What exactly is SMS?
Everyone knows SMS. It's the classic text message that lands directly on your customer's phone — no app, no Wi-Fi, no account needed. 160 characters, plain text.
Activate SMS
SMS, WhatsApp, RCS: which one to choose?
Each channel has its strengths. Rather than opposing them, think of them as complementary:
WhatsApp excels at two-way conversations and engagement. It's the go-to channel for building lasting customer relationships, with some of the highest click rates on the market.
RCS brings WhatsApp-style rich content (carousels, images, buttons) directly into the phone's native Messages app. Ideal for large-scale marketing campaigns.
SMS works everywhere, all the time, on every phone. It's the ultimate safety net: no dependencies, maximum deliverability.
SMS as a fallback: zero contacts lost
This is where SMS truly shines in a multichannel strategy. With WAX, you can set up automatic fallbacks in your flows:
WhatsApp → SMS: if a contact doesn't have WhatsApp or is no longer reachable, they automatically receive an SMS.
RCS → SMS: if the recipient's phone doesn't support RCS, the message falls back to SMS. The result: you get the best of each channel, without ever losing a contact along the way.
What are the use cases for SMS?
SMS fits naturally into your existing flows:
Promotional campaigns: a flash offer, a promo code, a link to your site. Simple, direct, effective.
Cart abandonment follow-ups: a short reminder with a link back to the cart, as a fallback if the customer didn't see your WhatsApp or RCS message.
Transactional confirmations and notifications: order confirmation, shipping update, appointment reminder.
Reactivating inactive customers: reach contacts who are no longer active on WhatsApp with a message that's guaranteed to arrive.
And much more...
SMS at WAX
SMS is activated directly from WAX, during your RCS agent setup.
After form submission, SMS can already be used (unlike RCS whose agent validation takes up to 10 days).
All you have to to is to write the sender name you'd like to display when sending messages. Once the form submited, you're ready to go, you can send SMS right away !
You can use it in your automations or campaigns just like WhatsApp or RCS, either by selecting it as the right channel, or by adding it as a fallback step in your flows.