11 Best SMS Marketing Platforms for Businesses in 2025

SMS marketing is an effective way to build long-lasting connections with your customers. It’s a no-brainer that marketers should invest in SMS marketing.

But what SMS marketing platform should you use?

There are a bunch of Cloud-based SMS marketing software platforms to choose from. And as a marketer, you don’t want to go with an SMS marketing app that will let you down later.

So here are the top 11 SMS marketing platforms available with their top features and pricing plans.

PlatformTop FeaturesPriceRating
TextMagic1. Personalization
2. Email to SMS 
3. Unlimited free users
4. SMS/email validation
Pay-as-you-go pricingG2: 4.4 stars
SlickText1. Text surveys 
2. Automatic contact list cleaning
3. Automatic workflows
Pricing starts
at $29/mo
G2: 4.9 stars
SimpleTexting1. Multiple keywords
2. Templates
3. Advanced automation
Monthly plans
starting at $29/mo
G2: 4.6 stars
Attentive1. List growth
2. Audience manager
3. Messaging 
4. Business intelligence
On requestG2: 4.5 stars

EZ Texting1. Text to Landline
2. SafeStop
3. Contact management
Monthly plans
from $25/mo


G2: 4.8 stars

Textedly1. Voice service
2. Incoming MMS
3. Instagram texting 
4. Data Collection
Yearly plans start at $24/moG2: 4.8 stars
Postscript1. Shopify integration
2. List management
3. Text compliance
4. Good analytics
Pay-as-you-go pricing starts at $25/moG2: 4.9 stars
Yotpo1. List building
2. Automated flows
3. A/B testing
4. International sending
Pricing starts
at $19/mo
Shopify app store: 4.8 stars
Octane AI1. Quizzes and interactive pop-ups
2. FB Messenger + SMS
3. Custom automation
Pricing starts
at $50/mo
Shopify app store: 4.8 stars
Podium1. Omnichannel messaging
2. Web, team, video chat
3. Text-to-pay
By requestG2: 4.6 stars
Omnisend1. Email+SMS
2. Global reach
3. Automation flows
4. SMS channel reports
Pricing starts
at $59/mo
G2: 4.6 stars

What makes a good SMS marketing platform? Must-have features

SMS marketing is more than sending marketing messages to a mass audience (bulk messaging). Good SMS marketing platforms offer features to make your SMS campaigns more effective. Here are some features you should look for in a good SMS marketing platform.

1. Bulk messaging

Bulk messaging or mass texting is the practice of sending a message to a large number of phones. It’s SMS marketing reduced to the bare bones. It’s a safe bet to say that bulk text messages are the most sought-after feature of SMS marketing tools. You have a list of phone numbers to reach out to and promote your products through mass texts. 

2. Two-way conversation 

Going a step further than bulk messaging, you need a way for your contacts to respond to your SMS messages. You need to have a two-way conversation with your customers. This feature enables you to send and receive your customers’ responses in your inbox. It’s an essential feature when it comes to providing a great customer experience. 

3. MMS

MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service. Unlike SMS, MMS can send multimedia files (images, videos, audios). Multimedia content is more engaging than text. So it’s important to invest in an SMS marketing solution that allows you to send multimedia messages.

4. Opt-out management 

Your recipients should be able to unsubscribe from your SMS lists easily. SMS marketing tools let contacts unsubscribe from your list with links or keywords.

5. List building 

Your text marketing app should help you build your contact lists in three main ways: 

  1. Manual import: the most basic way for adding phone numbers to your list. You should be able to enter a recipient’s information in your database. All SMS marketing services have this feature.  
  2. SMS opt-in: people can subscribe to a list by sending a short message (keyword) to a phone number (shortcode). For example, sending the keyword “DISCOUNT” to 33339 to receive discount offers via SMS. This is a basic list-building capability every SMS marketing software should offer.  
  3. Online forms: people can subscribe to a list by filling in an online form on a website or social media platform. This is ideal to get your website visitors, email subscribers, or social media followers to subscribe to your SMS list.

6. Keywords 

Keywords are short and memorable words people can send to a phone number to subscribe to your list. A keyword is short and unique and makes it easy for people to sign up.

7. Shortcodes

Shortcodes are short phone numbers (5 or 6 digits) that can receive and send SMS or MMS. Contrary to typical 10-digit numbers, shortcodes are easier to remember. And they have higher throughput. 
Keywords and shortcodes are an inevitable part of any sms list building campaign. A coffee shop can ask its customers to send the keyword “COFFEE” to the shortcode 33557. Then customers receive their latest promotional codes.

