Don't go blindly into the world of SMS marketing platforms, take time and consider the options in front of you.
When you consider that mobile has now become the primary way we shop, consume new information, and communicate with our friends and family, it's no surprise that SMS marketing is becoming so important.
In fact, in recent years, SMS marketing is one of the most efficient ways to reach your customer and see a high return on investment.
SMS Marketing is a great way to communicate with your customers, and the stats prove it. Image courtesy of .
Here are just a few of the impressive statistics that come with SMS marketing.
Do we have your attention now? Because those are numbers that no other marketing effort can even come close to.
In this article, we'll take a look at how you can benefit from SMS marketing and provide a detailed review of 14 different SMS marketing platforms to help you compare available options.
How SMS Marketing Can Benefit You
SMS marketing provides businesses with a number of benefits. From increased awareness and engagement to opportunities to improve personalization and learn more about customers, the possibilities are endless.
In this section, we'll take a look at just a few of the benefits you can expect to see when you take the plunge and join the SMS marketing party.
Your Customers Almost Always Have Their Smartphones
One of the reasons that SMS messages have such a high open and read rate is because your customers almost always have their smartphones. That means that no matter what your customer is doing, or where they are, they are most likely seeing your message within minutes of when it was sent.
Over 50% of people admit to checking their smartphones very frequently.
In fact, it's become so addicting that people are checking their smartphones almost every 10 minutes, if not more.
According to PR Newswire, American check their phones 96 times a day which works out to be once every 10 minutes.
Knowing that this is the preferred method of communication for many of your customers, it's a no brainer. Including SMS messaging in your marketing strategy will help you build brand awareness and increase engagement and reach.
It Requires Subscribers to Opt-in
Opt-in marketing means that a customer has to explicitly provide you with permission to send them marketing messages. SMS marketing does just that by requiring customers to send a specific shortcode or keyword to opt-in to your program.
This is a benefit to you because you know that those who have made the effort to opt-in are interested and expecting communication from our company.
According to Rebrandly, once someone has opted-in to a program, they don't mind receiving SMS messages from the brand.
Your customers will opt-in to your SMS marketing messages for a variety of reasons. Some of those include coupons and incentives, exclusive content, company updates, and more.
There is often a reason someone is interested in subscribing to your SMS marketing list. You need to make sure you're meeting their expectations.
But keep in mind, just as people choose to subscribe for a variety of reasons, they may opt-out quickly if you don't meet them.
Learn More and Engage With Your Customers
SMS messaging is a great way to learn more about your customers and increase engagement. Because it's a quick and direct way to communicate with your customers, it is a great way to gather feedback from your customers.
Whether you choose to send polls or simply ask for customers to provide more information on their wants, needs, and interests. SMS is a great way to start that engagement and have a two-way conversation.
According to GetFeedback, SMS response rates are 7.5x greater than email. And 50% of customers prefer to contact support through text messaging over other channels.
That means that if you are trying to gather feedback on customer experience, or just trying to gain a better understanding of what your customers want to engage with, SMS is the best option to obtain this information.
If you're looking to gather data from your customers via survey, SMS is the best way to do that.
The morale of the story is that SMS messaging is the best way to reach your customers and to encourage two-way communication. The possibilities of what you can learn about your customers from SMS messaging is endless.
The Top 14 SMS Marketing Platforms
There are endless SMS marketing platforms out there to choose from. To help you compare and contrast some of the most popular, we pulled together detailed reviews on 14 different platforms.
Each section highlights some key capabilities and important information you'll want to know when looking to invest in a new platform. Let's dive in!
Utilize Listrak's SMS marketing tools to reach customers on a personal level, enhance their experience, and increase engagement.
With Listrak, you can expect to leverage the impressive stats that come with SMS marketing. From higher click-through and read rates to increased ROI, you can't go wrong.
Listrak covers a wide range of SMS messaging tools. From text-to-join campaigns, conversion tracking, coupon codes, data acquisition, and cross-channel orchestration. The possibilities are endless.
"The manual process of importing and exporting data files was hampering our ability to quickly set up audience targeting, but Listrak Exchange was able to automate that process, removing a huge frustration for us." - Listrak Customer Testimonial
Highlighted platform capabilities.
- Send broadcast and triggered SMS messages.
- Create cross-channel interactions between SMS, email, social, and more.
- Text-to-join acquisitions.
- Keyword campaigns to build your subscriber list.
- Target campaigns with the help of a 360˚ customer profile.
- Track success and stay compliant.
