Patrick Reynolds on turning SMS MMS and RCS into trusted growth channels through governed AI and better measurement.
“URGENT: Due to an overdue balance, your account has been locked. Tap http://secure-verify247.com now to avoid closure.”
“Reminder: A payment may be due. Visit our portal: short.ly/xyZ89. Reply STOP to opt out.”
“You’ve won a $500 gift card! Click here in the next 10 minutes to claim: bit.ly/claim-reward.”
Two are scams, one a real message from a lender.
But a borrower skimming a lock screen sees the same red flags: vague subject, unrecognized link, urgency, and perhaps worst of all, no clear sign of who is actually talking. The rational response? Ignore or delete it.
The immediate problem for the lender: a real message to a customer felt like spam, and so a necessary action went undone. The bigger issue: Consumers are not being paranoid. They have good reason to be distrustful.
A recent report says Americans received over 225 billion unsolicited texts in a single year—more than 700 per smartphone user—and warns that “robotexts” are a particularly dangerous vector for scams and data theft.
In this environment, the way brands use Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and Rich Communication Services (RCS) will determine whether their messages get treated as trusted outreach—or as just another notification that’s probably a scam.
How legitimate messaging began to resemble scam spam
Of course, none of us set out to erode trust in messaging. We did what teams do when a channel starts performing: we pushed more journeys into SMS and RCS. We automated more campaigns and turned on more triggers because the numbers looked great.
The result?
We forgot what the barrage of message volume has trained to do: NOT click on any unexpected message, even if it claims to be from a source we deal with. Legitimate programs now feel like what we’ve learned to avoid.
Lookalike URLs and vague brand references mirror smishing tactics. When a lender uses three different numbers, four different message styles, and a generic “portal link,” it becomes genuinely hard for a cautious borrower to distinguish the real thread from the spoofed one.
Indiscriminate texting doesn’t just annoy people. It also undermines trust. That’s why more than three-quarters of consumers say they’ve changed their online behavior to protect themselves, often by ignoring or deleting suspicious communications.
Trust can be notoriously difficult to regain. How can we as marketers reverse this unfortunate trend?
Decide what really belongs in SMS, MMS, and RCS
The first step is not to just “write better copy.” It’s to determine which steps in which journeys really belong in messaging at all.
For most brands, a simple framework helps.
When the format matches the job, the message stops feeling like a blast and starts feeling like a welcome and valuable connection.
Put AI inside guardrails, not on autopilot
When teams use AI to write and trigger messages, the risk isn’t so much AI itself; it’s that ungoverned AI can quietly make your messages more generic, frequent, and scam-like.
Put AI inside clear guardrails. Define approved journey templates and copy patterns that AI can personalize within, instead of letting it invent new flows. Restrict AI-triggered messages to specific, high-value events—like an abandoned application, an upcoming payment, or tomorrow’s appointment—with hard caps on frequency. Critically, use AI to monitor what’s happening: flagging spikes in send volume, off-brand language, and suspicious link patterns before they hit consumers.
Measure trust, not just clicks
Cultivating viable relationships with customers via messaging is too important to be judged solely by how many people tap a link.
The real question is whether messaging is improving outcomes and preserving trust. So, our metric set needs to change.
Track completion rates for applications and payments that start in messaging. Track attendance for appointments and deliveries. Watch repayment behavior and roll rates to see whether trusted reminders and options are actually working. And elevate complaint volume and optout rates to first–class- metrics, not afterthoughts. In regulated industries, “fewer complaints and escalations” is just as important as a lift in conversion.
Ask the right questions of your partners
Apply these implications when considering a messaging partner. Do they:
SMS, MMS, and RCS are rightly part of the operational infrastructure for payments, applications, and care. If we’re judicious about which tool we use when, and take care to properly govern journeys, AI, and vendors with trust in mind, we can regain customer trust in this valuable channel and keep it as one of the most efficient growth and retention levers we have.
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Patrick Reynolds, Chief Marketing Officer, Solutions by Text
Patrick Reynolds, Chief Marketing Officer, Solutions by Text
Patrick began his career in advertising, developing strategic initiatives for global B2C brands. After ten years of honing his expertise, he transitioned into senior marketing leadership roles at Carat, Triton Digital, and Mastercard, driving rapid growth through razorsharp positioning, targeted gotomarket plans, and an unwavering focus on measurable business impact.
As Chief Marketing Officer at SBT, Patrick oversees our brandbuilding and demandgeneration efforts. He champions a verticalcentric approach, unlocking customer advocacy to accelerate expansion across key industries. A firm believer that every brand is defined by its market associations, Patrick cultivates both our external reputation and a nimble, crossfunctional marketing team.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from St. Bonaventure University.
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