8. Segmentation 

Segmentation is a great way to send SMS messages targeted to your contacts. The best SMS marketing software allows you to segment your contacts based on different criteria (such as the subscription date/method, gender, etc.). You’ll be able to send personalized text messages to each of your segments. 

9.  Automation

Automated text messages are great for saving time and increasing text campaign productivity. Autoresponders are ideal for confirming a person’s subscription to your list and sending delayed messages (coupons, tricks, tips, special sales, etc.). 

Reminders are great messages to automate. Remind your contacts about appointments, abandoned carts, events, and Flash sales promos.

Screenshot of SMS automation workflow

10. Integrations

True SMS marketing automation is only possible through integrations with other related platforms. It’s smart to integrate your email marketing platform and SMS messaging app. That way, you can synchronize your email list or collect emails through text messages.

11. Analytics and link tracking 

Analytics allow you to spot the strengths and weaknesses of your SMS campaigns. Some of the questions analytics can answer are: 

  • How many messages are delivered in your campaign? 
  • How many of your contacts have opened your message? 
  • How many have clicked your link? 

Analytics and link tracking are the must-have features for your SMS marketing software. 

12. API

SMS API is short for “application programming interface.” It allows you to integrate your SMS marketing platform with other apps. For example, your developer can use an SMS API to send SMS directly from your email client. Typically, SMS marketing platforms have API documentation that could help you with this.

Best SMS marketing platforms

best SMS marketing platforms business 2023

The SMS marketing market is quite crowded. There are all sorts of platforms with different features and pricing. Below I’ll list 11 of the top SMS marketing service providers. 

1. TextMagic

If you’re looking for an all-in-one SMS marketing platform to send SMS messages globally with a clear pricing plan, then TextMagic is the right choice for you. 

TextMagic SMS marketing platform text message software

TextMagic’s top features

TextMagic’s distinguishing feature is its global sending coverage from Afghanistan to Virgin Islands US. Using their pricing calculator you can get a straightforward quote for your SMS campaigns. Just select where you want your campaign to be delivered and the number of your messages to get the total cost of your campaign. 

Other important features of TextMagic include: 

Personalized bulk messaging: TextMagic lets you to send bulk messages from their web app. What’s interesting about their web app is that you can easily create templates with personalization tags (first name, last name, company name, phone, email, and appointment time). Your conversations will then appear as a chat conversation in TextMagic’s web app.   

Email to SMS: convert your emails to text and deliver them to your contacts. All incoming texts could be converted to email and shown in your inbox as well. 

Zapier integration: you can connect your favorite apps to TextMagic and automate lots of processes. 

Amazing team features: you can add an unlimited number of users (or sub-accounts) to your account for free and share your credits with them. You can also monitor your users’ SMS history and costs to manage their future activities. 

Phone number/email validation: easily identify the invalid phone numbers or email addresses through their validation service and API. This will improve your deliverability and reduce costs. 

SMS surveys for collecting feedback: you can easily create automated SMS flows and add multiple steps and questions to them to get feedback from your contact list. 

Try out TextMagic here
or read our TextMagic review.

TextMagic pricing

TextMagic offers a 30-day free trial which is great for testing all the features. After that, you’ll pay for the messages you send. Check the Textmagic pricing page for rates and a calculator to estimate the cost of sending.

2. SlickText

SlickText is an all-in-one SMS marketing software platform with great features.

SlickText text marketing platform SMS messages

SlickText top features: 

Their platform has all the standard features mentioned above. Here are some highlighted features: 

Text surveys: you can set up surveys and questionnaires within your dashboard. You can also assign keywords and shortcodes for them to encourage customers to take them. SlickText offers analytics and reports for surveys. So you can analyze your customer feedback. It is a crucial step for providing a great customer experience. As much as 89% wants companies to ask them customer feedback. To customers, asking feedback is a sign that you’re willing to listen and learn.

Automated workflows and drip campaigns: they offer amazing workflow features. You can build automated message sequences that engage and qualify potential customers. Send a constant drip of messages based on time delays or other actions. Great to provide personalized and timely offers.

Detailed analytics gives you metrics such as click-through rates and abandoned cart rates. You can also toggle the view on any workflow to watch people flow through your automations.

