SMS marketing software helps businesses send bulk text messages to their customers every day. SMS marketing is the process of sending transactional messages, account updates, and promotional offers to customers’ and prospects’ mobile phones. 

With a 98% open rate, SMS marketing is still an effective marketing strategy, giving a simple yet potent way to engage with customers. 

SMS marketing software makes this possible by automating the whole process, helping businesses reach a larger audience.

Geekflare team has researched and handpicked the top SMS marketing tools based on integration capabilities, customization and automation, and affordability and pricing plans.

  • Omnisend – Best for E-commerce Marketing Automation
  • Textmagic – Best for Bulk Messaging
  • Sender – Best for Affordable SMS Marketing and E-Commerce
  • SlickText – Best for Easy Text Campaigns
  • Mobile Text Alerts – Best for Sending Alerts & Appointment Reminders
  • Brevo – Best for Sending Email and SMS
  • Klaviyo – Best for High-Growth E-commerce
  • TrueDialog – Best for Compliance
  • EZ Texting – Best for Small and Large Enterprises
  • ManyChat – Best for Mass Texting
  • Drip – Best for E-commerce Customer Segmentation
  • EngageBay – Best for Email + SMS marketing
  • ClickSend – Best for Business Communication
  • Textlocal – Best for UK Businesses
  • SimpleTexting – Best for Small Businesses
  • Show moreShow less
Omnisend

Omnisend

Best for E-commerce Marketing Automation

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integration Capabilities
    E-commerce, CRM, Zapier
  • Message Automation
    Drip campaigns, Segmented Targeting
  • Customer Support
    24*7 Live Chat, Email
$16/month
Free Plan Available
Explore Omnisend

About Omnisend

Omnisend is a multichannel marketing platform launched in 2014 that has helped over 100,000 businesses worldwide over the last 9+ years. It allows integration of email and SMS for higher engagement with customers and 100% customizable templates for smart brand positioning. The platform also offers an automation library, which has pre-built workflows with SMS alerts on cart abandonment, birthdays, order confirmation, and shipping details.

Why Omnisend imight be the best for SMS and Email automation

Omnisend offers functionalities like cross-channel automation, which lets you combine email and SMS into a single workflow. This ensures targeted messaging across multiple channels to leverage both SMS and email channels.

Omnisend Features

  • Key feature

    Landing Pages: Create dedicated pages for each campaign and customize them as per your branding goals.

  • Key feature

    Teasers: Add non-intrusive banners to your website and prompt visitors to take action – whether it is signing up for your SMS list or checking out the latest deals

  • Key feature

    Sign-up Forms: Access a variety of sign-up forms including embedded forms, landing pages, and pop-ups to grow your SMS and email lists.

  • Key feature

    SMS Channel Reports: Track the performance of your campaigns with channel-level filtering and see how your messages are performing.

Omnisend Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    You get a campaign booster to improve open rates.

  • Advantage

    The free plan comes with unlimited contacts, which you might not find in other providers unless it’s a paid plan.

  • Advantage

    If you buy the Pro plan, you get FREE monthly credits added to your account.

  • Disadvantage

    Audience segmentation options are limited, and companies with a wide range of customer segments may find it unsuitable to accurately target them.

  • Disadvantage

    Insufficient training materials and a steep learning curve.

Textmagic

Textmagic

Best for Bulk Messaging

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integration Capabilities
    CRM, Zapier, API
  • Message Automation
    Auto-replies, Message Scheduling
  • Customer Support
    Phone, 24*7 Email, Live Chat
$24.5/month 
Free Trial
Start TextMagic Trial

About Textmagic

Textmagic was launched in 2001 and has served over 25,000 businesses globally to engage with customers through text message with an intuitive interface and robust integrations. It enables sending mass texts to customers in more than 190 countries, converting emails into SMS, and delivering them directly to any smartphone user who has given their consent.

Why is Textmagic best for bulk messaging?

Since there are no monthly fees or commitments, and you only have to pay for the messages you send, managing bulk messaging is easier with Textmagic. It also comes with pre-built SMS templates, which saves time and additional effort.

Textmagic Features

  • Key feature

    Import Contacts: Easily upload phone numbers from Excel or CSV files. The import wizard will check and format your numbers correctly for maximum efficiency.

  • Key feature

    CPaaS Enrichment: Integrate your existing Communication Platform As A Service (CPaaS) to use the advanced features of the platform, including SMS and MMS.

  • Key feature

    10DLC Business Texting: Use a 10-digit Long Code (10DLC) for easy compliance. TextMagic lets you select a local virtual US number and directly activate it on the platform.

  • Key feature

    Mail Merge SMS and Templates: Personalize text messages with custom information using templates. Add a personal touch, save more time, and create as many custom fields as required.

Textmagic Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Monitor the cost of each message sent.

  • Advantage

    Effortless setup with an intuitive workflow designer paired with a wide range of samples.

  • Advantage

    Advanced customization for creating tailored lists for each customer category.

  • Disadvantage

    Pricing per message is relatively higher than other tools.

