A2P Messaging: The definitive guide for businesses

Winning the attention of your customers is becoming increasingly difficult. And that’s where A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging comes in. A2P messaging allows businesses to engage with customers instantly and directly via SMS. From improving customer satisfaction to driving conversions, it has become a cornerstone of modern communication strategies.

But how does it work, and why should your business be leveraging it? Let’s dive in!

What is A2P messaging?

A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging is the process of sending SMS or text messages from an application or software to a person’s mobile device.

Unlike traditional messaging (Person-to-Person), where communication happens between two individuals, A2P is used by businesses and organizations to deliver automated messages directly to their customers or users.

What are the use cases for A2P SMS?

A2P messaging plays a crucial role in various business processes.

Security and Authentication

A2P helps businesses enforcing two-factor authentication (2FA). Companies can send One-Time Passwords (OTP) to customers whenever they do sensitive actions. Signing up, logging in, accessing sensitive data or a financial transaction could trigger a verification.

With this extra layer of protection, they ensure that only authorized users can complete these actions. This helps to safeguard customer accounts and reduce fraud.

Notifications and Alerts

SMS is also a great channel to sens real-time notifications that your users are sure to notice. It's often reserved for important messages and time-sensitive alerts. Key use cases include:

• Confirmations: Let your users know that their purchase, appointment, or reservation has been processed and validated.

• Reminders: Send timely alerts about upcoming appointments or reservations. This helps users stay on track and avoid missed bookings or deadlines.

• Tracking: Keep users updated on the delivery status of their orders. We can all use some peace of mind throughout a shipping process.

• Suspicious Activity Alerts: Notify users immediately if any suspicious activity is detected on their account. This can be a log in attempt or a modification to a personal information, so they can review and protect their account if needed.

Marketing campaigns

Lastly, businesses use A2P messaging to run targeted marketing campaigns to promote a new offer, share a discount code, or announce a product release. SMS is an effective way to get your message directly in front of your audience, ensuring higher engagement rates.

How does A2P work?

A2P messages are not sent by an individual like in P2P messaging, but by an application or platform. Businesses connect their applications to third-party solutions: SMS gateways or SMS APIs to send messages at scale.

A2P messages can be triggered in several ways:

1. by a user action (e.g., purchase confirmation or login verification),

2. an automated system event (e.g., daily reminders),

3. or manually for marketing campaigns.

Once a message is triggered, the application sends an API request to the third-party solution. This request contains all necessary data: recipient’s number, message, sender ID, etc.

The message is then forwarded to an SMS gateway. The gateway acts as the bridge between the application and the telecom networks. Its role is to:

1. convert the message into a format that can be transmitted over the mobile network

2. route the message to the appropriate mobile network operator (MNO), depending on the recipient’s country and other signals.

Message delivery is then managed by the telecom operators. They verify:

1. that the message complies with local regulations

2. the validity, activity, and reachability of the recipient's number.

Once the message is sent, a delivery report is shared back through the API. Businesses can then track the message performance and success rates.

Differences between A2P and P2P SMS

The primary difference between A2P (Application-to-Person) and P2P (Person-to-Person) messaging is the origin of the message.

P2P refers to text messages exchanged between individuals, from one phone number to another.

A2P involves messages sent from an automated system, application, or platform to a person’s mobile device.

While P2P messaging involves casual, conversational communication, A2P is more structured and regulated, as it is often used for business purposes.

Benefits of A2P messaging

Businesses have many ways to communicate with their users: push notifications through apps, email marketing, and even traditional postal services for those willing to wait. So, what makes A2P messaging unique and compelling for businesses?

Here are some benefits to consider:

• High open and engagement rates: SMS messages boast a near 98% open rate, with most messages read within minutes. This ensures your message not only reaches but engages its target audience quickly.

• Global reach and reliability: Unlike push notifications, which can be silenced, or emails, which can land in spam, SMS works across all mobile devices without requiring internet access or third-party apps. This makes it an effective channel even in regions with limited connectivity.

• Real-time communication: A2P messaging is ideal for time-sensitive updates such as OTPs, delivery alerts, or security notifications, enabling immediate interaction and response.

• Cost-effective at scale: A2P SMS offers a cost-efficient way to reach large audiences, especially when sending bulk messages, reducing the per-message cost significantly.

• Superior deliverability: With smart routing and fallback to multiple channels, A2P ensures high deliverability rates, even for international recipients or in challenging network environments.

• Effortless scalability: Whether you’re sending hundreds or millions of messages, A2P messaging scales easily to meet growing demands, without compromising on delivery speed or quality.

• Data-driven insights: A2P providers like Prelude offer analytics and reporting features, enabling businesses to track delivery, conversions, and performance in real time.

• Seamless integration: A2P platforms offer easy-to-use APIs that integrate with existing systems, allowing businesses to start sending messages with minimal development effort. For instance, our clients usually install our SMS API within one day.

