Textedly is the best text message marketing software for small businesses. With features like custom keywords and free incoming text messages, Textedly has a range of helpful text message marketing tools. With this service, businesses of all sizes can create and execute successful text message marketing campaigns and track results.
","descriptionTest":"Textedly is the best text message marketing software for small businesses. With features like custom keywords and free incoming text messages, Textedly has a range of helpful text message marketing tools. With this service, businesses of all sizes can create and execute successful text message marketing campaigns and track results. ","fullTitle":"Best for Growing Businesses","isFeaturedBestPick":false,"isJumpLink":false,"tabTitle":"Best for Growing Businesses","review":{"displayName":"Textedly","canonical":"https://staging.business.com/reviews/textedly/","id":"c0670b4860a15766e84fe63bde781d15","url":"https://www.textedly.com/","review":{"pros":["Textedly offers built-in CTA and mobile carrier compliance.","Each plan includes custom keywords and free incoming messages."],"cons":["It lacks some key features, like segmentation and surveys."],"fullReviewTest":"Textedly is a great text message marketing service for small businesses. We were impressed with Textedly's contact management tools and analytics, as well as the user-friendly dashboard and multiple pricing plans. However, it's missing some features that the best services have, such as segmentation tools, drip campaigns and surveys.
\r\n\r\n
","fullReview":"
Textedly is a great text message marketing service for small businesses. We were impressed with Textedly's contact management tools and analytics, as well as the user-friendly dashboard and multiple pricing plans. However, it's missing some features that the best services have, such as segmentation tools, drip campaigns and surveys.
\r\nTextedly has the largest number of plans of the SMS marketing companies we reviewed. Along with the free trial, Textedly has 11 different plans: Bronze, Plus, Enterprise, Elite, Business, Silver, Premium, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Champion. All plans come with custom keywords and free incoming text messages.
\r\nIf you pay for your subscription annually, you receive 20% more text messages per month. Below is a short synopsis of Textedly's plans:
\r\nIf none of the plans above meet your needs, Textedly will work with you to create a custom text message marketing plan.
\r\nTextedly has a wide variety of features that make it easy to create custom text message marketing campaigns. Textedly's dashboard is easy to navigate and includes your subscriber list, past and future campaigns, custom keywords, and reports.
\r\nWhen you upload contacts, you can include customized data, including the contact's full name, his or her state, city, ZIP code and email address. Other features include:
\r\nTextedly has a plethora of pricing plans businesses can choose from. With 11 different plans and a custom plan option, whether you're a sole proprietor on a tight budget or an established business with an extensive client list, Textedly's plans are affordable for your business's marketing needs.
\r\nTextedly is also very easy to use and offers several different customer support options and resources should customers get stuck.
\r\nUnfortunately, Textedly lacks some key features that most, if not all, the other companies we reviewed had: the ability to create drip campaigns and segmentation tools to organize your contacts. While these tools are not required to launch a text campaign, they do make it easier and more efficient.
\r\nIf you have questions about the service, you can contact support via live chat or text. You can also browse through Textedly's blog, which explains how to obtain starts on your campaigns as well as text message marketing best practices. Textedly's help center features articles about how to get started with the platform, how you upload contacts and troubleshooting.
\r\nPodium is a customer interaction platform that utilizes text messaging to help businesses manage customer relationships and build an online reputation on a variety of websites.
\r\n\r\nPodium's platform consolidates customer interactions and online reviews into a single dashboard to help users manage online review management. From the dashboard, users can send review invitations, respond to online reviews in real time, and send and receive text messages with customers and potential customers.
\r\n\r\nAdditionally, Podium's platform provides businesses with reports on the business's day-to-day operations, including sentiment analysis and competitive benchmarking, that can help businesses identify potential areas for improvement.
","descriptionTest":"Podium is a customer interaction platform that utilizes text messaging to help businesses manage customer relationships and build an online reputation on a variety of websites.\r\nPodium's platform consolidates customer interactions and online reviews into a single dashboard to help users manage online review management. From the dashboard, users can send review invitations, respond to online reviews in real time, and send and receive text messages with customers and potential customers.\r\nAdditionally, Podium's platform provides businesses with reports on the business's day-to-day operations, including sentiment analysis and competitive benchmarking, that can help businesses identify potential areas for improvement.","fullTitle":"Featured Sponsor","isFeaturedBestPick":true,"isJumpLink":true,"tabTitle":"Featured Sponsor","review":{"displayName":"Podium","canonical":"https://staging.business.com/reviews/podium/","id":"816f2372155d5195d493944613b10c54","url":"https://www.podium.com/","review":{"pros":["Podium lets you access and respond to all your reviews from one centralized inbox.","As a Podium user, you can communicate with customers and elicit feedback via text message."],"cons":["Podium requires you to sign an annual contract."],"fullReviewTest":"Podium is a customer interaction platform that utilizes text messaging to help businesses manage customer relationships and build an online reputation on a variety of websites.
