Texting Acronyms: The Complete Guide - SimpleTexting (2024)

Text lingo is ever-changing. If you’re new to textingーor to text marketingーit might seem like a foreign language.

The good news is that texting language is the easiest one to learn, and you can put it to good use in your business.

Once you get to know them, text abbreviations and acronyms are a great way to communicate more information with fewer characters (always a good thing when you’re texting).

Why You Should Know Your Text Acronyms

Text message acronyms are useful for many reasons, but their biggest benefit is the fact that they can help you say a lot with only a few letters.

When you only have to type out three or four letters to get your point across, you save time and make your communications more effectiveーsimple as that.

Texting acronyms also help you cut down on text characters. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, and MMS messages have a 1600 character limit.

When you have to fit information into a small space, shortening common phrases can be a big help.

Text Marketing Acronyms

If you want to master SMS within your business, you’ll need to know these acronyms for common features, file types, and technology terms.

10DLC (Local Number)

10DLC, or 10-digit long code, is a type of number that allows businesses to send a higher volume of SMS messages from a local number. These numbers have to be registered.

API

This stands for Application Programming Interface. It’s part of a server that receives requests and sends responses when you interact with webpages. SimpleTexting’s SMS API allows you to access all our text messaging features from your own platform or application.

B2C

Also known as “Business to Consumer,” B2C describes the type of business that offers products or services directly to consumers who use them. If you sell directly to customers, you are considered a B2C company.

DSC

A DSC, or “Dedicated Short Code,” is a unique 5- to 6-digit number that your business can use to send SMS or MMS messages (this article provides more information on all our number types).

GIF

No matter how you pronounce it, GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. It’s a file type that shows up as a soundless “moving” photo.

MMS

MMS stands for “Multimedia Messaging Service”. MMS messaging elevates your texts by sending messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile devices.

SMS

Also known as Short Message Service. SMS was created to send and receive text messages over cellular networks.

Common Text Acronyms

Outside of the terms you’ll use in your business text messaging strategy, you need to know some of the most common texting abbreviations to include in your messages for faster, clearer communication.

TL;DR

This stands for “Too long; didn’t read.” Use TL;DR to give a quick summary of a long document or any other dense piece of information.

FTFY

Fixed That For You. This is a great way to let customers or coworkers know that you’re on top of questions and issues that have come up.

EOD

EOD stands for “End of Day.” It’s best for setting deadlines on projects or giving status updates on when you plan to finish a task.

WIP

Work in Progress. This is another ideal term for project updates and reports.

ICYMI

ICYMI, or “In Case You Missed It,” will help you bring up news and important notes in your conversations.

TBA/TBD

Both To Be Announced and To Be Determined are useful terms when you don’t have an exact date or deadline to share but want your contacts to stay tuned for updates.

LMK

“Let me know.” Use this acronym to request more information or news.

Text Acronyms in ActionーExamples

Check out these sample texts for more context on how to use some of these terms in your SMS messages.

Project updates

Customer support

Team communications

Meeting notes

The Final Word on Text Message Acronyms

Acronyms are helpful abbreviations that keep texts concise. Once you master the letters and punctuation, you’ll have no trouble using them to communicate well in your business. (You can brush up on even more text marketing terms with our mobile marketing glossary.)

Now that you’re an expert, it’s time to put your newfound knowledge to work. Get full access to SimpleTexting’s features for 14 days, completely free.