  • Disadvantage

    No variety in the types of plans you can choose.

  • Disadvantage

    Frequent bug issues lead to confusion and delays.

Brevo

Brevo

Best for Sending Email and SMS

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, Ecommerce, Payment Services.
  • Message Automation
    Segmented Targeting, MMS Messaging
  • Customer Support
    Email, Live Chat
$8.08/month
Free Plan Available
Explore Brevo

About Brevo

Launched in 2012, Brevo was formerly known as Sendinblue, and since then, it has served over 500,000 users across 180+ countries. It offers a comprehensive CRM suite across all major channels – SMS, email, push notifications, and more. Brevo has a simple interface meticulously designed for growing businesses looking to manage their leads, support requests, and customers without any hassle. This makes it easy to nurture leads, keep in touch with existing customers, and handle queries more efficiently.

Why Brevo can be best for sending bulk email and SMS

Brevo offers robust features specifically designed for higher deliverability and ease of use. It has a dedicated deliverability infrastructure, which ensures your emails don’t end up in spam folders. Similarly, it allows the segmenting of contacts based on criteria such as location, preferences, and purchase history for precise targeting. So, whether you want to send bulk email or SMS, Brevo can offer the best of both worlds!

Brevo Features

  • Key feature

    Personalization: Create personalized SMS campaigns using attributes from your contact lists, such as customer names and their past purchase history.

  • Key feature

    MMS Capabilities: Convert a standard SMS into MMS by simply adding an image to the message.

  • Key feature

    Integration: Experience smooth integration with major platforms like Zapier, Stripe, Zendesk, and Zoom for improved performance across multiple channels.

  • Key feature

    Transactional Messages: Send individual messages for order confirmations or shipping details

Brevo Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Access to unlimited contacts and emails per day regardless of the plan chosen.

  • Advantage

    No daily sending limit with the paid plans.

  • Advantage

    Email, SMS marketing, and marketing automation are on the same platform, which reduces hassle.

  • Disadvantage

    Telephone customer support is not available unless you buy a business plan or a higher one.

  • Disadvantage

    Marketing automation workflow doesn’t allow more than 2000 contacts unless you upgrade to a higher plan.

  • Disadvantage

    No option to change the name of the campaign.

Sender

Sender

Best for Affordable SMS Marketing and E-Commerce

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integration Capabilities
    E-commerce, CRM, API
  • Message Automation
    Automated workflows, Triggers
  • Customer Support
    Email, Live Chat
$15.83/month
Explore Sender

About Sender

Launched in 2012 and having served over 100,000 customers to date, Sender ensures the high deliverability of your text with its robust delivery infrastructure. It comes with a feedback loop integration, which makes it easier to notice if your text gets marked as spam. Hence, it ensures your messages reach the right audience.

Sender offers a free plan that lets you access features like spam checks, SMS opt-in collections, unlimited custom fields, and campaign reports, which makes it an affordable option.

Why Sender might be best for Affordable SMS and E-commerce

Sender is an affordable option due to its pocket-friendly pricing. It charges as little as $0.015 per text for credits (when you’re on a standard plan), which makes it ideal for small businesses that are just getting started. Additionally, it easily integrates with all major E-commerce platforms, CMS, and CRM like Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, WordPress, Zapier, etc, making it fit for E-commerce businesses.

Sender Features

  • Key feature

    Omni Channel Follow-up Campaigns: Build and manage custom audience lists on multiple channels and send more personalized messages to your customers.

  • Key feature

    Custom Personalization Tags: Personalize bulk messages with custom fields such as the recipient’s name, location, or any other specific data you’ve collected.

  • Key feature

    Simple Automation Builder: Build, run, and track your SMS campaigns with 100% automation without leaving the app.

  • Key feature

    Templates: Sender has a library with ready-to-send SMS templates, saving you hours of manual work.

Sender Pros and Cons

  • Advantage

    The pay-as-you-go option is a plus, and the pricing plans are affordable.

  • Advantage

    Easy-to-build web forms to store information for potential customers and segment them into specific lists.

  • Advantage

    Supports up to 306 characters, which is far better than other tools.

  • Disadvantage

    Insufficient training materials.

  • Disadvantage

    No direct integration with Google Analytics or CRM applications.

  • Disadvantage

    SMS sending is available only in the standard plan that has no free trial.

SlickText

SlickText

Best for Easy Text Campaigns

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, Ecommerce, Zapier
  • Message Automation
    Autoresponders, Scheduled Text, Abandoned Cart
  • Customer Support
    Phone, Chat, 24*7 Email
$29/month
14-day Free Trial
Explore SlickText

About SlickText

SlickText is a highly versatile SMS marketing launched in 2012 that has served more than 70,000 users across 6 countries to manage their SMS campaigns. With every plan on SlickText, you get access to their marketing tools like website popups, tap-to-join links, QR code generator, and opt-in web form builder. These tools can be easily customized to fit your brand just as needed.

