Send marketing messages online to your customers from a web-based SMS portal with ClickSend , making business messaging easy. You can send thousands of messages throughout the world with the Web to SMS service. You can even control transactional SMS through the SMS Gateway API.
12 Best SMS Marketing Platforms to Engage with Your Users
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is an evergreen marketing channel that involves sending a transactional and promotional message to prospects and customers through text messages that they can find helpful to take action or get information about your product or services.
That said, SMS marketing platforms or software can help you create text messages in bulk and send them to a list of different phone numbers. It can handle all the promotional, informative, and transactional messages effortlessly.
Why is SMS Marketing still effective?
At present, approximately 3.8 billion people in the world use smartphones. It’s not necessary that they are all active on social media or check emails regularly, but they receive text messages. Hence, SMS marketing provides an ample opportunity to stay on top of your customers’ minds and increase your conversion rates.
Why use SMS marketing software?
Faster delivery 🚀
Spreading your messages through SMS is faster compared to social media or emails. It’s because an SMS delivers directly to your customer’s phone no matter what type of mobile phone they use or from which provider. And they don’t have to go to their social profiles or emails to check the message.
Higher open and click-through rates 📱
Measurable results ✨
Using SMS marketing software, you can track the performance of your SMS campaign. You can view the total SMSs sent, how many were opened and answered, and generate reports to review. This way, you can evaluate and improve your strategies based on the results.
Affordable ✂️
With bulk messaging options, you can send a large volume of messages to your customers without spending much. Unlike email campaigns requiring more creativity, design, efforts, and the cost associated with these, SMS marketing lets you save on these aspects.
Best SMS marketing platforms
1. TextMagic
TextMagic’s top features
TextMagic’s distinguishing feature is its global sending coverage from Afghanistan to Virgin Islands US. Using their pricing calculator you can get a straightforward quote for your SMS campaigns. Just select where you want your campaign to be delivered and the number of your messages to get the total cost of your campaign.
Personalized bulk messaging: TextMagic lets you to send bulk messages from their web app. What’s interesting about their web app is that you can easily create templates with personalization tags (first name, last name, company name, phone, email, and appointment time). Your conversations will then appear as a chat conversation in TextMagic’s web app.
Amazing team features: you can add an unlimited number of users (or sub-accounts) to your account for free and share your credits with them. You can also monitor your users’ SMS history and costs to manage their future activities.
Phone number/email validation: easily identify the invalid phone numbers or email addresses through their validation service and API. This will improve your deliverability and reduce costs.
TextMagic pricing
TextMagic offers a 30-day free trial which is great to test out all the features. After that you have the option to choose a pay-as-you-go or a monthly plan. Through their monthly plan you get to pay 2.5% to 25% less per text for a monthly fee that starts from $99. Their full pricing is on their page as well as a calculator to estimate the cost of sending.
2. SimpleTexting
SimpleTexting is an all-in-one text message marketing platform. They offer unlimited keywords in all its plans. They also have all other standard SMS marketing features. This makes them a valuable choice for a text message marketing platform.
SimpleTexting top features
Advanced automation: send an automated series of messages after someone joins your list. This reduces drop-offs. Generate an automatic response when someone texts a particular keyword to your number.
SimpleTexting pricing
SimpleTexting offers a 14-day free trial with 50 outgoing text messages. Their paid plans are different based on the number of text messages you can send. Zapier integration and API are available for all plans, custom made integrations are available in the $145/month plan and above. You can see their pricing overview here.
3. Attentive Mobile
Attentive Mobile claims to be the most comprehensive text message marketing solution. They also claim to create “an average of 20.5% of total online revenue for modern e-commerce brands.” They offer all the necessary features for a complete text message marketing platform.
Attentive Mobile top features
Audience Growth: refers to building and growing your SMS and email list. You can design sign-up forms and promote them on your website for maximum conversions. Create forms and display them as popups on your website (mobile and desktop versions). Offer incentives at the check-out to capture subscribers at the point of purchase. Show opt-in links through your social media accounts. Drive sign-ups from your email list. Or create shortcodes and increase sign-ups from your physical stores.