\r\nPodium's platform consolidates customer interactions and online reviews into a single dashboard to help users manage online review management. From the dashboard, users can send review invitations, respond to online reviews in real time, and send and receive text messages with customers and potential customers.
\r\nAdditionally, Podium's platform provides businesses with reports on the business's day-to-day operations, including sentiment analysis and competitive benchmarking, that can help businesses identify potential areas for improvement.
","fullReview":"Podium is our choice as the best service for managing your company's online reviews. Podium's software compiles user reviews from multiple websites (including Google, Facebook, and TripAdvisor) into one convenient platform, allowing business users to quickly and easily acquire, manage, and respond to reviews. Using Podium's dashboard, you can see consumer reviews that have been posted on each site, as well as which reviews are getting the most attention, helping you to quickly identify negative reviews that need immediate action.
\r\n\r\n
Podium doesn't have preset service plans. Instead, the company offers customized pricing. Podium representatives analyze your company's needs to determine which of its features will work best. Your industry and whether you have a business with multiple locations are other elements that factor into your monthly costs.
\r\nRepresentatives told us that the average cost of Podium's services ranges from $350 to $450 per month, per location. However, because pricing is customized, we recommend that you contact the company to get a formal quote based on your specific needs and situation.
\r\nPodium requires an initial 12-month commitment. You can choose to access a Podium starter plan for free, but it has limited capabilities and only lasts a few weeks.
\r\nUnlike some online reputation management services that provide a wide range of services, Podium is focused on review acquisition and management. Podium is designed to help a business increase the number of online reviews it receives, thus boosting its online image.
\r\nHere's more about Podium's features:
\r\nPodium has some added communication features to streamline customer interactions. You can use the video chat to talk face-to-face with customers and the team chat to communicate internally. Podium also has a Payments tool so you could easily collect payments via text. These features are not offered by many of Podium's competitors.
\r\nPodium's mobile app, for iOS and Android devices, gives your real-time notifications from your customers. You can manage and respond to messages, assign conversations to other employees, and monitor all of your reviews, all from your smartphone.
\r\nThe biggest benefit of Podium is the convenience and simplicity of managing all of your reviews from one central location, instead of switching among review sites. You can quickly see where people are leaving reviews about your business (Google, Yelp, Facebook) and whether those reviews are mostly positive or negative. The ability to quickly respond to negative reviews is critical, and Podium makes it simple to stay one top of what consumers are saying about your business.
\r\nWe were also impressed with the analytics tool. The dashboard provides a wealth of data that can be used to improve your business. You can see if there are certain keywords (positive and negative) that that customers consistently use in their reviews. With this feature, you can continue to keep up the good work in the areas that customers are happy about or focus on changing the areas that customers said disappointed them.
\r\nPodium also tracks your review scores. You see whether your scores are improving, which employees on your team are sending out the most review requests and which workers receive the most positive number of customer reviews. You can also check out your competitors' review stats as well.
\r\nThe biggest drawback of Podium is the mandatory 12-month contract. Having to commit to a lengthy contract could be a turn-off for some businesses, as they may not be comfortable making the investment without knowing how well the software will perform for them.
\r\nPodium does not offer additional reputation management services. For example, if you are seeking services such as crisis management, content creation or social media management, you will need to partner with another company to supplement those services.
\r\nLast, Podium is not an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau and has a D- rating. However, only six complaints have been filed against the company in the past three years, and with such a small sample size, it's not an accurate reflection of the company's customer service.
\r\nWhen your business signs up with Podium, you're assigned a dedicated customer success manager who works to ensure you are getting the most out of the software. It's nice to know that when you have a question or concern, you can turn to someone who knows your business and your specific goals.
\r\nTo test the level of customer service offered, we contacted Podium posing as an employee of a small business interested in review management software. When we reached out via the chat-to-text feature, we didn't receive a text from the company. However, when we filled out the online contact form, we promptly received a follow-up email from a representative. The representative we spoke with was helpful and polite, and they answered all of our questions. At no time was the representative pushy; he answered our questions and encouraged us to contact Podium if we wanted a demo of the system.
"},"pricing":{"isCapped":false,"isFeatured":false,"primary":false,"selected":"affiliate","widgetId":null,"widget":null,"affiliate":{"cta":"Visit Site","link":"https://businesscom.go2cloud.org/aff_c?offer_id=892&aff_id=1000&source=best-text-message-marketing-services&aff_sub3=deal|Podium&aff_sub4=revenue|QT&random_url=1","name":"QT Program"}},"thumbnail":{"path":"https://staging.business.com/images/rz/5f4e5d2d5a215e000f8b4568/podium.png"}}},{"bullets":["Eight pricing plans ","High customization","Integration via API"],"description":"SimpleTexting is our pick for most flexible text message marketing service. It has a variety of plans, so you can choose the one that fits into your budget.