Why SlickText might be best for easy text campaigns

It offers a text survey feature, which lets your customers have a two-way conversation by answering survey questions via text messages. This makes it more engaging than traditional surveys because texting is a far more quick and convenient option. Customers are more likely to respond promptly and thoughtfully, leading to a higher response rate and accurate data collection.

SlickText Features

  • Key feature

    Text to Join: Allows users to subscribe to your SMS list by texting a keyword to a designated number.

  • Key feature

    SMS Short Codes: Simplify opting into your SMS marketing program via 5-6 digit numbers (short codes) to send and receive SMS at scale. This supports both standard SMS and multimedia messages.

  • Key feature

    Text to Win: Run contests or sweepstakes via SMS, where the participants can enter by texting a keyword to your short code.

  • Key feature

    SMS Autoresponders: Send automated replies to texts to confirm subscriptions, provide information, or schedule follow-up messages.

SlickText Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Ideal for businesses of all sizes since the customization is top-notch.

  • Advantage

    Allows adjustment for SMS volume monthly depending on existing requirements.

  • Advantage

    Easy to pull out information and have direct contact with your client or customer base.

  • Disadvantage

    Makes it difficult to copy current users to new lists.

  • Disadvantage

    Need to re-upload contacts for updates or additions.

  • Disadvantage

    Downgrading a plan deletes previous chats.

Mobile Text Alerts

Mobile Text Alerts

Best for Sending Alerts & Appointment Reminders

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integration Capabilities
    CRM, Zapier, API
  • Message Automation
    Scheduled Messages, Keywords
  • Customer Support
    Email, Live Chat
$20/month
Free Trial
Explore Mobile Text Alerts

About Mobile Text Alerts

Mobile Text Alerts was launched in 2011 and since then it has emerged as an easy-to-use SMS platform that makes setting up a text alert system easy with its diverse functionalities. These include automatic replies, contact card usage, and text-to-landlines, ensuring you are always on the right track. Additionally, you get in-built integrations with leading platforms including Zapier, WordPress, Slack, Mailchimp, ClickFunnels, and more for a streamlined workflow.

Why Mobile Text Alerts might be best for sending appointment reminders

Mobile Text Alerts simplifies appointment reminders with automated scheduling and recurring messages by confirming or rescheduling. You can also track how the recipient interacts with reminder links to assess the effectiveness of your strategy.

Mobile Text Alerts Features

  • Key feature

    SmartSMS Suggest AI: Give a prompt and generate text messages for different occasions (seasonal discounts, customer appreciation, cart abandonment etc.) quicker & better.

  • Key feature

    MMS Service: Add a touch of creativity with images, GIFs, and emojis in MMS and break the monotony.

  • Key feature

    Contact Grouping: Organize your contact list into different groups to send targeted and more relevant messages to everyone.

  • Key feature

    Web Signup Forms: Collect subscriber information by embedding sign-up forms on your website.

  • Key feature

    Two-way SMS Service: Instantly chat back and forth with your customers while managing individual threads.

Mobile Text Alerts Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    LIVE assistant for retailers to track sales, and registration links, and manage loyalty rewards and giveaways.

  • Advantage

    Supports multiple keywords/groups, and easy customization for different customer segments.

  • Advantage

    Comes with rollover text functionality, which lets you carry over unused texts for the next month.

  • Disadvantage

    No feature to verify the customer you’re sending the SMS to while sending multiple texts.

  • Disadvantage

    Limited scheduling options to send the same text on multiple or same days.

  • Disadvantage

    No option to add subscribers to a group.

Klaviyo

Klaviyo

Best for High-Growth E-commerce

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, Ecommerce, Payment Services, API
  • Message Automation
    Segmented Targeting, Cross-Channel Flows
  • Customer Support
    24*7 Email, 24*5 Live Chat
$20/month
Free Plan Available
Explore Klaviyo

About Klaviyo

Having served more than 146,000 brands so far, Klaviyo has helped businesses across multiple sectors connect with their customers across multiple channels. Through its SMS marketing capabilities, Klaviyo enables you to reach out to potential and existing customers to build valuable relationships with them. The “Audience Breakdown” – segment-level campaign reporting is a unique feature that helps you get the campaign metrics at the audience level. Additionally, features like 2-way messaging, A/B testing, MMS, and message personalization further help identify similar patterns to see what works best for each type of customer.

Why Klaviyo might be best for high-growth E-commerce

It might be ideal for high-growth E-Commerce businesses as it offers powerful segmentation and automation teachers best suited for online retail needs. It allows you to use behavioral and transactional data to create highly targeted and personalized email and SMS campaigns. Since segments can be updated in real-time, your messages stay highly relevant considering the needs of the high-growth e-commerce market.

Klaviyo Features

  • Key feature

    SMS Copywriting: The AI-powered SMS assistant makes it convenient to create SMS campaigns by generating compelling copies almost instantly.

  • Key feature

    Dynamic Text Blocks: Create an SMS sign-up form that automatically adjusts for easy viewing on mobile devices.