Audience Manager: this contains the set of tools for personalized audience targeting. Segment your audience based on various criteria. Onsite behavior, browsing and purchase history, and demographic insights are some examples.
Messaging: refers to their advanced messaging features. You can create campaign messages, design journey maps, and send automated transactional messages. They also offer A/B testing features and real-time analytics to decide what works best for you.
Integrations: there are a bunch of tools you can integrate with Attentive. They offer integrations with popular eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento. However, popular marketing tools, mainly email marketing tools, seem to be lacking here. Their recent Zapier integration or their API lets you connect any tool with Attentive.
12 experts on the benefits of SMS marketing
1. Morgan Mulloy, Associate Director of Email Marketing, Avex Designs
Also, don’t treat your SMS like your email program! Your frequency should not be the same. Email is more of an ‘interact at your leisure’ channel where as SMS is intrusive and at the palm of their hand with a notification staring at them.
2. Joseph Hsieh, Founder, Retention Commerce
“Start collecting SMS opt-ins today! It’s only going to be more competitive, harder, and more costly as time goes on. Even if you don’t plan on a full board SMS program, capturing SMS opt-ins and using them sparingly is a great start for any brand that has yet to do it.”
3. Cassie Benjamin, Email/SMS Channel Manager, Tadpull
A customer is trading you something really valuable––direct access to a text notification they will most definitely see. Define your strategy before starting and ensure you have a plan for providing value back to those customers.
4. Ken Ott, Co-Founder, Metacake
Try to start with texts that you know will add value VALUE for the customer. Tell them they’re the first to get access to a sale or new product launch. Or use it to remind them of a coupon that is about to expire or items in their cart they are about to miss out on.”
5. Jen Brennan, Director of Digital Marketing, Northern Commerce
6. Ashley Scorpio, Senior Vice President of Partnerships, Hawke Media
Just like email, one of the biggest hurdles of launching SMS is getting the contacts in the first place and then knowing how to work with the data you have. Don’t mass text your SMS audiences in the same way you shouldn’t just mass email your contacts there.
If you’re hitting up consumers with things they don’t need or don’t want to hear you’re going to get a lot of unsubscribes very quickly. If you’re providing a personalized, unique value to each person based on the tagged segments you’ve created, you can see a ton of specific income come from this channel.”
7. Casey Armstrong, CMO, ShipBob
Go sign up for and buy from Verb Energy, then steal everything you can from them. They do it better than anybody. It’s like texting with your buddies, except you’re paying them for their amazing products pretty much every time.”
8. Ben Zettler, Owner, Ben Zettler Digital (Digital Marketing & Ecommerce Consultant)
9. Abby Siciliano, Director, Business Development, Tinuiti
10. Arjun Jolly, COO, adQuadrant
Measure what works––and what doesn’t. Go global, but deliver locally. To do this, cast a wide net, but speak to each individual area and even persona with localized bespoke copy., And, finally, leverage promos to capture attention quickly.”
11. Drew Himel, CEO and Founder, PCR
“Now is the time to tap into SMS. It’s a much more personal channel than email and when a subscriber consents to SMS, they are definitely interested in your brand. Use it wisely and ensure you’re not spamming your subscribers with too much content.”
12. Loretta Doria, Head of Strategy, Ragnarok
Sources:
https://geekflare.com/best-sms-marketing-platforms/
https://www.emailvendorselection.com/sms-marketing-platforms/
https://www.klaviyo.com/blog/sms-marketing-strategies
SMS Marketing Resources
This text marketing service covers SMS, MMS, RCS marketing campaigns, detailed reporting, segmentation, some fancy features such as text-to-win, voting, etc. Even though Tatango is easy to use, customer support is responsive and helps if you need them.
Intro
Our brain and SMS
SMS marketing doesn’t have to compete for the bottom of the brainstem in order to be successful. SMS marketing campaigns should fit around the customer’s everyday life and offer a service or offer that their brain can’t ignore.
The personal touch
Text message marketing doesn’t swamp customer’s spam folders the same way emails do. If you’ve registered the Sender ID and message content with the provider you are using for SMS delivery, you can guarantee all text messages will be seen by the customer.
The feedback is rapid if you make it easy for the customer to reply. Two-way conversations can be initiated between businesses and customers, this is a great way to correspond and keep customers up to date with your business.