\r\n\r\nSimpleTexting also offers an extensive list of tools such as segmentation capabilities, automation tools, contact management, customization, MMS messaging, mobile keywords and message templates that make creating successful texting campaigns easy.
\r\n\r\nSimpleTexting's dashboard is easy to understand. If needed, you can reach support via live chat or phone. SimpleTexting's pricing is based on the number of texts you send per month; each plan includes free incoming messages, unlimited contacts, rollover credits and short codes. The service has a free 14-day trial, and paid plans start at $25 per month.
","descriptionTest":"SimpleTexting is our pick for most flexible text message marketing service. It has a variety of plans, so you can choose the one that fits into your budget. ","fullTitle":"Most Flexible Text Message Marketing Service","isFeaturedBestPick":false,"isJumpLink":false,"tabTitle":"Most Flexible","review":{"displayName":"SimpleTexting","canonical":"https://staging.business.com/reviews/simpletexting/","id":"899e27f68c41b737723e7682b5826b96","url":"https://simpletexting.com/","review":{"pros":["SimpleTexting offers eight different pricing plans.","The interface is easy to use."],"cons":["There is a 160-character limit per SMS credit (1,600 characters for MMS)."],"fullReviewTest":"SimpleTexting is our best pick as the most flexible text message marketing service: They offer an affordable, user-friendly platform that has all the tools you need to create and send successful text message campaigns. SimpleTexting has flexible plans designed to suit the needs (and budget) of nearly every business, with their most basic plan offering 500 credits for $25 per month. Its plans offer unlimited keywords (which most services don't provide), and you can test the service free for 14 days.
","fullReview":"SimpleTexting is our best pick as the most flexible text message marketing service: They offer an affordable, user-friendly platform that has all the tools you need to create and send successful text message campaigns. SimpleTexting has flexible plans designed to suit the needs (and budget) of nearly every business, with their most basic plan offering 500 credits for $25 per month. Its plans offer unlimited keywords (which most services don't provide), and you can test the service free for 14 days.
\r\nWe researched 12 text message marketing companies, singling out three best picks. We evaluated services based on pricing, features, customer service and the ability to easily scale the service as your business grows.
\r\nSimpleTexting offers eight tiers to choose from. Whether your business is just starting out or you have an established customer base and are looking to expand your marketing strategies, SimpleTexting likely has a price plan to suit your needs and budget. All paid plans include free incoming messages, unlimited keywords and unlimited contacts. Plans also include rollover credits, customer support and a memorable short code, which is a shortened phone number, usually five to six digits in length, that are designed to be easily remembered.
\r\nEach plan comes with a certain number of credits. One regular (non-multimedia) SMS message costs one credit to send, and an MMS costs three credits. If you pay annually, you receive 25% off the cost of your plan.
\r\nIf you want to test the service first before signing up for a plan, SimpleTexting offers a 14-day free trial with 50 free credits. The free trial comes with one free keyword.
\r\nHere's more about Simple Texting's monthly plans:
\r\nIf you want more than 50,000 credits per month, SimpleTexting will work with you to develop a personalized plan.
\r\nWhen you sign up for the free trial, SimpleTexting takes you on a guided tour, showing you how to add contacts, send messages and create keywords. You can add subscribers from an existing list (by uploading a CSV file) or start from scratch, entering numbers as your number of contacts grows. Another option is to schedule a demo with one of SimpleTexting's reps.
\r\nWith SimpleTexting, you can create an automated response subscribers receive when they text your keyword to your number. For example, if a customer signs up to receive text messages from you, you can set an autoresponse to send them a welcome message that provides an overview of what you offer via text.
\r\nOverall, SimpleTexting has a very user-friendly dashboard. It's easy to create and send text message campaigns, add contacts, create keywords, set up autoresponses (even if you've never created one before) and view analytics. The company also has a blog with helpful marketing tips, as well as industry guides, best practices, and how to use SimplyTexting's advanced features, which include the following:
\r\nOne of the greatest pros of SimpleTexting is that it is simple to use and has an intuitive interface that does what you expect it to. This makes creating text campaigns quick and easy, and adding contact lists is simple.
\r\nSimpleTexting easily integrates with your existing software, like email through Mailchimp or CRM through Zoho, making importing contacts a breeze.
\r\nThere is no free version, but SimpleTexting does offer a free trial and a reasonably priced first-tier plan at $25 per month.
\r\nSimple Texting’s customer support is reasonably prompt and helpful, usually answering queries the same day. If you have any questions, reps are available through live chat, phone, or you can browse SimpleTexting Academy. The company also has a blog with helpful marketing tips, as well as industry guides and best practices.
