, your media to an acceptable size and format for MMS.
You can upload media files up to 10 MB to the Media Library. Files that are under 750 KB after transcoding will be eligible for use in your message. Read more about our Media Library here: Media Library.
MMS Costs
MMS messages typically cost slightly more than SMS messages. For current clients, please refer to your contract. Pricing can also be found on our pricing page.
MMS can be more cost-effective than sending multi-segment SMS messages if your organization is billed per segment. If you pay per segment, divide the MMS price by the SMS segment price - if your initial message has more segments than this number, an MMS will cost less to send. For more information about text message segments, read out guide: Text Message Segments.
How to Send an MMS Message
Follow these 3 steps to send an MMS
1. Upload Media to your Media Library
In the left sidebar navigation menu, expand the ThruText menu, then expand ThruText Tools, and then click Media Library.
Click Add your first media to upload a media file.
2. (U.S. Only) Submit Sample Media to our Vetting Partner
If you're texting U.S. contacts, you must submit a sample media file to our vetting partner for each use case you want to send MMS messages from. You'll have to complete Use Case Registration and receive an approved use case before you can complete this part of the process.
Once you've done that, go to the Brand & Use Case Registration page, and click Browse Media Library.
You'll select a media file from your Media Library and submit. MMS approval usually takes seconds. Once approved, an MMS Approved flag will appear next to your use case.
Read more about this here: Adding Sample MMS to a Use Case.
3. Create your Campaign and Add your Media File
Start by creating a campaign. From the left sidebar navigation menu, under ThruText, expand Campaigns, and click Create New Campaign. After completing the first step of campaign creation, you'll arrive at the Targeting step.
Select a dedicated or single use number from the targeting page to enable MMS messaging. Next, click Save & Next to go to the Initial Message step.
Here you can add a media file to your initial message by clicking Add Media. You will only see the Add Media button if you associate an MMS approved use case with your campaign. This can be done by selecting a dedicated phone number that went through provisioning for your use case, or by selecting a single use number and a use case.
To confirm the media is attached, check the message preview at the bottom of the page for a preview of the file. After completing campaign creation, you can send your MMS messages.
To read more about launching ThruText campaigns, read our guide here: Launching a ThruText Campaign.
Message Throughput: How Fast Can I Send MMS Messages?
Carriers enforce a throughput on application-to-person text messaging to protect the channel from spam messaging. Throughput refers to the rate at which you can send messages - messages per minute or per day. Due to carrier limitations, MMS messages are subject to different throughput limits than SMS messages.
Because MMS throughput is lower than SMS, these messages typically take longer to deliver. If MMS messages are sent out but not delivered before the campaign closes then they will be queued and then sent as soon as the campaign opens the next day. If the campaign's initial message sending window closes before the messages are sent out, the messages will fail to send. We recommend sending MMS messages earlier in the day to account for the lower throughput.
Please check out our guides for more details on that process.
How to Track MMS Usage
Each MMS message counts as one segment with regard to throughput, but the usage is tracked separately from SMS in analytics and exports. You can find analytics about your MMS messages in these places:
- Usage Analytics: On the Usage Refer to the column for MMS messages to see how many you sent that month. For more information, read our guide here: Usage Analytics.
- Exports: Several exports contain data about how many MMS messages you sent, including account-level and campaign exports. In a messages export, you can see a column for message_direction that will indicate when a message is an outgoing_mms. In a conversation export, you can see columns for outgoing_mms and outgoing_mms_messages_failed.
- Campaign Analytics: On the campaign summary page, you can see an Analytics section where you'll find Initial Sent and Segments. Since MMS messages are not grouped with SMS messages and segments, the Initial Sent figure shows how many MMS messages you sent, while the Segments figure displays outgoing SMS segments. Read more about campaign analytics here: ThruText Campaign Analytics.
For billing purposes, refer to your contract for your MMS and SMS rates. You can read more about accessing billing details for your account here: Using Method to View Billing Details.
MMS Best Practices and Info
- Branded Outreach: Use MMS to visually brand your outreach, such as by including your logo.
- Consider the Preview: If you're sending a smaller image, like a logo, add padding on the borders so it can appear in the image preview. The preview for a small image will be zoomed in, resulting in some of the image not being visible.
- Run a Test: Send a text campaign to yourself and friends or colleagues to see how it appears before sending a campaign to your contacts.
- One Media File per MMS: MMS messages can only include a single media file.
- Must Include Media: MMS messages must include a media file. They cannot be text-only.
- Initial Messages Only: Media files can only be added to initial messages and are not available for replies or followups at this time.
- Troubleshooting: If you don't see Add Media when you create a campaign, check the following two things. Check that your use case is MMS approved on the Brand & Use Case Registration page. Next, check that you selected a phone number on the Targeting step of campaign creation.
- Switch to an MMS Campaign: If you already launched your SMS campaign and it has an MMS Approved use case, you can pause the campaign and edit the script to add media. Read more about this in this guide: Editing an Initial Message in an Active Campaign.
- Availability: MMS is only available in the US and Canada at this time.