Double opt-in: you can require subscribers to confirm their subscription by sending “Yes”. Or similar confirmation messages. This is a useful step to ensure you have a clean phone number list and avoid extra costs or spamming people. You can turn this feature on with a simple flip of a switch!

Self-cleaning subscriber lists: the system detects numbers that aren’t valid and removes them.

100% Carrier & CTIA Compliance: they guarantee the delivery of messages. They also maintain compliance with cellular carriers and CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association). So you won’t need to worry about legal issues.

Knowledge base and live chat support: they have great tutorials in blog posts and videos. Additionally, they offer live chat support in all their plans. In their “The Lil Bro” and higher plans, they offer 1-on-1 onboarding sessions with their experts as well. 

SlickText pricing

SlickText offers a 14-day free trial with 50 free text messages (no credit card needed). Their paid plans differ based on the number of messages you can send per month and the number of keywords you need.

So their Basic plan ($29/month) offers 500 messages and two keywords. If you reach your limit, you simply need to upgrade to the next plan. You have access to all their features in all of their plans — so it’s pretty straightforward. See full pricing and get started here.

3. SimpleTexting 

SimpleTexting is an all-in-one text message marketing platform. They offer unlimited keywords in all its plans. They also have all other standard SMS marketing features. This makes them a valuable choice for a text message marketing platform.

SimpleTexting text message tool sms marketing platform

SimpleTexting top features

Multiple keywords: with SimpleTexting you can have many keywords for your phone numbers at no extra cost. Other platforms typically limit this number for their base plans. 

Great integrations: they offer many software integrations and also custom integrations. You need to reach out for custom integrations.

Templates & Duplicates: Save time by reusing your frequently-sent SMS messages.

Advanced automation: send marketing messages automatically after someone joins your list. This reduces drop-offs. Generate an automatic response when someone texts a particular keyword to your number.

Multi-user access: you can invite team members to your account and give them access to an SMS phone number. Loop them in your conversations with customers within the platform. 

Link shortening: the system automatically replaces your long URLs with short bit.ly. Shortened links can only take up to 20 characters of your message space.

Great analytics: you get analytics on your subscribers, link clicks, messages sent per list, and more. With data like this, you can tweak your campaigns for best performance.

SimpleTexting pricing

SimpleTexting offers a 14-day free trial with 50 outgoing text messages. Their paid plans are different based on the number of text messages you can send. Zapier integration and SMS gateway API are available for all plans, custom made integrations are available in the $145/month plan and above. You can see their pricing overview here.

4. EZ Texting

EZ Texting claims to be the #1 SMS marketing platform in the market. And unlike Attentive, they have clear pricing plans.

EZ Texting SMS marketing software tool text message

EZTexting top features

Free Shutterstock images: you have free access to premium Shutterstock images in “Essentials” or higher plans. You can use royalty-free images and edit them with EZ Texting’s premium image editor. 

Dedicated short codes and Toll-free numbers: EZ Texting offers dedicated 5-6-digit numbers. These numbers come with unlimited keywords, guaranteed deliverability, and low messaging fees. You can also have a dedicated 10-digit toll-free number exclusive to your brand. 

Text to Landline: You can enable two-way texting for your current phone number. Customers can send texts to your phone number any time of the day and get responses from your team. 

SafeStop: this is a compliant opt-out feature. It makes it easy for your subscribers to opt out of your list. Customers can also report unwanted messaging and set preferences for future communications.

Contact management and segmentation: you can import contacts via an Excel or CSV doc. You can also add additional fields to them (such as email addresses or any customer field) and segment them. 

Analytics & Reporting: you can track the number of texts sent or received, engagement spikes, click-through rates (CTRs), etc.  

Team management: Invite (or remove) team members and users. Streamline communications between internal and client teams. And assign permissions to users to perform specific tasks.

EZ Texting pricing

EZTexting has four pricing options. Yearly plans include:

  • Launch ($20/month), 
  • Boost ($60/month), 
  • Scale ($100/month), 
  • and Enterpise ($3000/month). 

You have 200 credits (each credit is one SMS) each month, but you can purchase additional credits at $0.04/credit. They also offer a free trial (with 20 message credits).  

Their Value plan ($20/month) is quite minimal. You can have only one textable number, one keyword, and you can’t send MMS.  