"},"pricing":{"isCapped":false,"isFeatured":false,"primary":true,"selected":"affiliate","widgetId":null,"widget":null,"affiliate":{"cta":"Visit Site","link":"https://businesscom.go2cloud.org/aff_c?offer_id=3&aff_id=1000&source=best-text-message-marketing-services&aff_sub4=revenue|QT&aff_sub3=deal|Simpletexting&url_id=1","name":"QT Program"}},"thumbnail":{"path":"https://staging.business.com/images/rz/5dfbeed05a215eb8338b4569/simpletexting.png"}}},{"bullets":["Wide range of features","Intuitive dashboard","Comprehensive analytics"],"description":"EZ Texting is the best text message marketing software overall because of its ease of use, range of features and intuitive dashboard. With EZ Texting, marketers at all levels of expertise can create and manage successful text message campaigns. This service has a variety of helpful tools, including comprehensive analytics, automation features, contact management, customization, mobile keywords, message templates, drip campaigns and surveys.
\r\n\r\nJanuary 2021: EZ Texting has joined the #OpenWeStand movement started by GoDaddy. The movement has brought over 40 brands together to contribute resources, tools, and advice to small businesses, helping them weather the economic impact of COVID-19.
\r\n\r\nEZ Texting is offering its text-to-landline solution free for three months, extending the 14-day free trial of its mass-texting solution to all organizations, and offering six months of free emergency texting to municipalities, schools and government offices.
","descriptionTest":"EZ Texting is the best text message marketing software overall because of its ease of use, range of features and intuitive dashboard. With EZ Texting, marketers at all levels of expertise can create and manage successful text message campaigns. This service has a variety of helpful tools, including comprehensive analytics, automation features, contact management, customization, mobile keywords, message templates, drip campaigns and surveys. ","fullTitle":"Best Overall Text Message Marketing Service","isFeaturedBestPick":false,"isJumpLink":false,"tabTitle":"Best Overall","review":{"displayName":"EZ Texting","canonical":"https://staging.business.com/reviews/ez-texting/","id":"bb8d0ca3c527636cfe93895c05f78f61","url":"https://www.eztexting.com","review":{"pros":["EZ Texting has flexible pricing packages.","It offers a wide selection of customization tools."],"cons":["Credits will expire if you don't use them within 18 months."],"fullReviewTest":"EZ Texting is our pick as the best text message marketing service overall because it has every tool a business needs to send successful text message marketing campaigns, its flexible packages can suit businesses of all sizes, and its dashboard is very easy to use. Its main features include a guided tour to teach you how to use the tool, customization options, and easy contact management. EZ Texting offers a 14-day free trial, so businesses can test the service, sending messages, adding contacts, and evaluating the dashboard, before signing up for a package.
","fullReview":"EZ Texting is our pick as the best text message marketing service overall because it has every tool a business needs to send successful text message marketing campaigns, its flexible packages can suit businesses of all sizes, and its dashboard is very easy to use. Its main features include a guided tour to teach you how to use the tool, customization options, and easy contact management. EZ Texting offers a 14-day free trial, so businesses can test the service, sending messages, adding contacts, and evaluating the dashboard, before signing up for a package.
\r\nWe liked EZ Texting's transparent pricing and flexible plans. There are eight different tiers, custom packages, as well as a pay-as-you-go plan to choose from.
\r\nAll plans allow multimedia (MMS) messages, and you can purchase additional messages, which start at 4.5 cents but are cheaper if you choose one of the higher plans. Additional keywords cost $25 per month each.
\r\nWe chose EZ Texting as our best overall pick because the program is easy to use, and EZ Texting offers a guided tour with your subscription or free trial where you can learn how to send your first text message campaign. The tour shows you how to select a specific group, a single contact or type in a phone number when sending your first message. Then, you can create a message template or insert personalized fields.
\r\nBefore you send a text message, you can preview the message to see what it will look like, as well as who is receiving the message and when it will be sent. You'll also see how many credits are required to send the message.
\r\nNext, EZ Texting walks you through the process of adding contacts. If you have an existing contact list, you can import it into the system. When uploading contacts, you can select which groups they belong to. This makes it easy to segment your contacts and target different groups.
\r\nEZ Texting's dashboard is very intuitive and user-friendly. The top of the dashboard displays the number of unread messages you have, the number of scheduled messages that have been sent, contacts you have added and opt-outs.
\r\nIt's also easy to add new contacts, send text messages and have individual conversations with contacts. EZ Texting's reports are easy to read, offering information on the number of messages sent, contacts and keyword activity.