It’s easy to track
Customers are always on the go. Location-specific sales can be integrated with your web platform to alert customers on the move. All smartphones have browsers so you can track click-through rates with URL-shortening links such as bit.ly.
It’s cheap and boasts a great return on investment (ROI)
Not only is an SMS campaign affordable for all budgets but you’ll also see a healthy return on investment from SMS marketing. You can target customers with your campaigns without breaking the bank. An average SMS message costs around 0.02€.
So, if you send out a campaign to 100 000 recipients (and take into consideration that we’re talking highly targeted persons who opted in), it’ll cost you 2000€. If each conversion leads to an average purchase of 10€, you’ll need 200 people to make a purchase to break even on the cost of the SMS campaign.
Oh, and it’s eco-friendly too
In comparison to email, direct mail, and face-to-face meetings, a text message has the lowest impact on our carbon footprint. If you’re looking for ways to make your business greener, SMS marketing is a big step in the right direction. So, think of the environment, send an SMS 🙂
Conclusion
SMS is powerful, affordable, trackable and aligns with our psychology. SMS is also a dream tool for marketers to build brand loyalty, gain traction with their clients, and convey messages. Making use of modern technology such as geolocation and CRM integrations with hyperlinks makes the tool super versatile in the modern setting and will enable the message to be heard loud and clear.
The Best SMS Marketing Examples for Inspiration
Top 6 Things to Think About When Considering SMS Marketing
How SMS Is Better Than E-mail?
How SMS Messages Add a Personal Touch to Brand Loyalty
How SMS Marketing Can Help You Kick-Start Your Business
The Best SMS Marketing Tactics
Entice the customer
Read more about SMS marketing psychology
The Psychology of SMS Marketing
Track
1. Tracking click-through rates with Google Analytics
Using Google Analytics, you can access the number of unique clicks from your SMS marketing message. Then, simply divide the number of unique clicks by the total amount of SMS sent and the result will reflect your CTR.
2. You can also monitor opt-out rates
Every marketing campaign in the world is going to have users that opt-out. So, don’t be disheartened when you see customers unsubscribing from your content. It’s key to understand that with the personal touch, we also invade a person’s privacy.
Opt-out rates are calculated by dividing the number of users that unsubscribed from your SMS campaign by the total number of subscribers. In our experience, the average SMS opt-out rates sit between 2.5% to 4%, depending on the product, industry, and frequency of use.
3. Understanding delivery rates is key in using SMS
You can access the status of all your messages from within our messaging platform. Allowing you to track the times of delivery and if something seems off, the connections can be changed to ensure optimal delivery.
SMS providers use routes to send messages to customers. The quality of the route can affect whether a text message is delivered or not. If there are a high number of unsuccessful deliveries, switch to a provider that offers premium routes. Being directly connected to a local carrier is the best way to go and helps ensure the highest delivery rate.
4. Cost per conversion
If your SMS marketing messaging is linking directly to a landing page that requires users to complete an additional form or is selling a product/service, you can evaluate the exact cost per conversion of your campaign and later compare it to the cost of the campaign directly to get the ROI.
Cost per conversion can also be worked out using coupons. If you’re getting low conversion rates, consider making your offer more valuable. Using over-the-top messaging (OTT) can make text messages stand out by adding multimedia.
Record both the conversion and the opt-out rates too. To assess the performance of a campaign in its entirety, all metric measurements should be used. This data can then be used to make your next campaign better.
Combine methods and build number lists
You can acquire a dedicated number for two-way communication.
You can encourage consumers to text in a particular keyword, e.g. “Yes” to sign up to receive special offers and marketing material.
Dedicated numbers work well with text-to-win competitions or loyalty programs. The pricing will vary in markets though, as will the reliability of the service. For example, shortcodes are more reliable, yet more expensive.
If your business sells products or services online, this is the perfect opportunity to obtain your customers’ contact number along with other details.
To follow the best practices, give the customer the option to sign-up for marketing material, in the EU you need to provide an opt-out option. Also, make sure you register and log the consent given and indicate a clear way for the client to take it back to ensure compliance.