  • Key feature

    Suggested Replies: Comes with a “suggested responses” functionality that simplifies replying to customers’ messages by recommending the most suitable saved quick responses.

  • Key feature

    Predicted Customer Attributes: Predict attributes like lifetime value, purchase possibilities, and churn risk with advanced AI and machine learning capabilities.

  • Key feature

    A/B Testing: Analyze which SMS copy or flow settings are performing well for the campaign with A/B testing.

Klaviyo Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Excellent analytical ability to visualize all the KPIs in one place.

  • Advantage

    The segmentation tool makes it easy to choose how many variables you want to create a contact list.

  • Advantage

    Tailored discounts for active Shopify users.

  • Disadvantage

    Advanced features are comparatively costlier.

  • Disadvantage

    Hassle to manually filter the downloaded data in sheets if you’re looking for specific questions.

  • Disadvantage

    Insufficient dedicated IPs, resulting in lower deliverability rates.

TrueDialog

TrueDialog

Best for Compliance

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, API
  • Message Automation
    Autoresponders, Message Scheduling
  • Customer Support
    Email, Helpdesk
 $99/month
Free Trial
Explore TrueDialog

About TrueDialog

TrueDialog was launched in 2008 and to date, it has served over 2000 customers including Fortune 500 companies, universities, and non-profit organizations. It is an AI-powered business text messaging solution designed to enhance communication between organizations and their customers. It comes with an AI engine that supports external chat to help the customers choose the right reply promptly. Truedialog is suitable for both large and small-scale businesses since it offers multiple functionalities such as SMS marketing campaigns, customer service messaging, and internal team communication.

Why TrueDialog might be the best for compliance focus

TrueDialog ensures seamless compliance with the guidelines of the CTIA (Cellular Telephone Industries Association) to regulate message content. It also maintains a dual opt-out database in its ISO 9001-certified cloud, which ensures no user who has opted out receives accidental messages.

TrueDialog Features

  • Key feature

    URL Shortener: Comes with built-in functionality to shorten long URLs directly within your SMS, making it visually appealing.

  • Key feature

    SMS Survey Engine: Create or send surveys via SMS and gather feedback from your audience effectively.

  • Key feature

    Mobile Apps: Manage campaigns directly from mobile with white-labeled text inboxes and handle ongoing conversations on the go.

  • Key feature

    Team-Based Two-way Messaging: Allows multiple team members to manage two-way SMS conversations with your audience for seamless communication.

TrueDialog Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Ideal for high-volume texting in two-way conversations.

  • Advantage

    Offers API-only pricing to use SMS API without using the whole platform.

  • Advantage

    Account management features, especially the billing structure, are one of the best compared to other tools.

  • Disadvantage

    No option to edit templates once they are set.

  • Disadvantage

    Not ideal for global reach as it doesn’t support international coverage.

EZ Texting

EZ Texting

Best for Small and Large Enterprises

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, Ecommerce, Zapier, API
  • Messaging Automation
    Drip, Text Scheduling, Recurring Messages
  • Customer Support
    Live Chat, Help Center
$20/month
Free Trial
Explore EZ Texting

About EZ Texting

With a customer base of over 230,000 clients, EZ Texting has evolved into an end-to-end solution for SMS marketing ambitions, especially for businesses across multiple industries. Users get everything from unlimited contacts, and list growth tools, to reporting tools for easy management of your SMS marketing campaigns. Plus, with its unique integration with Shutterstock, you can use image suggestions while drafting texts for customers to ensure media-rich interaction.

Why EZ Texting might be best for employee communication

EZ Texting lets you easily fill open shifts or routes by sending bulk text messages to ensure staffing needs are quickly met. It also comes with an emergency alert SMS system to maintain staff safety by sending out important updates promptly during emergencies. This ensures that all employees stay informed and respond timely which makes EZ Texting a highly effective tool to improve internal communication and operational efficiency.

EZ Texting Features

  • Key feature

    AI Compose: Create tailored bulk text messages with AI and boost your response rates by up to 30%.

  • Key feature

    SMS for Employee Communications: Manage recruiting, onboarding, staff scheduling, and send out mass texts to employees for streamlined internal communication.

  • Key feature

    Text Forwarding: Automatically forward inbound texts, and replies directly to your phone email or dashboard.

  • Key feature

    QR Codes: Simplify joining your list for the users with a quick scan and effectively drive more opt-ins.

EZ Texting Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Send out mass texts to your customers based on certain keyword groups.

  • Advantage

    Create unlimited groups to organize contacts.

  • Advantage

    Option to export bounced messages and import mass contacts with zero hassle.

  • Disadvantage

    Frequent delays in delivering messages.

  • Disadvantage

    Tech support is not as good as other tools in the market.

  • Disadvantage

    No analytics in the lower-cost version.