\r\nHere's more about EZ Texting's key features:
\r\nThere are many pros to EZ Texting that influenced our decision in choosing it as the best overall text message marketing service. These included the 14-day free trial, its reasonable prices, the wide variety of features, and the training and customer service tools.
\r\nEZ Texting's pricing is a big pro for small businesses. You can choose between multiple monthly plans that range from under $20 per month or a pay-as-you-go option. They even provide plans for large businesses or custom packages in the event that your business changes over time.
\r\nOne major con with EZ Texting is that if you do not use all of your monthly or yearly credits within the allotted time of 18 months, they expire. Additionally, if you require more keywords than what is included with your plan, those costs add up and could become expensive.
\r\nEZ Texting offers 24/7 support with the purchase of any of its plans. In addition, there are plenty of free resources, including training guides, webinars and FAQs, which you can find on their website. Some users have reported slow response times from customer service representatives in other online reviews of EZ Texting. When we called, we waited a few minutes (the wait time wasn't overly long), but the representative was very prompt and helpful in answering all our questions.
\r\nSlickText is our pick for best low-cost text message marketing service due to its flexible and affordable pricing plans, as well as for its user-friendly dashboard, automation tools, custom keywords and contact management tools. SlickText starts with a 14-day free trial that provides 50 texts and one keyword, without requiring you to provide your credit card number to sign up.
","descriptionTest":"SlickText is our pick for best low-cost text message marketing service due to its flexible and affordable pricing plans, as well as for its user-friendly dashboard, automation tools, custom keywords and contact management tools. SlickText starts with a 14-day free trial that provides 50 texts and one keyword, without requiring you to provide your credit card number to sign up. ","fullTitle":"Best Low-Cost Text Message Marketing Service","isFeaturedBestPick":false,"isJumpLink":false,"tabTitle":"Best Low-Cost Service","review":{"displayName":"SlickText","canonical":"https://staging.business.com/reviews/slick-text/","id":"c226c175c397cb65f2557796ad8f4b28","url":"https://www.slicktext.com/","review":{"pros":["SlickText offers a free mobile app and multiple SMS automations.","You get one-on-one help to set up your account."],"cons":["Your text credits will expire if you don't use them within a certain time period."],"fullReviewTest":"SlickText is our pick for best low-cost text message marketing service due to its flexible and affordable pricing plans, as well as for its user-friendly dashboard, automation tools, custom keywords and contact management tools. SlickText starts with a 14-day free trial that provides 50 texts and one keyword, without requiring you to provide your credit card number to sign up.
\r\nSlickText offers more than nine plans, with pricing to suit small and large businesses alike. All plans allow unlimited contacts. With a paid plan, any texts you don't use roll over to your next billing cycle, but they will expire if not used within a certain time period. SlickText bills monthly, and you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel your plan at any time.
\r\nHere's more information about SlickText's plans:
\r\nHigher-priced plans range from $189 to $1,250 per month and allow a maximum of 50,000 texts. SlickText also offers a custom plan for businesses that need more messages or keywords.
\r\nWhen you sign up for a free account, SlickText explains how to get started with the service. It has videos on how to create and use your account. SlickText walks you through the steps of reserving a keyword and setting up an auto-reply message for the text word.
\r\nAfter you set up a keyword, you can start adding contacts, send text messages, view text words and analytics, run contests, and browse marketing tools such as flyers, opt-in web forms and text surveys. The dashboard is very intuitive and user-friendly. It took us less than 10 minutes to create an opt-in form, add a few contacts and send a message.
\r\nSlickText has a full complement of key features necessary to create a text message campaign, including analytics and reports that show you which campaigns are working and what you need to improve. SlickText's analytics track useful insights such as opt-ins and opt-outs, recipients' geographical statistics, and link click-throughs. A day after you send your messages, SlickText tells you how many people received your text and updates you on your subscriber activity.
\r\nSlickText also offers an automation tool that saves you time and makes it easy to send the right messages to the right people. You can preschedule a text message to send at a specific date and time, as well as set up autoresponders to answer texts instantly.
\r\nOther features include contact management, customization, free incoming messages, integrations with Shopify and Zapier, mass text messaging, MMS (multimedia) messaging, a mobile app, mobile keyword signups, segmentation, scheduling, and surveys.
\r\nIn case you have questions about the plans or features, SlickText's help center covers a wide range of topics in depth. You can also reach a rep by email, live chat or by toll-free phone number.
","fullReview":"SlickText is our pick for best low-cost text message marketing service due to its flexible and affordable pricing plans, as well as for its user-friendly dashboard, automation tools, custom keywords and contact management tools. SlickText starts with a 14-day free trial that provides 50 texts and one keyword, without requiring you to provide your credit card number to sign up.
