There are a lot of benefits to sending bulk texts to your customers. You can use bulk texts to send company updates, special offers and/or resolve customer service issues. And a lot of studies show open rates and engagement rates for text message marketing to be six to eight times higher than emails. However, investing in a mass texting service can seem scary if your business is on a tight budget.
You’re probably wondering…
Can I send mass texts for free?
Yes and no. While there are texting apps out there that allow you to send text messages to multiple recipients, they are not the same as a mass texting service for a few reasons.
For starters, most texting apps limit the number of people that you can include in a bulk text. That limit is usually about ten people. However, when one of those people reply to your message, everyone included in the thread can see that reply. Also, these types of apps make it a little more difficult to opt-out of receiving messages. In order to stay in compliance with the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act), your customers need to be able to opt-in and out of marketing texts easily. If your business is found in violation of the TCPA, you could be subject to monetary damages per unlawful text.
On the other hand, most mass texting services have a variety of plans available for your business so that you can send as many text messages as you need. Additionally, all replies are private. In other words, replies do not get sent to the entire group as they would on a texting app; only the original sender of the mass text (you) can see customer replies. There are also clear and simple ways to allow customers to opt-in (or to create a double opt-in) and opt-out of receiving marketing texts. This will ensure that you are always compliant with the TCPA.
While you will ultimately have to pay for a mass texting service, there are several that offer free packages or free trials.
Read on to find out which mass texting service will provide the best bang for your business’ buck.
The Best Mass Texting Services for Your Money
Text My Main Number is one of the industry leaders in mass texting- with thousands of organizations on their roster. You’ll find pretty much everything you need with this service: automation, segments, expert customer service and high-quality messaging. Text My Main Number also guarantees that, through the use of their platform, your business will always be in compliance with text message marketing laws.
Text My Main Number also offers FREE training! While it may seem difficult to deploy a text messaging platform (especially if you are not the most tech savvy), it’s quite alright because the TMMN team will help you get set up. It is their mission to ensure that you are using their platform efficiently so that you truly benefit from all it has to offer.
Some text messaging providers offer a free plan but what they do not tell you is that as your subscriber list grows, obviously the free plan isn’t going to cut it. And your business goal should be to grow that list! The more people you can send targeted messages to, the better chance at conversions.
However, the Text My Main Number free trial is a great way to familiarize yourself with the platform and determine if text message marketing and communication is right for your business.
JookSMS has been around since 2015 and, according to their homepage, “has been rated the number one sms provider by various third-party websites including Techtimes, Capterra and Product Hunt.” They offer a bulk SMS service, API to integrate the service with other apps, and data collection service so you can see how your customers are interacting with bulk texts.
While JookSMS does have a 30-day free trial, this does not include bulk sending. If you are considering choosing this mass texting service over others, though, the free trial would still be a good way to check out the platform and its other tools before deciding if it will be worth the money for your business.
JookSMS also offers customized plans, as well as a prepaid plan. The prepaid plan does not come with every feature, but it does allow the user to send and receive texts, import contacts and send bulk texts.
EZTexting is yet another industry leader, with over 160,000 customers and over 5 billion messages sent. They have a litany of features including text personalization capabilities, drip campaigns, two-way chat for customer service and even landline texting.
In fact, if your business already has a landline number as your primary business phone, EZTexting currently offers a three-month free trial for one-on-one chat to your landline using an internet browser or smartphone app. This would be a great option to improve customer service and make sure that your business isn’t missing out on sales when a customer texts your landline. Although this service is not bulk text-enabled, it is still worth mentioning as an alternative, especially with that lengthy free trial.
EZTexting also offers a two-week free trial, 1 demo keyword and MMS capabilities for traditional text message marketing. This free trial will allow you to test out this mass texting service without making a commitment. They also offer a Pay & Go plan which charges 5 cents per credit. According to their website, one SMS message is the equivalent of one credit, while one MMS message is equal to three credits. EZTesting also offers 20% off all packages when you pay annually instead of monthly.
While these plans are probably not long-term solutions to your text message marketing needs, they are no-commitment, affordable options for a test drive of this mass texting service.
Textedly prides itself on its simplicity of use. In fact, it’s the first claim you see on their homepage. If you are new to text marketing or simply do not consider yourself very technologically adept, this mass texting service may be a good option for you. Although it doesn’t appear to have as many available features as EZTexting, for example, Textedly has everything you need to implement an effective text message marketing strategy and start sending bulk texts.
Textedly offers a 14-day free trial which includes 50 messages and 1 free keyword. This service also offers a wide variety of packages with more texts included in cheaper plans if you pay annually. Overall, for text message needs, Textedly has the cheapest plans- but lacks some of the extra features of the other services on this list. However, if you are looking for a no-frills way to implement text message marketing into your business strategy, Textedly is worth exploring.
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