ManyChat

ManyChat

Best for Mass Texting

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, Zapier, Payment Services
  • Messaging Automation
    Segmented Targeting, Flow Builder, Drip
  • Customer Support
    Helpdesk, Knowledge Base
 $15/month
Free Plan Available
Explore ManyChat

About ManyChat

Launched in 2015, ManyChat has garnered a user base of over 1.8 million across 190 countries. It makes SMS marketing with its extensive AI-powered features. It lets you send coupons, drive sales, or inform about an upcoming event via SMS and across all major social media platforms like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. ManyChat also lets you engage with every mention, or reaction across social media platforms, which ensures instant communication with potential customers on autopilot.

Why ManyChat might be best for mass texting

ManyChat offers a powerful automation and easy integration with social media platforms. It also lets you create detailed automated workflows which makes it easy to set up sequences of messengers triggered by specific user actions or schedules, ideal for customization on scale.

ManyChat Features

  • Key feature

    AI Assistance: Harness the power of artificial intelligence with AI assistant and plug-and-play templates to get started with automation.

  • Key feature

    Flow Builder: Create automated and personalized text message sequences with a visual flow builder.

  • Key feature

    Lead Generation: Gain high conversion rates with advanced functionalities to identify interested leads and keep them engaged without expensive retargeting.

  • Key feature

    Multiple Platform Support: Going beyond SMS, manage your business conversations on social media platforms and keep a tab on your customer interactions everywhere.

ManyChat Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Unlimited custom fields and tags.

  • Advantage

    Easy monitoring in real-time with drag-and-drop building tools.

  • Advantage

    Comes with growth tools to drive users to funnels.

  • Disadvantage

    Not ideal for small and medium-sized businesses.

  • Disadvantage

    There is no support for running an email marketing campaign alongside.

  • Disadvantage

    No integration with commonly used tools like Zendesk, HubSpot, or Salesforce.

Drip

Drip

Best for E-commerce Customer Segmentation

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, Ecommerce, API, Payment Services
  • Messaging Automation
    Segmented Targeting, Abandoned Cart Alerting, Drip
  • Customer Support
    Email, Knowledge Base
$39/month
Free Trial
Explore Drip

About Drip

Drip is a Minnealopis-based automated marketing platform launched in 2012 designed to manage customer relationships across multiple touchpoints for sales. Through its SMS marketing capabilities, it helps you send the right message at the right time to help you stay updated with campaign performance. With features like behavior-based automation and social integrations, it helps to further streamline marketing campaigns across multiple channels.

Why Drip might be the best for E-commerce customer segmentation

It offers behavior-based segmentation capabilities, which lets you tailor messages based on specific customer actions. For instance, depending on their browsing behavior or purchase history, you can customize your messaging and increase the odds of higher conversion rates.

Drip Features

  • Key feature

    Behavior-based Automation: Send personalized SMS based on customer actions, such as purchasing, or browsing.

  • Key feature

    OMS Sync: Synchronize with an Order Management System (OMS) to exchange order-related data and send personalized SMS based on customers’ order status updates, abandoned carts, or recent purchases.

  • Key feature

    Seamless Migration: Maintain accurate and actionable customer data for personalized marketing and ensure safe data migration.

  • Key feature

    Automatic Social Retargeting: Reconnect with potential customers who visited but left without purchasing with automated retargeting.

Drip Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Contact import feature for active Mailchimp users.

  • Advantage

    Pre-built playbooks for welcome series, post-purchase campaigns, and other categories.

  • Advantage

    Event-based automation is a versatile addition.

  • Disadvantage

    Basic flow editor compared to other options.

  • Disadvantage

    High pricing considering the number of contacts.

  • Disadvantage

    Limited integrations as compared to other options.

EngageBay

EngageBay

Best for Email + SMS marketing

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integrations
    Ecommerce, Zapier, Payment Services
  • Marketing Automation
    Segmented targeting, Drip, Abandoned Cart Alerting
  • Customer Support
    Live Chat, Email
$13.79/month
Free Plan Available
Explore EngageBay

About EngageBay

Renowned for its all-in-one capabilities among 28,000 customers as a CRM platform, Engagebay was launched in 2018. It is an effective solution for managing SMS marketing campaigns with preferred metrics. This makes it easier to customize and streamline your processes with automated workflows as needed. It also offers a wide range of filters for audience fragmentation which ensures a customized experience for every customer depending on their needs and preferences.

Why EngageBay might be best for small to medium businesses

It is ideal for small to medium businesses for its affordability, as it offers a free plan that includes almost all the features you will get in a paid plan. However, if you want additional capabilities, the paid plans start from $13.79/month (annually), which is quite generous and often ideal for small to medium-sized businesses.

EngageBay Features

  • Key feature

    Bulk Messaging with Smart Autoresponders: If your customer has clicked on a link, left a product in the cart, or subscribed to your newsletter – Engagebay’s smart auto-responders will quickly send a message.

  • Key feature

    Drag-and-drop Designer for Workflow: Smooth workflow with drag-and-drop visual design to keep technical jargon at bay.

  • Key feature

    Personalization: Easy personalization for your bulk SMS marketing campaigns with a wide range of features. Achieve laser-sharp precision with filters like first and last name, location, date, and so on.