Asking for a customer’s mobile number during in-store transactions
It can be just as effective as online shopping. Not only does it have a more personal touch due to the face-to-face interaction, but saying no is more difficult than simply unticking a box. It will need a salesman’s touch though since giving out our private numbers is a big thing.
Account sign-ups and client verification
Use multiple channels to segment subscribers
In the context of coupons, you could send a 5% off coupon right after the subscriber signs up, a 10% coupon after three weeks, and a 20% off coupon after two months. The longer they stick around, the bigger the potential. You’re incentivising the action you want. Best of all, you can schedule these to run automatically.
Conclusion
Prior to executing your marketing strategy, check that you have these key elements down: make it personal, entice your customer, track your success, and combine methods to have a bigger impact. SMS is a multifaceted tool that can easily be tailored for specific personal needs and tracked to ensure you are getting your money’s worth.
Read more
How to Build an SMS Marketing Strategy
8 Hacks That Will Increase SMS Marketing Conversion
How to Increase Sales with SMS Marketing
How to Use SMS in Different Stages of the Customer Journey
Top 3 Ways to Make SMS Work for Referral Campaigns
Omnisend
With Omnisend, you can send promotional SMS campaigns as well as automated workflows with integrated different channels. Omnisend is an email and SMS marketing platform that allows you to mix channels and send your messages through customers’ preferred media. In this case, you can boost your overall campaign engagement as well as save on spending per message.
Feature list:
Pricing:
At Omnisend, marketers on any plan can to use our SMS marketing tools. Users on the Free and basic Standard plans have a limit of 60 SMS/month (with the option to top up at any time), while Pro users get free SMS credits equal to the price they pay for the pricing plan.
6 SMS marketing best practices
1. Get permission (and keep it)
The same opt-in rules as email marketing apply to SMS marketing, too. Marketers are bound by law to gain explicit consent from customers or subscribers before sending marketing communications.
The real challenge, however, is maintaining permission. Start off with full disclosure: tell them what types of messages they can expect. And don’t abuse the permission granted. We advise using SMS marketing campaigns for time-sensitive and critical information. Overusing it can quickly send customers away.
Father Sons includes an unsubscribe link in its SMS
Another convenient option for collecting your people’s permissions is Omnisend’s Text to Join feature, where customers simply text a keyword to your number. All you have to do is promote that number elsewhere to encourage people to text it and sign up.
Since it isn’t dependent on people visiting your online store, Text to Join is a particularly convenient SMS marketing opt-in method: your customers can find this option anywhere you share it, including emails and social media.
2. Use an SMS marketing tool
An SMS marketing tool will also provide you with important metrics and reporting to see the exact impact. With that data, you can adjust your text campaigns and try different tactics to get the highest ROI possible.
3. Keep it short yet valuable
- Think about the value. Ask yourself one question before sending any SMS campaign: How will this SMS text message add value to my customer’s life?
- Identify yourself. Your recipients should immediately know who you are. Otherwise, they won’t understand the context of your message. This is the stuff of fundamental brand marketing.
- Use proper grammar. Stay away from text slang and abbreviations since they’re not understood by everyone. Unnecessary abbreviations, text speak, and improper capitalizations make your brand look unprofessional.
- Make your message different from the subject line if you’re promoting an email campaign. “Create a text message that you would actually send to someone,” advises ecommerce marketing veteran Lucas Walker of the Rolled Up Podcast Network. “That will have a huge impact on whatever quality metrics you’re looking for.”
- Always include a clear call to action (CTA) to prompt the recipient to take the next step, as well as a link that has more detailed information. Some examples:
- Subscribe through to receive weekly email marketing news.
- Use at checkout before 6PM today for free shipping.
- Answer our survey for a chance to win prizes!
- Visit by midnight to snag clearance items before they’re gone.
5. Personalize SMS campaigns
Personalization also involves sending an SMS at the right time. Many people have their text message notifications enabled. Deliver your messages during the hours that people are typically awake—and not too early or too late—to avoid aggravating anyone.
6. Add an SMS layer into marketing automations
“Three of the highest converting automations you can have with any email service provider out there are a welcome series, abandoned cart and browse abandonment. So if somebody hasn’t opened or clicked on the first two emails of a welcome series, I’ll suggest that third communication be a new channel,” he explains. “That’s the lowest-hanging fruit in terms of where a lot of value is.”