In their Boost plan ($60/month) you have access to features such as:

  • their premium image editor,
  • Shutterstock subscription,
  • reporting and analytics,
  • and list growth tools. 

To access their entire marketing feature set, you need to subscribe to the Boost plan ($60/month).

4. Attentive Mobile

Attentive Mobile claims to be the most comprehensive text message marketing solution. They also claim to create “an average of 20.5% of total online revenue for modern e-commerce brands.” They offer all the necessary features for a complete text message marketing platform. 

attentive text messaging software SMS marketing

Attentive Mobile top features

Attentive is a comprehensive text messaging platform focused on eCommerce growth. They have nifty features in six different categories:

Audience Growth: refers to building and growing your SMS and email list. You can design sign-up forms and promote them on your website for maximum conversions. Create forms and display them as popups on your website (mobile and desktop versions). Offer incentives at the check-out to capture subscribers at the point of purchase. Show opt-in links through your social media accounts. Drive sign-ups from your email list. Or create shortcodes and increase sign-ups from your physical stores.

Audience Manager: this contains the set of tools for personalized audience targeting. Segment your audience based on various criteria. Onsite behavior, browsing and purchase history, and demographic insights are some examples.

Messaging: refers to their advanced messaging features. You can create campaign messages, design journey maps, and send automated transactional messages. They also offer A/B testing features and real-time analytics to decide what works best for you.

Business intelligence: refers to their analytics and reporting features. You can generate reports on campaign performance, automated message performance, conversions, etc.

Integrations: there are a bunch of tools you can integrate with Attentive. They offer integrations with popular eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento. However, popular marketing tools, mainly email marketing tools, seem to be lacking here. Their recent Zapier integration or their API lets you connect any tool with Attentive.

Compliance and Deliverability: they promise high message deliverability and compliance with regulations. They also offer tools to make sure your opt-in forms are compliant with US regulations.

Attentive Mobile pricing

Attentive does not have clear pricing on their website — they offer custom pricing. You need to request a demo with them first and get pricing based on your needs. 

6. Textedly

Textedly is another popular text message marketing platform with various nifty features. Compared to other SMS platforms discussed so far, it seems to offer more for the price. 

textedly text message marketing platform SMS

Textedly top features

Textedly has all the standard features of the best SMS marketing platforms. Standard features are all available such as:

  • mass group texting, 
  • two-way messaging, autoresponders, 
  • drip campaigns, 
  • comprehensive analytics, 
  • and MMS.

Some of their other important features are: 

Voice services: turn your toll-free number or long code number into a voice call center. This way your customers can easily call the same number they text to if they prefer so.

Incoming MMS messaging: your customers can send you multimedia messages just like you. You’ll receive all these messages right in your inbox. 

Instagram texting: they have a great integration with Instagram. You can add a “text us” button to your Instagram profile. This lets your followers text you when they click on that button.

Great integrations: they offer direct integrations with popular marketing and sales platforms. Additionally, you can use Zapier to integrate with even more third-party apps. For example, you can connect Textedly with Jotform. So when someone submits data to your customized Jotform web forms, they’re added to your list.

Text Message Data Collection: the platform will get and input the State, City, and ZIP code for subscribers. Additionally, you can add more custom data fields such as First and Last name and email address.

Multiple User Support: add as many users as you need to your account free of charge. This is an amazing feature for sharing your account with your team members. 

Textedly pricing

They offer a 14-day free trial with 50 text messages and one custom keyword included. Their premium plans differ based on the number of text messages and the number of keywords.

Their Bronze plan ($24/month) offers 1,200 messages/month and 1 custom Keyword. If you need more you should buy their Plus plan ($39/month) which offers 2,400 messages/month and 2 custom Keywords.

7. Postscript

Postscript is one of the best text message marketing apps for Shopify stores. This means that you can use them only if you have a Shopify store. It also means that they’re deeply integrated with Shopify.

This allows you to use Shopify data for text messaging. Segment and target your customers according to:

  • what they bought, 
  • how much they spent, 
  • where they came from, 
  • and much more. 
Postscript SMS marketing platform text message

Postscript top features

Postscript offers some great features for eCommerce businesses. 

Deep Shopify integration: use your Shopify data for your SMS marketing campaigns. Features include custom coupon generation, results-based analytics, and customer+order level segmentation.

List management and growth: you can import your existing list to Postscript manually. Or grow your list using popups, keywords, opt-in forms, QR codes, or checkout collections.