  • Key feature

    Automated Workflow: Add SMS messaging to your marketing automation process at any given point and send texts based on specific triggers or user actions.

EngageBay Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Option to create your own preferred custom personalization feature.

  • Advantage

    Free for up to 15 users.

  • Advantage

    Supports running multiple domains for a campaign.

  • Disadvantage

    The payment process needs to be improved for easy navigation.

  • Disadvantage

    While the integrations work well, setting them up is tricky.

  • Disadvantage

    The templates aren’t updated regularly.

ClickSend

ClickSend

Best for Business Communication 

Geekflare rating score 4.0 out of 5
4.0
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, Zapier, Payment Services, API
  • Marketing Automation
    Alerts and Notifications
  • Customer Support
    24*7 Chat Support
 $0.025 per SMS
FREE Inbound Plan
Explore ClickSend

About ClickSend

ClickSend was launched in 2013 and since then, it has served 900,000 clients. It has grown from a business communication software to a full-fledged SMS gateway allowing businesses to run SMS marketing campaigns via a web-based portal. It simplifies your marketing efforts by managing product launches and seasonal promotions with features like real-time message status monitoring, and low credit warning for streamlined communication

Why ClickSend might be best for business communication

It supports multichannel marketing campaigns using SMS, email, and direct mail all from one app. This versatility makes it easy to maintain close contact with both customers and staff, ensuring that your messages are delivered through their preferred channels.

ClickSend Features

  • Key feature

    Text Blast: Send a single text message to a group of contacts where each recipient receives the message individually without seeing the group details

  • Key feature

    Global Messaging Capabilities: Helps you send SMS worldwide, making it the perfect solution for global campaigns.

  • Key feature

    Secure Messaging: Enterprise-grade security makes your communication with customers safe for a high uptime rate and secure message delivery.

  • Key feature

    Customizable SMS Solutions: With API access, it integrates into your existing system to make sending SMS directly from your software easier. The integration is supported across multiple languages and all major platforms, including Salesforce, Zendesk, Mailchimp, Airtable, Podio, and more.

ClickSend Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Pay-as-you-go pricing, no monthly maintenance fees.

  • Advantage

    Easy account setup and bulk SMS for 1000+ contacts.

  • Advantage

    Additional free credits with the free plan.

  • Disadvantage

    Difficult to export and share the details.

  • Disadvantage

    Links embedded in the SMS may get marked as spam.

  • Disadvantage

    No option to auto-delete bounced or undelivered messages.

Textlocal

Textlocal

Best for UK Businesses

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|
  • Integrations
    CRM, Ecommerce, Payment Services, API
  • Marketing Automation
    Bulk SMS, Mobile Surveys, MMS
  • Customer Support
    Email, Phone
 £24.50 per 500 SMS credits
Explore Textlocal

About Textlocal

The UK’s top choice for mobile communications, Textlocal is a top-rated online SMS platform introduced in 2005 as a bulk messaging platform. Since then, it has developed a strong customer base of 165,000+ satisfied customers. Textlocal also enables RCS (Rich communication services), which works like SMS but offers additional functionalities like group chats, sharing locations, uploading images, etc via the phone’s native messaging application.

Why Textlocal might be best for UK businesses

Textlocal is especially beneficial for UK-based businesses as it offers low-cost messaging, especially for charities at 2.8p per text. You get a free UK short number and keyword with every messenger account, which makes it easier to handle incoming messages. Therefore, with all the tools for camping management, forms, attachments, and automation, you get a cost-effective edge with this tool on that front.

Textlocal Features

  • Key feature

    Apple Messages for Business: Enable your customers to easily interact with you, schedule appointments, make bookings, and make purchases through Apple Pay, all with the Apple Messages app.

  • Key feature

    Customization: Customize your SMS campaign with its user-friendly interface that can compose texts in 20+ languages, ideal for targeting a diverse linguistic region.

  • Key feature

    Validating Third-party Database: Send messages to a sample group from each database, track the click-through rate to check the engagement, and directly communicate with the sample audience to verify performance.

  • Key feature

    Email to SMS: Send bulk text messages directly from your email client (Outlook or Gmail) and receive replies in your email inbox. You can also add attachments, which recipients can download via a link to their SMS.

Textlocal Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Functionality to use external data with customizable SMS templates.

  • Advantage

    Option to send a free alert on the delivery schedules to reduce undelivered messages.

  • Advantage

    Notify customers of the pickup schedule in advance with the self-pick-up option.

  • Disadvantage

    If you’re running a global campaign, some features may be unavailable in selected regions.

  • Disadvantage

    Need to get approval for SMS format before sending, which can be tedious.

  • Disadvantage

    The balanced top-up process sometimes lag.

SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting

Best for Small Businesses

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|
  • Integration
    Zapier, Mailchimp, API
  • Messaging Automation
    Bulk SMS, Autoresponders, Drip
  • Customer Support
    Phone, Chat
$33.20/month
30-days Free Trial
Explore SimpleTexting

About SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting offers in-built integration with 1000+ tools like Zapier, MailChimp, Slack, Shopify, and other CRM systems to automate workflows and synchronize data across platforms. It was launched in 2010 and has served more than 15,000 customers so far. SimpleTexting comes with built-in templates that speed up response time with saved replies and self-cleaning lists, which helps take care of the little nuances of your campaign. You can also use the text-to-win functionality to grow your list by hosting contests, author responders, or integrations.