Divatress includes SMS in its top-performing workflow. The abandoned cart series averages a 29% conversion rate. It accounts for 28% of all revenue generated through Omnisend marketing, yet totals just 5% of all sends.
SMS FAQs
How much does SMS marketing cost?
One important thing to note is that the price per SMS depends on the country in which you’re sending the text messages. You can use Omnisend’s pricing calculator to get a good idea of how much your SMS campaigns will cost in different countries.
Do I really need a marketing tool for multiple channels? Won’t a platform for SMS marketing do the trick?
No, you don’t need an omnichannel marketing platform. A platform designed solely for sending SMS messages does a great job at reaching your audience. But your marketing efforts will be so much easier—and better—when you can work multiple channels from one command post and not worry about misaligned data.
What is MMS?
MMS (multimedia messaging service) is an enhanced version of SMS that features imagery, either static or an animated gif. Character count can expand to 1,600. MMS is a great tool to create compelling messages that play on emotion.
How often should I use SMS?
Remember that communicating via text is more intimate. It’s best not to abuse the trust that someone hands over when providing their personal phone number. Unless you have verified that your fan base wants to hear from you a lot, go about your SMS marketing plans more conservatively than you might when sending email campaigns.
Tell your customers what to expect from your SMS campaigns. Treat that as a promise and keep it. If you tell them you’ll only use SMS for critical or time-sensitive information, don’t use it for anything else.
Reserve this channel for the most exciting or compelling messages so you can condition your customers to be happy to hear from you. They won’t just be more receptive to what you have to say, but they’ll be more open to whatever it is you have to offer.
Sources:
https://messente.com/resources/guides/sms-marketing
https://www.omnisend.com/blog/sms-marketing-software/
https://www.omnisend.com/blog/sms-marketing/
SMS Marketing Resources
“Push SMS deep into the funnel as a retention or post-purchase support channel,” said Aaron Orendorff, VP of Marketing, Common Thread Collective. “Integrate it with shipping and fulfillment first — much like Facebook Messenger — so it becomes a natural place for relevant information. Only after establishing it as a genuine place for helpful — and human — interaction should brands then begin to leverage it for personalized upsells, reorders, and loyalty programs.”
Guide to SMS for Ecommerce in 2022: Resources, Checklists, and Real-time Examples to Maximize This New Channel
Take Gary Vaynerchuck’s family business for example. In 2011, Wine Library was pulling in nearly $67 million in annual sales. That same year, Gary left the family company and went on to create VaynerMedia. In 2PM’s Polymathic Audio #3 between Web Smith and Gary, Smith describes:
“When Vaynerchuk and I spoke with 2PM for Polymathic, he relayed a recent story of his father reaching out to him and asking for him to come back to the Vaynerchuk family’s original business and course-correct a company that had halved in size since Gary’s departure.
To solve the problem for Wine Library, Vaynerchuk recruited some help from his VaynerMedia team. The result was WineText, an SMS-based marketing and commerce channel. The user begins by signing up on the homepage, providing a few key details: name, address, phone number, and payment data. Like Amazon’s 1-Click system, WineText saves users’ credit cards with the help of Stripe. Powered by Twilio, Vaynerchuk and team can send a daily deal to the list at a cost of anywhere between $240 and $360 per text. According to Vaynerchuk, the SMS list of nearly 9,000 customers consistently outperforms Wine Library’s email list of 400,000 by a magnitude of 9x.”
This gives a new meaning to getting someone’s number in our modern era. SMS for ecommerce isn’t for all of ecommerce. There will be people who remain on the sidelines –– both companies and customers –– who prefer email or other channels of information. But for the loyal, for the niche audiences who prefer to receive near-immediate updates sent to the device they check more than 80 times per day, text message marketing and community building can generate millions in revenue.
“I can’t stress the importance of SMS marketing enough because of how astounding the numbers are in comparison to email,” said John Lim, CEO, AZN FLUSH. “On average, a great email list will get 20% open rate and a 2% CTR. We’re seeing closer to 90% open rates on SMS and 20% CTR. Those clicks aren’t just visits either. We’re seeing great conversion rates and, on a per message basis, SMS is outperforming email for us.”
