WhatsApp, after its launch in 2009, has grown rapidly across the world. It’s grown at an average pace of 30.5% annually in India over the last 5 years. Despite this rapid rise of WhatsApp, SMS continues to be the largest channel for customer communications in India. This article seeks to re-iterate the reasons to strike a balance between SMS and WhatsApp for enterprise customer communications.
Ubiquity
WhatsApp, first introduced in 2009, is now available in 60 languages across 180+ countries. It has over 2 billion users who spend roughly 195 minutes per week on the platform. To use this application, a user requires a basic smartphone.
SMS was first introduced in the early 1990s. It was designed to run on basic feature phones. As a result, with 5.1 billion users, it reaches almost 67% of the global population. While facing competition from the feature-rich WhatsApp and other similar messaging apps, SMS remains a requisite channel for business communication, especially to ensure inclusivity.
Times Mobile offers both WhatsApp for Business (WABA) and SMS platforms and accompanying APIs to enterprises to integrate these channels into their key business applications and processes.
Features
SMS is limited to 160 characters per message, whereas WhatsApp can deliver up to 4096 characters per message. SMS can only deliver text messages (although most SMS reading apps today recognize simple features such as a clickable URL). In contrast, a WhatsApp message can contain images, videos, carousels and interactive buttons in addition to text.
A2P SMS in India is limited to one-way communication. WhatsApp facilitates interactive, two-way communication. Times Mobile’s WhatsApp for Business platform enables two-way communication with chatbots as well as live agents in a seamless manner.
Branding
WhatsApp for Business lets companies present a fully branded storefront inside the chat list. An official profile shows the business name (instead of a phone number), a logo, catalog, description, and operating hours, and, once verified by Meta, the coveted green check mark that signals authenticity. Message templates can include imagery, video, emojis, and clickable buttons, so every interaction carries the brand’s visual identity and tone of voice.
Conventional SMS, by contrast, permits only an alphanumeric sender ID of up to 11 characters and plain-text content. There is no logo, brand colour, or verification badge, so messages often appear to arrive from an unfamiliar number. This limitation makes trust-building harder, lowers recall, and forces marketers to rely solely on copy to convey brand personality.
Times Mobile simplifies brand-safe messaging across both channels. It provisions verified business profiles on WhatsApp, designs media-rich templates that meet Meta’s guidelines, and integrates product catalogues so each outbound or conversational message reinforces the brand. For SMS, it helps configure consistent sender IDs and branded short-links, ensuring even text-only campaigns carry a clear, recognisable identity.
Personalization
WhatsApp Business makes it easy to send messages that feel personal. You can drop in each customer’s name, refer to their last order, or even mention their city, then add photos, videos, or quick-reply buttons so the chat feels like a one-to-one conversation. Automated flows can change what a person sees based on what they click or the stage they’re at. Whether it’s a welcome note, a “your package is on the way” update, or a gentle nudge to leave feedback.
SMS doesn’t offer the same flexibility. You can usually merge in a first name, maybe an order number, but that’s about it. Every text is plain and static, so customers can’t tap a button, browse a catalog, or see dynamic content. Because the experience is identical for everyone, it’s harder to make recipients feel the message was written just for them.
Cost-Effective
WhatsApp for Business follows a data-based pricing model. After a 24-hour customer care window, businesses pay per conversation, not per individual message, and the rate is generally a fraction of a cent when delivered over mobile data or Wi-Fi. Rich media images, documents, and location pins travel at no extra charge beyond the standard conversation fee. For customers, receiving and replying on WhatsApp also remains free, eliminating resistance to ongoing dialogue.
SMS is billed on a per-message basis and, in many markets, incurs higher tariffs for images, international delivery, or messages that exceed 160 characters (which are split and charged as multiples). Regulatory surcharges such as India’s DLT fees or U.S. carrier pass-through costs further add to the total. Because each outbound or inbound text triggers a separate charge, large-scale two-way campaigns can become expensive quickly.
Performance and Tracking
Enterprises want their customer communications to be read. Both SMS and WhatsApp perform well on message opens with 90% and 98% of messages being opened, respectively.
Enterprises also want their customer communications to be engaged with. Given the text-only nature of SMS, its click-through rate is anywhere between 1-6%. WhatsApp on the other hand, scores well here, with a click-through rate of around 40%. This is unsurprising since WhatsApp offers the ability to use media, whereas SMS is limited to static text.
Both offer the ability to track the delivery of the message. However, WhatsApp offers the ability to track read receipts as well, which SMS does not. WhatsApp also can track clicks. SMS doesn’t have a native click-tracking ability. Times Mobile, however, offers a comprehensive URL tracking capability for its A2P SMS solution. In addition, for enterprises using our click trackers, we also give a map of the enterprise’s audience against TIL’s audience segments.
Security Measures
WhatsApp emphasizes strong security with end-to-end encryption. Messages are scrambled on the sender’s device and can only be decrypted by the recipient’s device. In addition, WhatsApp offers features like two-step verification and screen lock to enhance security.
SMS lacks in-built encryption. Messages travel in plain text, making them vulnerable to interception by anyone with access to the network infrastructure. However, Times Mobile works with telecom operators that implement significant security measures to secure SMS.
Commercials
SMS pricing in India is in the range of ₹0.12-0.15 per message, and WhatsApp for Business pricing today is in the range of ₹0.35-0.75 per 24-hour session, depending on the application (utility/service or marketing respectively).
Conclusions
We recommend the following use cases based on the differences highlighted above –
- WhatsApp is well suited for customer support as it is a good two-way channel. Also, multiple demographics across languages in India are comfortable chatting on it. Times Mobile’s WhatsApp for Business Services can work with you to implement a full solution that integrates chatbots and live agents into an optimal support experience.
- WhatsApp is also well suited for marketing applications given its rich messaging capabilities and high click-through rates. At the commercials and click-through rates illustrated above, the effective cost per click for SMS is around ₹5 whereas for WhatsApp it can be as low as ₹1.9.
- SMS is great for one-way notifications in which there is relatively less interactivity, e.g. delivering OTPs or transactional updates. Times Mobile’s SMS solution can ensure high delivery rates, open rates, and low latency.
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