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Images & GIFs in Text Blasts: Setup & Best Practices
Images & GIFs in Text Blasts: Setup & Best Practices

Overview of MMS Text Blast best practices along with commonly asked questions and answers.

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Written by Training BLVD
Updated over 2 months ago

Overview

Boulevard now supports the ability to include images and GIFs in Text Blasts.

Including visual content in Text Blast campaigns captures client attention in a personal and powerful way, boosting engagement, bookings, and brand awareness. It's a great way to maximize impact and maximize performance of your text marketing efforts.

Need some campaign inspiration? See Boulevard's Text Blast Lookbook.

How to include an image or GIF in a Text Blast

Step 1: Create new Text Blast campaign and choose your audience.

  1. Click the Marketing tab

  2. Click "Create campaign" in the "Blast campaigns" tab

  3. Select "Text"

  4. In the "Campaign details" step, select your audience. If you'd like to create a new audience, you can do so in the Clients tab.

Step 2: Customize your Text Blast content.

To add a media file, select the picture icon at the bottom of the text input field. From there, you can either drag your file into the box or select a file to upload.

  • Accepted file types include: jpeg, jpeg, png, and gif.

  • File size must be 700KB or smaller, and only one file can be attached per Text Blast.

From there, write your campaign message in the text input field.

  • Once you've added a media file, the entire message changes to an MMS, which comes with a 1,600 character limit.

  • Be sure to use merge tags for personalization (like client first name.

  • Don't forget to toggle on "Include link to book appointment", so that your booking link is included in your text message.

As you update your content, the live preview will reflect what your message will look like to recipients.

Step 3: Review and send

In the review step, you can:

  • Name your campaign

  • Send a test

  • Schedule your Text Blast for a later date, or send it immediately, in real-time

Once your Text Blast has been sent, you'll see it appear in the Blast Campaigns summary page. There, you can click into the completed Text Blast to view reporting.


Difference between SMS and MMS

MMS allows you to include an image of GIF in your Text Blast. When you add an image or GIF to a text message, the message automatically turns from an SMS into an MMS.

SMS

MMS

Definition

“Short Message Service”

“Multimedia Message Service”

Character limit

160 characters per SMS

1600 character per MMS + media attachment

Ability to send media

Plain text only,. Unicode characters + emojis. No media.

Can include media content (images & GIFs). One attachment per Text Blast, up to 700KB file size.

Deliverability

Can reach any mobile device

Only supported by smartphones

Differences aside, SMS and MMS are similar in an important way: consent. MMS marketing falls under SMS marketing consent rules. If someone consents for SMS marketing, it also counts for MMS. For more on text marketing consent, see this support article.


Supported media types

Boulevard supports the following media types for MMS messages:

  • JPG, JPEG

  • PNG

  • GIF

PNG vs. JPEG

Both PNG and JPEGs have their own advantages and disadvantages. We recommend to use PNG when possible. If you have a larger-sized image that you need to make smaller, use a JPEG.

  • PNGs

    • Are never blurry or distorted.

    • Keep all data in the image, so always appear the same no matter how many times it’s edited.

    • Can have transparent backgrounds (although this is not recommended for MMS images).

  • JPEGs

    • Can be resized easily.

    • Lose data every time the image is made smaller, so can become blurry.

File size limit

All images and GIFs must be under 700KB to ensure clients see the image or GIF the way you want it to appear in the highest quality possible. If a message has an image or GIF exceeding this file size, the message may not be delivered.

To compress files, you may use photoshop or other editing tools. There are also third-party sites such as https://ezgif.com/optimize that allow you to compress files. Note: Boulevard is not affiliated with ezgif or any third-party compression tools and use of these sites is at your own discretion.

Tips for file size and image ratios

Images and GIFs should not be overly wide or tall, as phones adjust media to fit the width of the text message. A ratio exceeding 9:16 (or 16:9) can appear distorted. Portrait sized media typically looks best on most devices, followed by square, as they’re unlikely to get cropped. Generally, the following ratios and sizes should work well:

Ratio

Example sizes

Square

1:1

480 x 480, 600 x 600, etc.

Portrait

9:16

480 x 640, 1080 x 1920 px

Landscape

16:9

500 x 375, 1920 x 1080


MMS Best practices

When creating images and GIFs for Text Blasts, there are a few dos and don’ts. These best practices reduce the risk of your image appearing differently than you intend, or looking lower in quality.

Do’s

  • Use high color contrast: When the image on top of the background are distinct, the image won’t look blurry or as if it’s one solid color.

  • Use high gradient contrast: If using a gradient, ensure the gradient colors aren’t too similar. Otherwise, it might appear like a solid-color image.

  • Keep content in MMS simple and concise: It’s tempting to be wordy on MMS with the increased character count allowance, but we recommend keeping it short & sweet. Concise messages have higher engagement. We advise to pare down the message to its sole purpose and trim the excess content that may not be needed. You (and your clients) will be glad you kept your message crisp and clear.

Don'ts

  • Use images or GIFs with transparent backgrounds

  • Use image borders: Some iOS devices cause borders to appear off-center from the image.

  • Use opacity transitions in GIFs: They may show as random colors and can result in a larger file size.


FAQ

Can I attach audio or video files in Text Blasts?

No. Boulevard supports the ability to include one image or GIF per Text Blast.

Supported file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif.

How much does it cost to use MMS in Text Blasts?

One MMS message is equivalent in cost to 3 text segments.

For example:

  • A text blast to 100 clients, containing 1 SMS segment per message, would incur 100 billable segments.

  • A text blast to 100 clients, containing 1 MMS per message, would incur 300 billable segments.

SMS

MMS

1 SMS = 1 billable text segment

1 MMS = 1 billable text segment

At the end of each month, we will add up your segment usage across all usage-based text features (two-way texting, client notifications, and text blasts) - and you will be billed based on the usage tier you fall into for the month’s total usage. If you have free segments included with your Boulevard subscription plan, those will be subtracted from your monthly segment total.

You can view your current usage breakdown of segments per text feature in the Usage Modal, accessible from the Messages or Client Notifications tabs.

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