Additional considerations.
Consider Listrak if you are looking for a platform that not only lets you automate your SMS messages but also takes the cross-channel customer experience to a new level.
EZ Texting allows you to send customers personalize SMS messages and interact with them in various ways.
Managing your SMS marketing needs is simple with the EZ Texting platform. View, create and respond to messages from a simple and user-friendly dashboard.
EZ Texting provides numerous ways to connect with customers via SMS messaging. Gather feedback through polling, share promotions, and remind customers about upcoming events from one central location.
"We reach hundreds of customers to inform them of Education opportunities, promotions, new product launches also...Works perfectly, excellent customer service." - EZ Texting Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
- Build subscriber lists with shortcode campaigns.
- Send personalized reminders to subscribers.
- Use SMS for polling.
- Engage in two-way conversations with customers.
- Track and report campaign success.
Additional considerations.
Consider EZ Texting if you're looking for a platform that lets you interact and engage with your customers through SMS messages via polling, two-way messaging, and reminder messages.
The Mozeo SMS marketing platform allows you to easily manage all of your SMS messaging needs and work with a company that has a proven customer satisfaction rate.
Mozeo makes it easy to manage and organize your SMS messages through it's easy to use platform.
Mozeo makes managing your SMS marketing easy and is always looking for ways to improve based on customer feedback. With an excellent customer rating and knowledgeable support teams, you'll have the resources you need to succeed.
"After setting up and launching my first text message campaign with Mozeo, my e-commerce store had it's best sales day ever. The entire process was super easy and quick to set up and the ROI was just unbelievable." - Mozeo Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider Mozeo if you're looking for a platform that helps simplify your SMS process and provides you with the support you need to get started with text-based marketing.
allows you to manage, send, and engage with customers via SMS messaging worldwide.
Reach customers through SMS messages to start conversations and drive conversions with Twilio.
Reach customers on a larger scale with Twilio's global capabilities. You can leverage AI technology to help interact with your customers and increase response times.
With Twilio at the core of our texting platform, we're able to rapidly respond to our customers' expectations, and try and meet their needs both now and in the future." - Twilio Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider Twilio if you're looking to utilize AI technology to simplify your SMS response rates and have a need for global messages.
With Sendinblue you can improve the customer experience by integrating multiple channels and take your SMS marketing to the next level.
Manage all of your SMS marketing campaigns from one centralized platform that provides you with insight and analytics to continue to improve.
Sendinblue allows you to reach customers through SMS marketing to get your messages out to them. It also lets you integrate and reach customers across multiple platforms.
"Sendinblue has saved me so much time, and the automation was so easy to set up! It has helped me seriously increase my conversions." - Sendinblue Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider Sendinblue if you're looking for a user friendly solution that allows you to expand and integrate your SMS messaging across your entire marketing strategy.
is a great SMS marketing platform for anyone who is looking to send messages on a large scale and wants to take advantage of text character limits.
Review your metrics and know exactly how your campaign is performing from an easy to use platform.
Textedly allows you to send and receive messages from customers quickly and easily. One of the benefits to this platform is that you can receive incoming messages for free and unlike most platforms, you have the ability to send 300 character messages.
"Textedly has something magical figured out. We were set-up in 15 minutes and immediately started to get new customers joining our mobile marketing club." - Textedly Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
- Easily send mass texts to large groups of customers.
- Build your subscriber list with keyword campaigns.
- Schedule messages and automate replies.
- Send text over the traditional 160 character limit with Textedly.
- Use customization options to improve personalization on every message.
Additional considerations.
Consider Textedly if you're looking for a platform that offers a number of different plan options and gives you a competitive edge by sending messages with up to 300 characters.
offers an easy to use SMS marketing solution that requires no contract and helps you provide the best customer experience.
The Slick Text has taken the time to build an easy to use, reliable platform that will help you make the most out of your SMS marketing program.
Slick Text has taken the time to learn more about what their customers really want from an SMS marketing platform and built it around real customer needs. They also offer industry expertise to help you make the most out of your SMS efforts.
"Slick Text has given us a great advantage over the competition. It's been easy to use and we saw a great response even after just a few weeks of using it. The response we have gotten has MUCH MORE than paid for itself! We are very happy we found Slick Text!" - Slick Text Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
- Schedule SMS messages to send on a specific date and time.
- Enable SMS autoresponders to provide incentives, ask additional questions, and more.
- Create text to win contests to engage customers.
- Send birthday and event texts.
- Automate messages that are sent on a repeating basis.
