What Are the 3 Types of Messages in Communication?
by Nick Brems | Last Updated: Apr 2, 2023
Communicating directly with your consumers on their personal smartphones via text messages is a privileged and powerful channel. Brands have a variety of options for how they can deliver personalized text messages to a consumer’s device.
Brands can send text messages to consumers who opt-in to receive messages on their smartphones.
Consumers can see messages from a brand in an app they’ve saved to their home screen.
Consumers can be alerted with push notifications appearing on their lock screen.
The options and channels for communication are varied and plentiful.
What Is the Purpose of Messaging?
Text messaging is one of the most effective methods of communication today. In 2021, mobile users in the United States sent roughly 2 trillion SMS or MMS messages. Worldwide, 23 billion texts are sent every day — that’s 270,000 every second, as cited by Forbes.There are three main purposes to messaging. The purpose of messaging is to inform, persuade, or entertain your audience.
Inform: Conveying facts or statistics in an unbiased manner to educate the audience.
Persuade: Using particular language mixed with a specific tone in an attempt to sway the audience in one direction or the other. These messages are often found in marketing campaigns.
Entertain: These messages are conveyed strictly to amuse, or divert attention towards more entertaining content.
Once you have determined the purpose of your message, then you can determine the right type of message to send.
What Are the 3 Types of Messages in Communication?
There are essentially three types of messages in communication, primary, secondary, and auxiliary messages. It is important to keep these types of messages in mind when trying to maintain communication messages with your audience. The three types of messages can be very easily confused, so it is important to know the difference between them.Primary With primary messages, the author has total control over the message being sent. They select the diction as well as the tone to dictate what the message should say, and how it should be conveyed.SecondarySecondary messages are less intentional, while the syntax is selected, the tone of the messaging being conveyed is open to interpretation for your reader. This comes with complications as a message can be misconstrued as negative which will result in ineffective communication with your audience.AuxiliaryAuxiliary messages are both the intentional and unintentional ways we choose to communicate our primary message. When something is communicated in an auxiliary manner, the audience can interpret the syntax and diction for themselves and then decide the tone being conveyed. For example, a message may be written to be perceived as urgent. However, the audience may perceive the message as an exciting tone rather than an urgent one.
What Are Types of Messages You Can Send With Smartphones?
There are several types of messages you can send with smartphones. There are five types of messaging our smartphones use on a daily basis. Those types of messages are SMS, MMS, Instant Messaging, In-App Messages, and RCS.
Short Message Service (SMS) is the standard text messaging all cell phones have. An SMS message can be sent in 160-character segments and is limited to alphanumeric characters and emojis.
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is the standard way to send multimedia messages. MMS is not limited to 160-character segments, and MMS can send media such as photos, videos, and gifs.
Push Messages appear on a user's home screen after they install an app and opt-in to receive notifications. They are used to draw users back into an app and remind them how they can find value from the brand or company.
In-App Messages are considered messages sent to your audience while they are within a specific application. Chatbots on your website or mobile app would fall under this category.
Rich Communication Services (RCS) expand on the functions of SMS or MMS to develop a text message protocol that allows for things such as group messages, media, read receipts, and no character limits.
What Are Examples of Messages?
In 2021, mobile users in the United States sent roughly 2 trillion SMS or MMS messages. Worldwide, 23 billion texts are sent every day — that’s 270,000 every second, as cited by Forbes. Brands have adopted messaging to connect directly with consumers in a way that feels personal and instantaneous. With SMS messages brands can notify loyal customers about exclusive sales or events. For businesses that operate on appointments, such as your dentist or hair stylist, those businesses rely on mobile messaging to confirm appointments.Employers are also using text messages to alert employees to urgent internal updates. Lumavate is a no-code digital experience platform (DXP) that includes messaging within its suite of functionality. Lumavate customers can send SMS alerts to audiences immediately or schedule them to send on a specific date and time. Lumavate’s solution handles audience opt-in and allows users to set up custom audience categories to ensure the right people get the right message. To learn more about how SMS marketing could impact your business, book a demo with Lumavate.
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