\r\nSlickText offers more than nine plans, with pricing to suit small and large businesses alike. All plans allow unlimited contacts. With a paid plan, any texts you don't use roll over to your next billing cycle, but they will expire if not used within a certain time period. SlickText bills monthly, and you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel your plan at any time.
\r\nHere's more information about SlickText's plans:
\r\nHigher-priced plans range from $189 to $1,250 per month and allow a maximum of 50,000 texts. SlickText also offers a custom plan for businesses that need more messages or keywords.
\r\nWhen you sign up for a free account, SlickText explains how to get started with the service. It has videos on how to create and use your account. SlickText walks you through the steps of reserving a keyword and setting up an auto-reply message for the text word.
\r\nAfter you set up a keyword, you can start adding contacts, send text messages, view text words and analytics, run contests, and browse marketing tools such as flyers, opt-in web forms and text surveys. The dashboard is very intuitive and user-friendly. It took us less than 10 minutes to create an opt-in form, add a few contacts and send a message.
\r\nSlickText has a full complement of key features necessary to create a text message campaign, including analytics and reports that show you which campaigns are working and what you need to improve. SlickText's analytics track useful insights such as opt-ins and opt-outs, recipients' geographical statistics, and link click-throughs. A day after you send your messages, SlickText tells you how many people received your text and updates you on your subscriber activity.
\r\nSlickText also offers an automation tool that saves you time and makes it easy to send the right messages to the right people. You can preschedule a text message to send at a specific date and time, as well as set up autoresponders to answer texts instantly.
\r\nOther features include contact management, customization, free incoming messages, integrations with Shopify and Zapier, mass text messaging, MMS (multimedia) messaging, a mobile app, mobile keyword signups, segmentation, scheduling, and surveys.
\r\nIn case you have questions about the plans or features, SlickText's help center covers a wide range of topics in depth. You can also reach a rep by email, live chat or by toll-free phone number.
"},"pricing":{"isCapped":false,"isFeatured":false,"primary":true,"selected":"affiliate","widgetId":null,"widget":null,"affiliate":{"cta":"Visit Site","link":"https://businesscom.go2cloud.org/aff_c?offer_id=1&aff_id=1000&source=best-text-message-marketing-services&aff_sub4=revenue|Affiliate&aff_sub3=deal|SlickText&url_id=1","name":"SlickText"}},"thumbnail":{"path":"https://staging.business.com/images/rz/5dfbefd39c658ad06f8b456c/slicktext.png"}}}]},{"__typename":"SectionContainer","id":"intro","isInToc":false,"type":"container","title":"","container":{"isBuyingGuide":false,"html":"Text message marketing is one of the most popular modern marketing techniques and a great option for small businesses looking to make a big impact with their customer outreach. Text, unlike other marketing techniques, acts as a direct line to the customer and creates a personal connection between them and your business. Customers are more likely to see and respond positively to a text message than to an email or advertisement.
"}},{"__typename":"SectionOurApproach","id":null,"isInToc":false,"type":"ourapproach","isActive":null,"ourapproach":{"isClonable":false,"servicesConsidered":"18","servicesTested":"9","servicesSelected":"4","linkText":"How we evaluate products and services","linkUrl":"mailto:editor@business.com"}},{"__typename":"SectionContainer","id":"compare-our-best-picks","isInToc":true,"type":"container","title":"Compare Our Best Picks","container":{"isBuyingGuide":false,"html":"| \r\n | EZTexting | \r\nSimpleTexting | \r\nTextedly | \r\nSlickText | \r\n
| Pricing | \r\n$39/month for basic plan | \r\n$45/month for 1,000 credits | \r\n$29/month for basic plan | \r\n$29/month for basic plans | \r\n
| Analytics | \r\nMessage tracking, contact tracking, delivery reports | \r\nNew subscribers, clicks, number of messages sent perlist | \r\nConversion rates, opt-outs, KPIs, new customers | \r\nOpt-in/opt-out tracking, geographic stats, link tracking | \r\n
| Key features | \r\nAutomated scheduling, drip campaigns, surveys | \r\nAutoresponse, customization tools, contact management | \r\nGroup texting, built-in compliance, two-way texting | \r\nMobile autoresponders, contact management, mass texting, customization | \r\n
Prices for text message marketing vary by provider and typically include a per-text cost and the cost of renting keywords for campaigns. Most providers offer monthly plans that allow you to pay for texts and keywords together. There are free plans as well as plans that cost upward of $4,000 per month, with various features available at different price points. For example, a free monthly plan will limit you to a very low text cap with no keywords, while a $4,000 plan allows you unlimited keywords and 225,000 text credits.
\r\nOther providers offer annual or pay-as-you-go plans that are priced by how much you use the service or allow you to pay monthly for credits that you can use in your campaigns.