Text compliance: they follow US TCPA regulations and automate compliance in the background. So you won’t need to worry about legal risks. 

Good analytics: you can view analytics at two levels of messages and subscribers. You can view performance data related to the messages. This is for automations, keyword replies, confirmed opt-in messages and replies to customers. At the subscriber level, you can view behavior data and data related to opt-in sources.

Postscript pricing

Postscript offers a 30-day free trial with unlimited messages and two keywords. They offer plans according to the number of monthly messages you send. The more messages you send monthly, the less you need to pay per message. The lowest plan is $25/month for 2500 monthly messages.

8. Yotpo (formerly SMSBump)

Yotpo (formerly SMSBump) is another SMS marketing software platform designed for eCommerce stores. Besides Shopify and Shopify Plus, this platform integrates with Bigcommerce as well.

yotpo fka SMSBump text marketing software platform

Yotpo top features: 

Many list building and growth features: they offer lots of options for growing your lists. These include pop-ups, floating buttons, embedded forms, footer forms, social media opt-ins, etc. 

Automated SMS flows: are a sequence of automated actions based on different triggers. These usually cover the entire sales funnel. Send messages after actions such as new registration, orders, shipping confirmations, and more.

A/B testing: before using any messages in your campaign, you can run A/B tests on them to make sure they’re the right fit. The A/B Testing feature is only available to users on their Powerhouse plans and above.

Campaign scheduling: send your messages on a given date and time using the Campaign Planner.

International sending: send SMS to the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and France. MMS messages are only available in the US.

Yotpo pricing

They have fixed monthly prices for each one of their plans. But you need to pay separately for your messages (pay as you go). Their plans are only different in the features they offer. For example, their free plan contains their basic features, but for each SMS you send in the US, you need to pay $0.0149. 

Their premium plans have more features and are $19/mo (Growth), $59/mo (Prime), and $199/mo (Powerhouse). Some advanced features are only available in their Powerhouse plan such as:

  • conversational SMS flows, 
  • unlimited A/B testing, 
  • and AI-powered predictive segmentation. 

9. Octane AI

Octane AI is a Shopify quiz and messenger app. They offer text message marketing services as well. You can gather customer data through quizzes and interactive pop-ups. You can use this data for sending personalized text messages.

Octane AI sms marketing tool text messages quizzes

Octane AI top features

Quizzes and interactive pop-ups: you can build quizzes or interactive pop-ups. Use them to engage customers and collect contact information. Using the data you gathered, you can send targeted text message marketing campaigns.

Facebook messenger + SMS: Octane AI offers Facebook messenger solutions besides SMS marketing services. So you can streamline all your data between these two channels. To take this a step further, you can sync this data with your email marketing if you use Klaviyo. Octane AI is deeply integrated with Klaviyo. 

Custom messenger/SMS automation: they offer automation for their messaging services. You can automatically send messages to people who comment on your Facebook posts and ads. Some other automated messages are abandoned cart messages, order confirmation, and win-back campaigns.

Octane AI pricing

Octane AI offers two pricing plans starting at: Octane ($50/month) and Octane Plus ($200). Their plans generally differ according to the features they offer. And are tiered based on the site revenue in steps of 5M.

10. Podium

Podium is an all-in-one messaging platform that offers business solutions to small businesses. They offer text message marketing services as part of these solutions. The platform also allows you to:

  • collect reviews through text messages,
  • send and receive multimedia,
  • create on-site webchats,
  • and collect payments through text.

They also enable you to manage all this in one single inbox.

Podium sms marketing software text messaging platform

Podium top features

Omnichannel messaging: with Podium’s Inbox you can manage all messages from different sources in a single place. It brings all the messages from Google, Facebook, Instagram, iMessage, your website, email, and text messages into an inbox.

Webchat: you can have the option to receive messages from people and respond to them on your website. They need to fill in their contact information to send you a message so this could grow your contact list. 

Teamchat: they give you the option to chat with your teammates as part of their messaging platform. You can also assign tasks to team members.

Video chats: you can have a secure video call with your customers by sending them a link through text. Podium also offers voice service so you can send voice messages to your customers as well. 

Contact list building tools: using their tools you can build and grow your contact list. There are different options. You can create forms and popups for your website. You can use your website chat to include an opt-in whenever someone leaves an inquiry. You can integrate an opt-in point within a check-out cart or a POS system. Or even ask for your customers’ contact information after they leave a review.