What numbers to use?

When sending A2P messages, businesses can choose from different types of numbers:

10-Digit Long Codes (10DLC)

These are 10-digit phone numbers used by businesses for localized, two-way communication. Think of customer service or appointment reminders.

10DLC numbers are more personal and familiar to recipients. But, they have lower throughput, making them less suited for high-volume campaigns.

Used in the U.S. and Canada for business messaging, they are a great way to send notifications and one-time passwords in this region due to their affordability and compliance with local carrier regulations.

Short codes

SMS short codes are 5 or 6-digit numbers designed for large-scale, high-throughput messaging. They are capable of sending thousands of SMS per second.

Short codes are memorable and recognizable as business communications. They are great to send a high volume of messages quickly.

Toll-free numbers

These numbers are recognizable by their area codes prefixes like 800, 888, 833 or 877. They were traditionally used for voice calls but can also send and receive SMS.

Toll-free numbers are a good middle ground between short codes and 10DLC. They are customer-friendly and handle moderate messaging volumes, making them ideal for customer support or transactional notifications.

One key advantage is that customers can both call and text the same number, creating a unified communication experience.

Sender ID

In many countries outside the U.S. and Canada, businesses can use alphanumeric Sender IDs instead of phone numbers. These IDs allow a brand or company name (up to 11 characters) to be displayed as the sender, providing an added layer of trust and brand recognition.

They can only be used for one-way communication, such as sending one-time passwords, promotional offers or account alerts. Yet, alphanumeric Sender IDs are not supported everywhere. Businesses need their sender IDs to be pre-approved by a regulatory agency.

Regulations about A2P messaging

A2P messaging is subject to several regulations and guidelines, which vary by country. This is especially true when it comes to marketing messaging. Here are some key regulatory requirements:

• Explicit consent. Before sending any A2P message, businesses must get explicit consent from users to receive SMS communication. Transactional messages (such as OTPs or account alerts) may not need explicit opt-in in some regions, but promotional messages always do.

• Consent for marketing. For marketing campaigns, extra consent is often required, with users opting in to receive promotional messages.

• Opt-out options. Users must be given the option to opt-out of receiving messages at any time, typically by replying with a keyword like “STOP.”

How much does A2P SMS cost?

The cost of A2P SMS varies based on many factors such as:

Message content: Price will vary depending on the length and the content of your message.

Carrier fees: Each mobile carrier charges a fee for delivering SMS messages to their subscribers.

Service providers margins: Third-party providers can apply margins on the price of SMS on top of the carrier fees. Pricing structures can include per-message fees or subscription plans, with costs lower for businesses sending large volumes of messages.

Global reach: Costs vary from one country to another, as you can see on our worldwide SMS prices list here (but note that our prices are lower than the market average, as we work in partnership with several suppliers to negotiate prices for our customers). Also, if a user is in a different country from where their number is registered, extra roaming charges might apply.

Volume & scale: Large user bases can lead to large costs if your company is charged per message.

User behavior: Users failing to register the OTP on time or providing the wrong phone number can increase the number of SMS sent.

Fraud: SMS pumping and other types of fraud can artificially increase the volume of SMS sent and generate high costs for the companies targeted.

So it’s hard to answer this question with a definitive number.

At Prelude, here’s how we do our pricing. There are basically two pricing models:

• Pay as you go. Our customers pay exactly for the volume of messages sent, with SMS prices billed at cost (with no added margin) + €0.02 per verification (€0.006 in US and Canada) for OTP messages. We negociate on a regular basis our prices with our providers to keep costs as low as possible for our customers. Our pricing list per country is available here.

• Volume based. Companies with high message volumes can enjoy annual agreements offering preferred pricing and customized rates based on volume and committed usage.

How to get started with A2P messaging?

Starting to send SMS to your users at scale doesn’t need to be a long and complicated project.

1. First, you need to have a clear use case in mind. Is it for user verification? Transactional notifications? Marketing campaigns? This reflexion will help you to determine your needs, whether you need one-way or two-way communication. You can also think about the messaging channels you would need, if SMS is enough or if you want to explore alternatives like WhatsApp, Viber or RCS.

2. Then it’s time to chose your A2P messaging provider. We wrote down a list of features to look for in your SMS provider here.

3. Once you've selected a provider, integrate their API into your platform. Ideally, this process should not take to much time and resource from you. But before sending messages, make sure to run tests to ensure correct implementation and message deliverability.

4. Then, you can set up your message templates. Pre-define messages you’ll send for different scenarios (e.g., order confirmations, appointment reminders, marketing promotions). Some providers may require you to register these templates. At Prelude, our templates are already approved, so you can start sending from day one.

5. And you’re all set! Enjoy sending messages to your users globally!

And if you want to try Prelude to send SMS globally at lower costs, feel free to try our API or to book a demo with our team!