This is the type of success Vaynerchuck tapped into for Wine Library years ago. He essentially created a one-click type system similar to Amazon’s 1-click technology that gave them the edge for decades in online retail.
“One good way for merchants who want to allow customers to buy in-message is using Postscript + Recharge + Shopify. Recharge allows for that sort of open access to credit cards of saved customers,” said Postscript Co-Founder and President Alex Beller.
How can I grow my SMS list?
Ecommerce brands can grow their SMS marketing list through popups on their website, as well as text-a-keyword programs that can help grow a list on non-owned channels like social media.
SMS marketing for ecommerce brands is incredibly effective. 98% of text messages are read by the end of every day, and 32% of consumers respond to SMS marketing from a brand (in comparison to email marketing’s 20% open rate and 2% clickthrough rate).
You can send pretty much any type of text message to customers, but you’ll want to be as on-brand as possible, as well as mindful that you aren’t sending too many messages in a short period of time. Some of the best types of texts to send include conversational texts when a customer has initiated the outreach and is looking for information, birthday or anniversary messages, and reward program updates.
We’ll break all of that down even further here. This new channel is still in its infancy, and we already know what early adopters on Facebook ads or with 1-click technology were able to achieve: a massive leg up in their market.
Everything you need to know about SMS marketing
What do you do when you receive a notification on your cell phone? Run to see the content of the message, right? This need to check your smartphone makes SMS marketing one of the most efficient strategies for companies to communicate with their consumers and therefore provide unforgettable experiences.
Using mobile text messages is a great way to interact with customers in a direct and personal way. In addition to encouraging purchases, nurturing relationships and loyalty, the tool can be used to promote other channels in cross channel actions.
SMS marketing is a strategy that uses mobile text messages to communicate business with customers and prospects. Since this is an instant and extremely personal way to interact, using it for marketing is an opportunity to sell and strengthen relationships.
The power of SMS marketing is still underestimated by many businesses. Big mistake! This is a modern tool that promotes interaction between companies and consumers. Here are the key benefits of using this tool:
According to an article published in Convince & Convert, more than 90% of SMS messages are read in up to 3 minutes. And there is a reason for this: consumers don’t detach from their cell phones, and even if they’re offline from other media, they can read SMS messages. According to a US study, an average user touches their cell phone about 2,617 times a day. Use this immediacy in your favor!
The expenses involved in an SMS marketing campaign are relatively low. After all, you do not need to create complex graphics involving images, video and audio production, printed material, or anything like that. The content is a well-made text message. There are interactive materials that have technology involved and raise the cost of SMS. Even so, the value still does not compare to that of direct mail, for example.
Plenty of advantages, right? But all this ease is like a double-edged sword: it attracts consumers and also drives them away. This is because some customers like invasive and inconvenient communication. For this reason, you need to take some precautions to maintain campaign effectiveness. One of these precautions involves being compliant with the law.
Once you understand SMS marketing and know its benefits it’s time to get started. However, it’s more complex than just using your cell phone to start sending messages to your entire contact base. Effective campaign management needs to start with good planning. After all, it is at this point that you will study your client’s behavior and understand his journey in order to deliver appropriate messages. In addition, there are a number of good practices for promoting SMS marketing actions. Follow the tips below.
How can you succeed in a campaign if you don’t even know what goal you want to reach? For this reason, it is essential to define an objective. It could be to increase sales, recover inactive customers, advertise new products, stimulate up-selling and cross-selling, or nurture relationships to ensure brand loyalty. Depending on their purpose, actions can take a totally different course.
When you know where you want to go, it is easier to define how you’ll reach the destination. After setting a goal, you need to think about how to impact your customers. To create loyalty, for example, you can send rebate coupons on the customer’s anniversary day or give priority to the purchase of new releases.
There are many legitimate companies that can help you send SMS messages in bulk. However, there are also many companies that offer pirated service, which violates the privacy of consumers and may not deliver all the promised messages. Although it is a much cheaper alternative, opting for this service can jeopardize the effectiveness of an entire campaign.