Why SimpleTexting might be best for small businesses

It is ideal for small businesses because it offers the flexibility to scale pricing according to needs. Understandably, it’s difficult for small businesses to tell how much they would want to invest in text message marketing software when starting out. SimpleTexting eases this pressure with its pricing based on the number of texts sent per month and later upgrade as the texting needs increase with growing business.

SimpleTexting Features

  • Key feature

    Website Popups: Create small popup windows on your website and encourage visitors to subscribe to your SMS marketing list directly from the site.

  • Key feature

    Two-way Messaging: Improve interactions with customers with a two-way texting feature that allows customers to reply to messages.

  • Key feature

    Text to Join Keywords: Set specific keywords that people can text to a designated number, making it easier for them to join your list instantly.

  • Key feature

    Live Tracking and Analytics: Analytics help businesses track how SMS campaigns are performing. With link tracking, see who clicked on a link within a message and how they interacted with your website afterward.

SimpleTexting Pros/Cons

  • Advantage

    Exclusive support from an in-house account manager to custom integrations (applicable only for paid users of select plans.)

  • Advantage

    Mailchimp integration allows importing contacts.

  • Advantage

    Option to create multiple keywords for contact numbers at no extra cost.

  • Disadvantage

    Insufficient options for intermediate pricing.

  • Disadvantage

    Additional charges for team access unless subscribed to the 50,000+ credit plan.

  • Disadvantage

    Doesn’t have sufficient QR code generation tools.

SMS Marketing Tools Comparison Table

Below is a comparison of the main features of the above listed SMS marketing tools.

Product
Monthly Pricing
Campaign Types
Analytics
Explore
Omnisend

Omnisend

4.5
/5
$16
Promotional messages, welcome messages, automated texts.
Open rates, segment performance, audience growth trends, form reports
Sender

Sender

4.5
/5
$15.83
Drip, alerts, reminders, transactional
Open and click tracking, data, and time analysis, click map, subscriber profiles
SlickText

SlickText

4.8
/5
$29
Drip campaigns, auto-replies, surveys
Click rates, response data, opt-in data, abandoned cart revenue
Mobile Text Alerts

Mobile Text Alerts

4.5
/5
$20
Promotional, appointment reminders, drip campaigns, welcome messages
Sent messages report, opt-out report, link tracking
Textmagic

Textmagic

4.5
/5
$24.5
Drip campaigns and promotional messages
Delivery and reply rates, product usage, and performance
Brevo

Brevo

4.5
/5
$8.08
SMS campaigns, transactional SMS, and drip campaigns
Open rates and click-through rates
Klaviyo

Klaviyo

4.5
/5
$20
Drip, transactional, two-way messaging
A/B testing, engagement reports, predictive analytics, revenue attribution, conversion rates
TrueDialog

TrueDialog

4.8
/5
$99
Automated reminders, promotional messages, two-way SMS
Drill-down reporting, target segmentation, opt-in and opt-out rates
EZ Texting

EZ Texting

4.5
/5
$20
Drip campaigns, scheduled messages, recurring messages
Delivery rates, credits used, new recipients added, no action rates
ManyChat

ManyChat

4.5
/5
$15
Omnichannel drip campaigns

Buy button conversion, contact collection conversion, Shopify conversion
Drip

Drip

4.8
/5
$39
Drip campaigns and promotional messages
Subscriber growth, lead score, lifetime revenue of subscribers
Engagebay

Engagebay

4.5
/5
$13.79
Email broadcast, SMS broadcast, sequences, automation, and workflows
Pipeline and sales reports, sales forecasting
ClickSend

ClickSend

4.0
/5
$0.025
Promotional messages, drip campaigns, and transactional messages
Country, browser, device, and operating system apart from the basic metrics 
Textlocal

Textlocal

4.8
/5
£24.50/500 SMS credits
Promotional and transactional messages, and service SMS
CTR, open rates, opt-in and opt-out rates 
SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting

4.5
/5
$33.20
Auto confirmation, autoresponders, schedule messages
Delivery status, CTR, subscriber behavior, campaign performance.

What Kind of SMS Can You Send as a Business?

As a business, you can send the following types of messages:

  • Transactional: These messages are sent with the information customers need after completing a transaction. The message typically includes a confirmation, date of order, shipping updates, and payment receipt.
  • Promotional: These messages are sent to promote sales and let the customer know about a special offer or event. The main focus is to attract the customer’s attention and then encourage them to purchase a product or participate in a promotional event.
  • Alerts and Reminders: These messages are useful to keep the customers updated about their accounts, the latest updates on their appointments, or if there is a change in the service.
  • Customer Support: These messages are sent as a response to the customer’s inquiry. It can be an answer to their questions, assistance, or managing their requests and complaints.
  • Engagement Messages: Apart from the regular ones, engagement messages are sent to keep the customer engaged with your brand. It can be anything – a helpful tip to keep in mind while using the product or service, something educational, or simply fun. 

