P2P texting has become increasingly prominent in multiple areas of our lives, from the marketing we consume to the politics going on in the background. However, the average person doesn’t know what the term means or how it is supposed to work. If you are interested in P2P texting, either for your own business or as a general tool, here is an overview of what it is for and how it works.

What is it?
P2P refers to peer-to-peer, meaning ‘one person to another.’ This can apply to a lot of different fields and items, from internet servers to in-person interactions, and P2P texting uses the concept as a marketing tool. P2P texting is essentially ‘normal’ texting, with one person sending a message to another and, hopefully, beginning a back-and-forth conversation.
The other option is A2P texting or application-to-peer. These are bot messages that are very limited in scope, usually only sending pre-made messages and responding to keywords if the customer is supposed to reply. A bot can be programmed with a human-like message, but that is as close as it can get to real interactions.
How is P2P texting used?
If you have ever sent a message to somebody through your phoneās text messages, you have been part of P2P texting. Any situation where a message goes from one person to another falls under the P2P category, but very few people call it that, and it is usually called P2P texting in a marketing context. With the rise of text bots, businesses that still make use of P2P communication have found it to be a powerful marketing tool.
Of course, it isnāt just a marketing method. Many businesses will also use P2P texting as a way of sending reminders about appointments, updating customers on changes to price schemes and current internal systems, and might even have it set up as their main way of getting feedback on how their services have performed. Text messages are usually much more visible than emails and arenāt as disruptive as phone calls, meaning that customers often prefer them.
How does P2P texting impact marketing?
While P2P texting can cover every kind of person-to-person interactions over text, it can be a very effective marketing tool if used properly. Having a human on the other side allows for faster and more detailed responses, as well as full conversations that a bot simply canāt handle properly. Even if the texting begins with a scripted message from the company, having a human being ready to respond can save customers a lot of frustration compared to an automated system.
P2P texting has also been used as a promotional tool, including in the political world. Most people are much more tolerant of texts than other communication methods, and the ability to read the message at their own pace means that they are less likely to ignore it like they might with a phone call.
How would I set up P2P texting?
While you could hire somebody to work for your business and mass-produce texts, this is hardly the best use of your time. P2P texting is still as popular as it ever was, perhaps even more popular, and this means that there are plenty of tools to make it easier. Some marketing companies even offer entire P2P texting systems that they handle all by themselves, taking the pressure off the client company entirely.
The idea behind these P2P messages is simple, and it doesnāt take much effort to understand how it would work: a list of phone numbers and a basic, text-friendly piece of marketing or promotional copy is usually all that you would need, along with somebody that can respond to any questions that might come in response.
Why should I let another company manage it?
P2P texting is simple, but it isnāt a small task. It can be similar to social media marketing ā you never know when a customer is going to raise a complaint or ask a question, and coming up with good material to text them can be tricky. While the method of delivery is different and there isnāt as much public interaction over the texts, it can be just as difficult as any other marketing method, and handing the process off to another company can prevent it from eating into your companyās other projects.