Additional considerations.
Consider Slick Text if you're looking for an easy to use solution that provides you with real-time help and expertise, and if you don't want to be locked into a contract.
is a great platform for people who are looking to improve automation and set parameters around the SMS messages they are sending out to customers.
Creating workflows allows you to automate your process and send relevant communication without having to create every message manually.
Tatango has over 10 years of experience in the SMS marketing world and can help you automate your current process. With the help of subscriber segmentation, analytics, and messaging workflow opportunities, it's a great option for any company.
"By having Tatango in our corner, we know we'll be able to provide our clients a world-class text message marketing platform, in addition to the expertise and advice our clients require from our agency." - Tatango Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider Tatango if your main goal is to improve SMS automation and provide customers with a more customized texting experience.
is a great SMS marketing platform for companies that have multiple teams that need to engage with customers via text messages.
Easily manage conversations and communicate with your customers from one central dashboard.
With the ability to integrate with multiple platforms and across teams, Avochato makes the SMS experience easier to manage for quick and accurate responses. Having Avochato as a partner will also help you protect the security of your customers and stay compliant.
"It's one of the best ways to have my business communicate with our providers and customers. They have a very efficient and fast-responsive customer support." - Avochato Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider Avochato if you are looking to integrate the process across all of multiple of your internal teams.
Mobile Text Alerts is a great platform for communicating with both customers and internal employees to send instant notifications.
Everything you need to improve your current SMS messaging program in one place.
Mobile Text Alerts allows you to easily send SMS messages to employees and customers alike when there's an urgent communication that needs to be sent or just a sale announcement. With the ability to track links, you can see exactly who is engaging with your campaigns.
"The user interface is very simple and they have reliable customer service. Regarding SMS marketing I can't think of a better provider." - Mobile Text Alerts Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider Mobile Text Alerts if you need to send alerts to customers and employees quickly through SMS messaging.
BirdEye makes it easy to create SMS message templates and personalize the experience for your customers.
Personalize templates to make each interaction feel more hand picked and increase engagement.
Sending mass emails doesn't mean you have to sacrifice personalization or one on one conversations. With BirdEye you can leverage the platform to make a mass text feel like a personalized conversation.
"What I like most about BirdEye is the fact that they are always available to help out immediately." - BirdEye Customer Review.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
allows you to easily, securly, and cost-effectively communicate with employees and customers via text messages.
Easily create and send messages right from your TextMagic account.
TextMagic makes it easy for you to communicate with customers and employees alike. Increase engagement by sending notification, reminders, marketing campaigns, and more through SMS messaging.
"We have been using TextMagic for our SMS needs since 2012 and they have always provided a reliable and good value service." - TextMagic Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider TextMagic if you have a need to communicate with customers and employees on a large scale and have a need for easy language transitions.
lets you easily send personalized SMS messages and relevant offers to customers across the globe.
Setting up SMS messages to communicate with your customers is made simple with the SendPulse platform.
Create a new SMS messaging strategy and leverage the capabilities SendPulse has to offer to make the biggest impact. From segmentation to sending personalized offers, you can accomplish anything you need.
"I think Sendpulse offers outstanding services/products and support for very competitive price. I've been having blast with their "email service" product. Integrated A/B testing and automatisation made it super easy for me in terms of conversions. I could scale up to 30% within few weeks. I recommend to give it a try and at least get free version to see how awesome it works." - SendPulse Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider SendPulse if you are looking for a way to reach global customers in a quick and efficient manner while managing all of your channels from one platform.
Mailigen is another great platform that allows you to manage a number of your channels from one central location.
With a platform like Mailigen, you can take your entire marketing strategy to the next level. From SMS messaging specifically, you'll get everything you need to create, send, and improve your texting strategy.
"Very useful tool for our company is SMS text integration. Mailigen has a great service which quickly responds and helps if there is a problem. Drag and drop editor is easy to use. Also Mailigen offers different types of design." - Mailigen Customer Testimonial.
Highlighted platform capabilities.
Additional considerations.
Consider Mailigen if you're looking to not only take your SMS messaging to the next level with all the capabilities you need, but also integrate it with your other marketing channels.
Make The Most Out Of Your SMS Marketing Strategy
Now that you know some of the benefits that SMS can provide your company and have a glimpse into a few of the most popular platforms, you're ready to explore the world of SMS marketing. Mobile has already begun to take over, so the time is now to get started communicating with your customers via text.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start communicating with your customers directly to their smartphones.
