Messaging Glossary — Plain-English Definitions
Clear answers to the messaging acronyms and standards every modern business team should understand.
What is RCS?
RCS (Rich Communication Services) is the modern successor to SMS that lets businesses send branded, interactive messages with images, carousels, suggested replies and verified sender identity, while falling back to SMS when the recipient's device doesn't support it.
Read definition10DLCWhat is 10DLC?
10DLC (10-digit long code) is the US carrier framework for sanctioned application-to-person (A2P) SMS sent from standard 10-digit phone numbers, requiring brand and campaign registration so carriers can deliver business messages reliably and at scale.
Read definitionA2P MessagingWhat is A2P messaging?
A2P (application-to-person) messaging is any SMS, RCS or WhatsApp message sent from an automated business system to a consumer, including marketing, transactional notifications, two-factor authentication, appointment reminders and conversational AI replies.
Read definitionAI OrchestrationWhat is AI orchestration?
AI orchestration is the shift from static, rule-based messaging sequences to adaptive, real-time AI decisioning that chooses the next action for each lead — what to say, which channel to use, and when — based on live behavioral signals rather than a fixed flowchart.
Read definitionSignal-Based MessagingWhat is signal-based messaging?
Signal-based messaging is engagement driven by real behavioral cues — reply timing, response delays, silence, opens and intent — rather than fixed, time-based drip schedules, so each message is triggered by what the recipient actually does instead of a predetermined calendar.
Read definitionConversational AIWhat is conversational AI?
Conversational AI is artificial intelligence that conducts natural, two-way dialogue with people across channels like SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, email and voice — understanding intent and responding in context to qualify, route and convert leads, rather than simply broadcasting one-way messages.
Read definitionVoice AIWhat is Voice AI?
Voice AI is artificial intelligence that conducts natural, real-time phone conversations — qualifying leads, transferring calls to a human (warm or cold), and extracting structured data after the call — as part of a multi-channel engagement stack rather than a standalone phone bot.
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