Text-to-pay: send a payment request to your customers via your text message conversations. Give the flexibility to pay with credit, debit, HSA, bank transfers, Google Pay or Apple Pay.

Podium pricing

You need to contact them to receive their plans and pricing. But, considering the features they offer, their pricing might be on the high side. Some websites mention that Podium offers three plans at $359, $499, and $700 monthly. So it’s a good idea to consider whether you need all the features before committing to a paid plan with them.

11. Omnisend 

Omnisend is an email marketing and marketing automation platform. But they offer text message marketing services as well. Using SMS with your email marketing allows you to align your messaging campaigns. And take advantage of all the data you gather along the way.

Omnisend SMS MMS marketing automation software platform

Ominsend top features

Email+SMS: natively integrate SMS into your email marketing without any extra cost. This allows you to take advantage of SMS within your standard email workflow. This lets you provide a more personalized experience. Find out how to set up workflows with emails and text messages in our full Omnisend review.

Global audience reach: they support all country codes for SMS (text-only messages). So you can reach your international customers and drive conversions from anywhere.

SMS Automation Workflows: create SMS workflows or add SMS to your email automations. They even have pre-built SMS workflows to automate your text message marketing efforts.

SMS channel reports: track the performance of your texts with channel-level filtering. Analyze how SMS is performing compared to other channels, and make data-driven decisions.

Omnisend pricing

They offer three plans: Free, Standard, and Pro. Omnisend pricing differs according to the size of your contact list. For example, for up to 500 contacts you need to pay $16/month for their Standard plan, and $59/month for their Pro plan. 

Their Free and Standard plans include 60 free SMS credits. For their Pro plan, free SMS credits equal the price of your plan. For example, if you pay $99/mo for the Pro plan, you’ll get $99/mo in free SMS credits. If you exceed your free SMS credits, you need to buy more credits at $0.015 per credit. They actually have an SMS/MMS cost calculator which is pretty straightforward.

What is SMS marketing?

SMS marketing or text message marketing is sending business messages like receipts, promotions, and coupons to people’s phones. It begins with an opt-in process through which people agree to receive messages from you. This makes SMS marketing permission-based and legal.

Graph showing SMS open, read and engagement rates

SMS vs. text messaging vs. MMS

SMS stands for short message service. “SMS messages” and “text messages” are two popular phrases used to refer to a text sent to a mobile phone device. So there’s no difference between the two terms.

MMS (multimedia messaging service) is a different concept though. The difference between SMS and MMS is that SMS is limited to sending only text and only up to 160 characters per message. MMS can carry multimedia (image, video, voice) and deliver more than 160 characters per message. The capacity to deliver multimedia makes MMS a more engaging marketing channel than SMS.

Benefits of text marketing 

If you’re anything like me, you’re cautious about where you’re spending your marketing budget. You need more than claims and promises – you need to know for sure what you’ll get for investing in SMS marketing. 

Here are some of the benefits you’ll get from SMS marketing:

Unparalleled reach

You don’t need to look up on the internet to make sure SMS is extremely popular among people. People have been using SMS (or text messages) for over 3 decades (since 1992). And it’s part of everybody’s life: more than 97% of Americans own a cell phone. SMS message open rates are as high as 98%. 

SMS marketing among marketers

Between 2016 and 2020, SMS messaging for marketing grew by approximately 197%! Marketers are fond of text messages because they’re:

  • easy to compose,
  • cheap,
  • and have high engagement rates.

Preferred by customers

75% of all mobile users have no issue with getting SMS messages from brands, as long as they opted in to the service. People don’t mind getting texts from brands. Another survey shows that 48% of people surveyed preferred to receive updates from brands through text messages. It’s important to note that these texts should not be limited to promotional messages. They should also include important notices and customer support

Consumers' channel preference to receive updates from brands

SMS marketing ROI

In short, SMS marketing has one of the highest ROI’s among other marketing channels. Attentive estimates that in 2020 their customers were able to generate “an average of $71 for every dollar spent” on SMS marketing. But, to better understand its effectiveness you need to know detailed metrics like open rates, response rates, and so on.

SMS marketing best practices

As explained in our SMS marketing guide, to have a good SMS marketing strategy, you need to start with two questions:

  1. In what way will you use SMS marketing, and how frequently?
  2. Where do you draw the line between use of the channel, and overuse? 

