SMS marketing has proven to be hugely beneficial to businesses in various industries, from automotive repair shops to hair salons. With 4.2 billion people sending texts worldwide, business texting has been one of the fastest growing trends over the past ten years.
As this trend has grown, there has also been a huge influx of mass texting services ready to meet the demand. It can be quite overwhelming to decide which one is best when presented with so many options. Most business owners do not know the difference between each mass texting service or even possess a working knowledge of the different types of features available.
This article will strive to aid you in your search for the best mass texting service by delving into each of the important considerations and things to look for to make the right choice for your business!
How to Decide Which Mass Texting Service is Best for Your Business
Available features
The first thing you will want to do when making a decision about which mass texting service is best is determine what your primary use(s) will be. Will you be using your service’s capabilities primarily for SMS marketing? Will it be mainly a customer service channel? Or do you plan to text customers appointment reminders and customer surveys?
Chances are that you plan to utilize a mass texting service for some combination of purposes, so you will need to make a choice based on your company’s current and future needs.
Here are some important features to look for:
Landline texting–
Unless your business is already completely mobile, you probably have a main office number that you direct customers to call for customer service, appointment scheduling and general inquiries. 79% of people wish to have text conversations with businesses, so you may already be missing important communications from customers who have tried to text your landline unsuccessfully. Some mass texting services, however, can text-enable your landline, allowing you to field incoming texts and respond via a mobile or desktop web browser. That means you will not need to purchase any additional equipment or hardware; all you need is a business texting service and a web browser.
Text scheduling
If you plan to use a mass texting service as part of an SMS marketing campaign, you will want to plan out your campaign ahead of time by scheduling texts to be sent out at a later date and in a specific order. Just like your other marketing channels, you don’t want to find yourself flying by the seat of your pants without a plan, and scheduled texts will help you more effectively put your plan into place.
Auto reply-
Even though you can’t monitor incoming texts 24/7, you want to make sure that you are responding to customer inquiries promptly. If not, by the time you get back to them, it may be too late. With auto reply capabilities, your texting service can identify particular keywords or frequently asked questions to which you have already written automated replies.
Multiple Ways to Opt-in-
In order to build your SMS marketing list, you will need to get customers’ permission to send business communications via text. Any business who does not receive consent to text customers can be in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and be subject to penalties, including monetary damages. Therefore, in order to gain subscribers, you will need to give them a way to opt-in. Ideally, your mass texting service will give you different methods to allow customers to opt-in, such as texting a keyword and/or signing up through your website. With multiple opt-in methods, you can grow your list faster by extending your reach to more customers who might be interested in receiving text communications from your business.
Analytics-
In order to gauge the effectiveness of your SMS marketing campaign and whether you have reached your intended goals, you will need a mass texting service that provides in-depth analytics. Identify your key performance indicators (KPIs) and use your service to measure how your texts are performing. If you aren’t receiving the response you were hoping for, it may be time to change your tactics, and effective analytics will help you make those crucial decisions.
Customer segments-
In order to launch an effective marketing campaign through any channel, you want to make sure that it is appealing to your target audience. The best mass texting services will give you the ability to make that happen through customer segments. You can organize contacts based on demographic, opt-in method, or purchase history to send them information that will be most valuable to them.
MMS-
SMS stands for “short message service.” Typically, when you hear someone refer to a “text message,” that is the same as SMS. MMS, however, stands for “multimedia message service,” so usually those are picture messages. The best mass texting services will give your business the ability to do both to add some variety into your business texting campaigns.
Check reviews
It can be helpful to read reviews when considering any new product, and mass texting services are no different.
There are two main things that you should weigh heavily when reading online reviews or gathering recommendations from other business professionals:
User-friendliness-
Unless you consider yourself to be very technologically-savvy, you will want to keep a keen eye out for reviews that speak to the service’s ease of use. Do most people say that the mass texting service in question is very user-friendly? Or do they find it to be confusing and difficult to get a handle on? While some training may be required, especially if multiple staff members plan to work with this tool, the platform you choose should be designed with you in mind.
Customer service-
Your customers expect fast and friendly customer service from your business, right? Likewise, you should expect the same from products and services that your business pays for, including a mass texting service. See what others are saying about their customer service experiences with the platform you are considering. If it seems to be generally challenging to receive customer service and support, that probably isn’t the service you want for your business.
As with anything, take online reviews with a grain of salt, especially if someone is making trivial complaints or personal attacks. However, if the reviews you come across for a mass texting service are overwhelmingly negative in terms of customer service and platform usability, it may be time to move on to consider other options.
Free Trials
Once you have your list of the best mass texting services narrowed down, try checking out their free trials. Many top services offer free trials to allow you to familiarize yourself with the platform and features. Free trials are a great, no-risk way to take a test drive of the service before making a financial commitment. This is the last step in your journey to choosing the best mass texting service! After that, you’ll be off to the races in implementing an SMS strategy that produces results for your business!
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