Does SMS Marketing Work?

SMS marketing might sound old-fashioned, but it is still a reliable opportunity to engage with your potential and existing customers. E-commerce marketers generate around $71 for every dollar they spend on SMS marketing. On the other hand, 60% of consumers read messages within 1-5 minutes of receiving them. 

Notice something here? There’s a clear untapped opportunity to interact with your customers through SMS marketing. Since people read texts shortly after receiving them, your promotions might get noticed faster. The only thing holding businesses back from leveraging this medium is not recognizing its power. If that’s you, it’s time to catch up with the trend and connect with your customers in a way they appreciate and respond to! 

Features To Consider When Choosing an SMS Marketing Platform

With all the potential SMS marketing holds, you may wonder, “Which SMS marketing platform is right for my business?” With so many options out there, how do you make the right choice that fits YOUR needs? Most importantly, how to make sure you don’t miss out on the best features? Here are a few aspects to keep in check:

Compliance With The Laws

No matter how promising your campaign is, it might be worth nothing if your tool doesn’t comply with the applicable laws and standards. You might face penalties in that situation. This is why your priority should be a tool that prioritizes compliance and assures a safe global reach. 

Key considerations:

  • Should be a certified CTIA (Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst) partner. 
  • Compliance with the TCPA guidelines (Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 1991)
  • Must follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines.

💡 Bonus tip: Look for a platform that provides straightforward legal terms on sign-up. This would make it easy for people to opt-out if they want to and prevent them from being subscribed if they don’t want to.

Easy Channel Management

Your text message marketing software should be able to reach potential customers everywhere. An ideal tool would include specific features like centralized control panels to manage multichannel campaigns – from SMS to email and social media. This ensures your messages are consistent across all channels, and they are easy to customize as and when needed.

Key considerations:

  • Functionalities like pop-ups, footer widgets, embedded forms, floating buttons, sign-up pages, and check-out options.
  • Tools for your social media and marketing channels, typically keywords, social story links, and sign-up links.
  • Tools for your store, including QR codes, POS (point-of-sale), and text to subscribe.
  • Ready-to-launch and customizable templates for customer engagement and obtaining their consent. 

Tracking And Analytics 

Data-driven decisions hardly miss the mark and for that, you need the right tool to back up with accurate and updated data. This ensures transparency and easy targeting with laser-sharp precision. 

Key considerations:

  • A comprehensive analytics dashboard to track campaign performance and SMS cost against the revenue.
  • Subscriber collection analytics to know where your audience is coming from – social media, your website, or any other channel. 
  • Flexible attribution model to accurately track and credit multiple customer touch points.
  • A/B testing capabilities to help you understand what resonates best with your audience.

Integration Scope

An important part of the marketing puzzle is having strong integration capabilities. This means your SMS platform works smoothly with other tools you use for better results.  

Key considerations:

  • Compatibility with help desk solutions for easy management of your SMS replies. 
  • Integration with other CRM platforms without any major jargon. 
  • Synergy between SMS and other programs or channels such as reviews, loyalty, and user-generated content.
  • Seamless integration with payment systems to facilitate transactional SMS alerts for payment confirmations and upcoming bill reminders.

How to Send Marketing SMS Programmatically?

As your business grows, you’re likely to have more customers and more frequent interactions with them. This requires a faster and more organized way to handle messages and keep up with their queries and orders. Programmatically sending marketing SMS via APIs automates this entire process and helps you send bulk text messages in response to specific actions. Here’s how it works:

  • API Integration: Integrate an SMS API with your business systems, like a CRM, website, or app. This requires configuring the API using your system credentials and specifying the endpoints for sending and receiving messages. 
  • Drafting Messages: Next, draft the personalized text messages that will be sent to customers. It can be a promotional message, an appointment reminder, or an OTP. 
  • Sending The Message: API will now send the message to the SMS service and deliver it to the recipient’s phone number. This is triggered by certain customer behavior and predefined conditions like sign-ups or unsubscribing. 
  • Message Delivery: Next, the SMS API will handle the delivery of messages to the customer’s phone through telecom networks. This process takes a few seconds. 
  • Receiving Delivery Reports: Finally, the SMS API will provide a delivery report on whether the message was successfully delivered, failed, or is still being processed. These reports are necessary to monitor the performance of your SMS marketing campaigns and can be easily accessed through the API dashboard.

FAQs

Is SMS Marketing Legal in the USA?

Yes, it’s legal and you can do it as long as you comply with the laws – TCPA in the US and GDPR in the EU. If you break the law, you may face penalties or even lawsuits which can harm your brand reputation.

What is SMS Used For in Marketing?

It is used to send promotional offers, updates, and alerts directly to customers to keep them engaged with your brand. 

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