Overarching strategy aside, here are 5 SMS marketing tips and best practices:  

1. Segment. Customers love feeling like a message was crafted especially for them. Conjuring such sentiments depends on segmentation. Imagine the lists you can create around shopping behaviors, marketing campaign engagement, demographics. Draft appropriate messages for each. And if you’ve got them, add first name or other profile information to personalize further.

2. Integrate with other channels. You can only take advantage of the full potential of SMS marketing if you know how to use it with other channels. For example, you can use social media to encourage contact list subscriptions. Or you can use SMS as part of your email drip campaigns to provide an omnichannel experience.

3. Be brief. The limit is 160 characters for SMS and 1,600 for MMS. Use the space wisely. Ask yourself, “What’s the point of the message, and the shortest way I can say it?” Include a link to more detailed information. 

4. Ban slang. The use of SMS for a business is very different from personal texting. Reserve text slang for your personal messages. Stick to proper, yet casual, English. 

5. Be mindful of your sending times. Text message notifications are enabled at all times on most phones. The guideline: send messages between 9 AM and 9 PM.

6. Prompt your customers to make a move. Include a straightforward call to action (CTA) with the corresponding link.

Best text message marketing tools conclusion

The success of your text marketing efforts depends a great deal on the SMS marketing tools you use. Limited features and delayed deliverability could waste your whole efforts. 

In this article, I’ve listed ten of the most popular and efficient SMS marketing tools. These tools all offer guaranteed deliverability, nifty features, and reasonable pricing. Spend time to compare their features and pricing and read their reviews to pick the right one.

SMS marketing platforms FAQ

What is an SMS marketing platform?

An SMS marketing platform is a software used to create, plan, and send SMS messages to your customers’ mobile devices. A good SMS marketing software has bulk SMS messaging, two-way conversations, MMS messages, opt-out management, list building, keywords, shortcodes, segmentation, automation, integrations, analytics, and API.

The best SMS marketing platforms are TextMagic, SimpleTexting, and SlickText.

What is the best SMS platform?

The best SMS platforms are TextMagic, SimpleTexting, and SlickText. Beyond that you have to see about your specific use of a SMS platform.

If you’re looking for an SMS marketing platform to send SMS campaigns globally with clear credit-based pricing, then TextMagic is the right choice for you.
SimpleTexting has unlimited keywords and phone numbers on all monthly and yearly plans.
And SlickText has impressive automations and drip campaigns.

What is the best industry for SMS marketing?

The best industries for SMS marketing include SMS for commerce, real estate, financial services, restaurants, healthcare, travel, and law firms.Here are a few message examples for different industries. Ecommerce companies usually send promotional, cart abandonment, order, and shipping confirmations. Real estate firms send listing updates and open house notifications.Financial services can send balance alerts and payment notifications. Restaurants send promotional, reservation and menu update text messages.

How to do SMS marketing?

To do SMS marketing, you need an SMS marketing strategy and SMS marketing software. For your SMS marketing strategy ask yourself:

1. How will you use SMS marketing, and how frequently?
2. Where do you draw the line between the use of the channel, and overuse?

Learn more about strategy in our SMS marketing guide.

A good SMS marketing software must have bulk SMS messaging, two-way conversations, MMS messages, opt-out management, list building, keywords, shortcodes, segmentation, automation, integrations, analytics, and API.

The best SMS marketing platforms are TextMagic, SimpleTexting, and SlickText.

Is SMS marketing legal?

Yes, SMS marketing is legal if you comply with the laws and regulations. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) requires you to get written consent from customers before sending promotional messages. The CAN-SPAM Act requires you to avoid sending unwanted messages (spam) and provide ways for customers to opt-out easily.

Learn about your local text marketing laws and make sure you comply.

Does SMS marketing still work?

Yes, SMS marketing still works. statistics say 82% of people will open each and every text they receive. And people don’t mind getting texts from brands. 75% of all mobile users have no issue with getting SMS messages from brands if they opted in.

About Mostafa Dastras


Mostafa Dastras is a writer, editor, and outreach specialist at LiveaBusinessLife.com. He has written for top companies like HubSpot, WordStream, SmartInsights, LeadPages, and MarketingProfs. Over the past 6 years, he tested and reviewed hundreds of SMS marketing tools, rank tracking software, online course platforms, email marketing services, and lead generation apps.

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