\r\nThere are many benefits of using text message marketing, as well as some potential cons. The direct, personal nature of text messaging is a double-edged sword in that it provides an excellent opportunity for businesses to speak directly with customers, but it can also mean a thin line to walk in terms of respecting customers' privacy.
\r\nMobile marketing can be a great tool for your business, but it's not a free-for-all. There are some laws and best practices you should follow and consider when you plan your campaigns.
\r\nThe Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which the U.S. Federal Communications Commission developed, has laws that you must follow when you're collecting contacts and sending out text messages. Not everything in the TCPA applies to text message marketing, but it's still a good idea to review these laws and ensure you comply. One of the requirements of the act is that you must get permission from each contact before you start sending mass text messages to them. Also, you can only send texts between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. This specific rule refers to the time zone of the person you are texting – not the time zone from where you are sending messages.
\r\nThe Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and the Mobile Marketing Association have similar guidelines for the appropriate use of text message marketing. These guidelines are not laws, but they lay out the best practices you should follow. Here are some of the CTIA's and MMA's guidelines:
\r\nThere are many benefits of text message marketing, prime among them the chance to communicate directly with customers. These are some other key benefits:
\r\nSMS marketing reports a higher open rate than email marketing – nearly 98%. This means that recipients are nearly guaranteed to see your messages.
\r\nText message marketing is a generally low-cost way to market your business, with many providers offering low monthly or annual plans and even pay-as-you-go options.
\r\nOne of the key tenets of marketing is to meet your customers where they are, and for most modern consumers, that's on their mobile devices. Text message marketing is a surefire way to reach a majority of your audience.
\r\nText messaging doesn't need to be your entire marketing effort; SMS marketing works well in conjunction with other types of marketing. For instance, you can include links to your social media profiles in your text messages or offer a discount code for recipients to use on your website.
\r\nBecause texting is so personal, customers feel valued and like what they have to say to you matters when they receive texts from you, which increases the chances of them engaging directly with you.
\n"},{"title":"Features","html":"\nText message marketing services should do much more than just send texts. They are full-scale marketing solutions that help you engage with your audience, track results and improve your customer service.
\r\nWhen you're looking for a text message marketing solution, it's understandable to not know exactly what features you need. Below are the features we think businesses will find most valuable.
\r\nTo get a better sense of what entrepreneurs are looking for in these services, we asked experienced small business owners from our community which text message marketing programs they use and what they like about them. Here's what they said.
\r\n\"We like how easy it is to use. You can add different groups of people, [and] it's easy to unsubscribe and easy to communicate with [customers] after the message is sent.\"
\r\n\"EZ Texting is a major timesaver with all its various features, and I like that it has an intuitive interface that's easy to use. It's also easy to personalize and automate messages. However, there can be a steep learning curve for certain advanced features, and customer service is sometimes slow.\"
\r\n\"We use SlickText for our SMS marketing needs. The ease of use is our biggest pro, as well as the exceptional customer service. It would be nice to have more integration options, but the customer service is definitely a 5/5. They've been there for me every time, and their responses are super quick.\"
\r\n\"We love the fact that the user interface is super simple and that it takes 15 minutes to set up and use. No matter what your background is, you can figure out how to send mass texts and set up autoresponders very quickly. [However], the number of credits you need can be confusing, and importing contacts from CSV lists can be a bit buggy.\"
\n"},{"title":"Frequently Asked Questions","html":"\nText message marketing is a highly effective, quick and easy way to reach customers. More than 90% of text messages are read within three minutes of reception, so your audience will almost always see your messages. Text message marketing messages are also effective because they're so easy to personalize, making the customer feel seen and valued, and thus more likely to engage with your business.
\r\nBusinesses should use text message marketing whenever they have quick, pertinent information to distribute to their audience, such as a new discount code, an update on store hours or information about an event. Try to send them only during normal business hours, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. in a customer's local time.
\r\nText message marketing is important because it opens a clear, dedicated line of communication between the customer and your business. It also allows you to customize all the messages you send to your target audience, which can improve customer satisfaction, engagement and your brand reputation.
\r\nWhile the precise steps to create a text campaign depend on your provider, the basic steps are the same across most platforms:
\r\nIt is not necessary to train all your employees in text message marketing. Focus on training the ones who will be responsible for creating and managing the campaigns. They should understand how to create campaigns, choose contact lists, manage analytics and present the information, and troubleshoot minor issues.
\r\nThe use of text message marketing can show new customers that your business is committed to customer support and a personalized customer experience, since text provides a simple, direct line of communication between your business and your customers at all times. This can add a sense of credibility and transparency to your business.
\r\nYour existing customers can benefit from your text messages if you keep them in the loop about deals, opportunities and news from your business. These updates keep your business on their minds and, especially if you offer them special deals for being loyal customers, incentivize them to keep buying from you.