Be very careful when choosing software for sending the messages. Ideally, you should conduct thorough reputation research and choose easy-to-use tools that allow customization and detailed performance reporting.
SMS marketing automation programs allow you to scale interactions with consumers, but without losing personalization. This is because specialized software can identify customers and accompany them throughout the shopping journey. In this way, it is possible to make submissions based on behavioral triggers and increase the efficiency of actions.
Imagine that you sent a promotional coupon to the consumer. If he opened the link and made the purchase, for example, it does not make sense to send the same content. After all, he is no longer in the same stage of the sales funnel. At the moment, it is recommended to use SMS to do after sales and satisfaction surveys.
It is consumer behavior that determines the timing and type of content that customers will receive. Automation software does this analysis automatically and delivers the right messages to the right people.
Textedly: Best Text Message Marketing Service for Businesses With Simple Texting Needs
Textedly offers the lowest per-text price of any full-featured text messaging platform. The price is its chief selling point, but please don’t mistake cheap for substandard. With Textedly, you can easily build lists, have two-way conversations with clients, run bulk campaigns, and link up to dozens of popular apps like Salesforce. It’s also one of the few platforms that allow you to text your customers directly from your Instagram business profile.
On Textedly’s cheapest service plan, the price per text is just 2.4 cents. It’s still cheap if you intend to use SMS marketing a lot – you’ll pay just $140 a month for 10,000 texts. You have the option to pay monthly or annually. Unlike other providers, Textedly doesn’t offer a per-month discount for annual plans; instead, it offers 20% more texts. So, if you pay for a year of the $140 plan upfront, your cost per message goes down to 1.17 cents. Be careful, though – unused texts don’t roll over from month to month, and while you can upgrade your plan, you can’t downgrade it.
We love that the company’s resources section gives you 65 templates to choose from – far more than most competitors offer. Textedly does charge extra for text personalization, drip campaigns, and automatic replies, but the actual charges are low and one-off. There is a slight learning curve to some of the more advanced features, but the standard functions are simple to operate for novice as well as experienced text marketers.
EZ Texting: Best Text Message Marketing Service for Ease of Use
EZ Texting is an exceptionally intuitive text messaging platform full of useful features. Nontechnical business owners and those with little or no marketing experience should have little trouble with the software, because it’s so easy to use.
An aspect of EZ Texting that we particularly like is its vast array of industry-specific content to give you marketing ideas that prompt you to action. Additionally, the template library is superbly integrated into the messaging apps within EZ Texting. Competitors should follow its lead with this, because most make using templates much harder than it needs to be. EZ Texting has 49 built-in templates, and you can connect it to more than 3,000 apps through Zapier.
EZ Texting has partnered with photo library Shutterstock, which provides access to 20 million images that you can use for MMS business messages. There is also an intuitive Canva-like feature built in to help you create branded announcements, invitations and promotions. It has plenty of design templates too, in case you’re not familiar with graphics packages. For those who need help (although the platform is so easy to use that not many will), the EZ Texting website is full of guidance and helpful information.
The platform’s three main pricing plans range from $19 to $49 per month, and each includes 200 outgoing texts and free incoming texts. If you need to send a lot of messages, EZ Texting is expensive compared to other platforms. Unfortunately, your expensive unused text credits don’t roll over from month to month.
There are four plans, which are flexible for any size or type of business. EZ Texting uses a credit system for messages, so you are in control of the volume of messages you want to send and your budget. The Value plan is $24 a month and offers 200 credits at a rate of 4 cents per additional credit. The Custom package costs $374 per month, and while it also includes 200 credits, the rate is only 1 cent per additional credit. Annual plans offer savings of up to 20% per package.
In early March, EZ Texting and Shutterstock announced a partnership that allows EZ Texting users to send MMS picture messages. For no extra cost, EZ Texting customers can now choose from Shutterstock’s collection of millions of royalty-free images to create promotions, announcements and invitations. Users also gain access to an image editor and hundreds of design templates to quickly design an MMS marketing campaign to boost sales, drive engagement and promote their product or service.
Sources:
https://postscript.io/guide-sms-for-ecommerce
https://reviewalert.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sms-marketing
https://www.business.com/categories/best-text-message-marketing-services/