\r\nWhile prices vary by provider, text message marketing services typically offer a variety of monthly or annual plans starting at around $14 to $20 and reaching $2,000 to $4,000 per month for advanced services. The price will also depend on the number of messages and keywords your business requires each month.
\r\nText message marketing is a highly effective, quick and easy way to reach customers. More than 90% of text messages are read within three minutes of reception, so your audience will almost always see your messages. Text message marketing messages are also effective because they're so easy to personalize, making the customer feel seen and valued, and thus more likely to engage with your business.
\r\nBusinesses should use text message marketing whenever they have quick, pertinent information to distribute to their audience, such as a new discount code, an update on store hours or information about an event. Try to send them only during normal business hours, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. in a customer's local time.
\r\nText message marketing is important because it opens a clear, dedicated line of communication between the customer and your business. It also allows you to customize all the messages you send to your target audience, which can improve customer satisfaction, engagement and your brand reputation.
\n"}]},{"__typename":"SectionContainer","id":"what-to-expect-in-2021","isInToc":true,"type":"container","title":"What to Expect in 2021","container":{"isBuyingGuide":false,"html":"\nA report from Forrester Research projects a significant increase in the usage of text message marketing services in 2021 as brands try to create more direct personal relationships with their customers. This projection is associated with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for businesses to maintain their current customer relationships and drive new purchases. Many customers noticed an increase in communications during the early days of the pandemic, when businesses were communicating often about closures, new protocols and policy changes.
\r\nThe report predicts that this higher messaging volume will continue throughout 2021, with marketing message volume increasing by 40% over the next year. The report anticipates that brands will focus primarily on loyalty programs, retention marketing and digital shopping.
\r\nConsumers should expect to see a shift in focus to \"local-first\" marketing strategies in response to customers moving away from urban hubs, with campaigns focusing on smaller, more targeted audiences.
\r\nText message marketers will see effects from major companies changing their policies on cookies and data privacy. Cookies track users, inform targeted ads and provide information on ad performance. Google has announced that it will be phasing out support for third-party cookies within the Chrome browser over the next two years, and Apple is rolling out an anti-tracking tool called Intelligent Tracking Prevention for the Safari browser. Mozilla Firefox has also launched a tool that blocks third-party tracking cookies by default.
\r\n\"An unprecedented pandemic rendered B2C marketers' existing plans and strategies moot, and new announcements from Apple and Google put data deprecation on a fast track,\" the Forrester report reads. \"But these trends aren't a flash in the pan. In 2021, marketers must prepare for an ecosystem without third-party cookies and device identifiers, all while navigating an unpredictable economy and reduced budgets and headcount.\"
\r\nRich communication services, or RCS, is a modern form of traditional SMS texting that provides options and features for richer, more nuanced text communication. RCS offers features such as group chats, video, audio, high-resolution images, read receipts and real-time viewing. Text message marketing brands will incorporate more RCS features into their products to offer customers a more interactive and immersive texting experience.
\r\nIn 2021, some brands will have a designated channel where customers can reach out directly to speak with a real representative of the company, who responds in a conversational manner that makes the customer feel a stronger connection to the brand. This method of connecting with customers can also provide key information on what questions your customers have, how they shop and how they interact with your business.
\r\nArtificial intelligence has been steadily growing in use across industries, and text message marketing is no exception. In 2021, businesses will use AI to respond quickly and effectively to general customer questions, direct them to the proper channels, and collect pertinent data from business audiences.
\r\nEZ Texting's 2020 Holiday Shopping Survey found that texting is a highly effective way for businesses and customers to engage with each other. Text messaging provides an easy way for businesses to share important updates and information, and also offers incentives to customers to visit stores or shop online. According to EZ Texting's survey, 49% of consumers said they would visit a retailer after receiving a text coupon or promotion offering a significant discount. Survey respondents (53%) also reported that a texted coupon is more trustworthy than a digital advertisement. Savvy brands will leverage SMS marketing to deliver discounts and promotions to customers in 2021, boosting brand loyalty and customer retention.
\r\nTraditionally, SMS marketing has been used as a stand-alone marketing channel. That will change in 2021. More companies will integrate SMS with other marketing channels, such as text newsletters linking to blog posts or other company information, combining email and text promotions and social media and text message marketing campaigns.
\r\nFebruary 2021: According to a report by Research and Markets, the global SMS marketing software market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of more than 21.4% through 2027. This growth is driven primarily by an increase in online shopping, proliferation of marketing automation software, and accessibility of cloud-based software as a service (SaaS).
\r\nThe biggest drags on the industry remain the limited messaging capabilities and a relatively low consumer engagement rate, the report reads. Still, the growth of the software sector of the SMS marketing industry suggests that this channel remains important for brands of all sizes. According to the report, North America is expected to be the primary location for text message marketing growth over the next several years.
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