SMS marketing software helps send mass texts and automate customer engagement.
Is your SMS marketing campaign not generating the desired results? You are not alone in this struggle.
Many small business marketing managers face similar issues with their short message service (SMS) marketing campaigns. Mostly because they lack adequate technology to create and optimize impactful SMS marketing campaigns that drive clicks and engagement.
A marketing and automation solution, such as SMS marketing software, lets you create impactful marketing messages using the right keywords, web links, and graphics. You can also evaluate customer engagement at various campaign stages, to adjust in real time and boost performance. These features ensure a high open rate of your messages, leading to increased conversion.
However, it can be overwhelming to find the best tool for your business when you don’t know where to start. This article highlights the seven best SMS marketing software for marketing managers, in alphabetical order, based on verified software reviews. Read more.
1. Attentive: Personalize marketing SMSs
Attentive is an SMS marketing tool that lets you personalize your marketing messages to enhance their relevance and drive actions. The tool captures and stores everything you need to understand your customers. You can use details, such as their preferred language, geographical location, purchase behavior, and more to connect with the audience.
Product features of interestDynamic content: Create messages with dynamic content to adapt to the receivers’ preferred language, geographic location, name, and other personal information.
Audience segmentation: Group audiences based on factors, such as gender, age, location, language, online behavior, and more. Send messages to the entire group to save time and effort.
Multimedia messaging: Send marketing messages in different formats such as audio, video, gif, image, and more. You can select from the multimedia message templates and customize them to match your brand.
Customer support options: Help center.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Campaign creator in Attentive (Source)
2. Emotive: Send AI-driven automated SMSs
Emotive is an SMS marketing automation solution that lets you send AI-driven text messages to customers. The tool’s smart reply feature allows you to respond to customer queries or route them to the right support team member. In addition, you can integrate the tool with your customer relationship management (CRM) system to enhance customer service and increase the chances of conversions.
Product features of interestSmart reply: Send replies to customer queries and concerns automatically on different platforms. You can customize these automated messages with personalized text for each customer.
Analytics dashboard: Monitor SMS campaign metrics in real time and generate performance reports using the SMS analytics dashboard.
- Mass texting: Send bulk SMS to a large number of customers and prospects at once. Track the clicks and conversions through UTMUrchin Tracking Module (UTM) codes are snippets of text added to the end of a URL to help track where website traffic comes from if users click the URL.links.
Customer support options: Chatbot, demo videos, and customer stories.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
SMS campaign creator in Emotive (Source)
3. EZ Texting: Create a series of automated messages
EZ Texting is a text message marketing solution that allows you to create a series of personalized automated messages for customers. This process helps in educating customers about a product or service and drives actions such as clicks and conversions. Furthermore, you can send follow-up messages to customers about due payments, abandoned carts, wish lists, and more.
EZ Texting features a mobile application for iOS devices.
Product features of interestContact management: Capture and maintain a contact database of customers and prospects. Create lead forms for them to submit their information during sign-up or subscription.
Text scheduling: Schedule text messages for individuals and groups of customers. Schedule single or multiple messages at different times of the day, week, month, or year.
Recurring texts: Automate follow-up messages to customers and prospects to remind them about their abandoned cart or visited product pages and increase sales.
Customer support options: FAQs, help center, and live support chat.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Campaign dashboard in EZ Texting (Source)
4. Klaviyo: Send messages based on online behavior
Klaviyo is a text message marketing automation solution that lets you send messages to customers automatically by assessing their online behavior. This includes their channel engagement, websites visited, products purchased, and other data from the online platforms. You can also segment and send behavior-based personalized messages to customer groups based on factors such as age, gender, language, and geographical location.
Product features of interestA/B testing: Create and test two different types of SMS campaigns to assess which one is likely to get more clicks.
Pre-built templates: Select from a library of pre-built text and multimedia message templates. Customize the templates using the tool’s editor for font type and style, graphics, images, and more of choice.
SMS conversations: Start a conversation with customers if they reply to the marketing message. This could be a general inquiry about the product or service or an intent to purchase.
Customer support options: Case studies, guides and reports, email, call, and blogs.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Drag and drop editor in Klaviyo (Source)
5. Sender: Access text messaging reports
Sender is a text messaging and email marketing solution that lets you track and monitor SMS campaign metrics. You can access insights, such as traffic, clicks, and engagement for hours, weeks, days, months, and years, allowing you to optimize future campaigns and boost revenue. With real-time insights into your SMS campaigns, you know the successful delivery rate and reasons for failed SMS deliveries.
Product features of interestMessaging analytics: Gain insights into the total number of clicks via your SMS marketing campaign. Track delivery rate, delivery speed, conversion rate, and other performance metrics of SMS campaigns.
Spam check: Identify spam words to avoid using them in your SMS campaigns and increase the chances of conversion.
Inbox preview: Preview the drafted marketing messages before sending them to the customers to eliminate errors such as incorrect graphics or grammatical mistakes. For multimedia messages, assess the layout of the graphics for mobile devices.
Customer support options: Chatbot and online ticketing system.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Automated text reminders in Sender (Source)
6. SimpleTexting: Collect customer data through texts
SimpleTexting is an SMS marketing and automation solution that gathers customer data in the way they prefer. Instead of a lead form, you can ask customers and prospects to share information in chat. The tool follows all data security guidelines to ensure the customer information is safe from unauthorized access. The collected information is encrypted and stored in the tool’s cloud-based storage.
SimpleTexting furnishes a mobile application for Android and iOS devices.
Product features of interestEmail marketing: Create and send marketing messages over email in addition to SMS and MMS.
Toll-free texting: Set up a toll-free number, allowing customers to send free messages instead of paying operator charges for each message.
Polling: Create polls to collect customer feedback on products and services and support.
Customer support options: Chatbot, call, demo videos, and help center.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Campaign creator in SimpleTexting (Source)
7. Twilio: Connect with customers on different platforms
Twilio is an SMS marketing solution that lets you connect with customers and prospects on their preferred channels, such as social media, email, or chat applications. You can integrate with different channels through APILink shortening: Shorten the links to the website or landing pages attached to the marketing message. Optimize the link with your preferred text or let the tool do it for you.
Message scheduling: Schedule messages to be sent on a future date or time using different communication channels. The tool allows changing the time or date of scheduled messages in real time.
Click tracking: Attach UTMs to the links given in the marketing message to track and monitor clicks and map the customers’ journey.
Customer support options: Help center, chat, FAQs, and training.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Screenshots
Chat window in Twilio (Source)
How to choose the best SMS marketing software for your business
There are several factors to consider while selecting the best SMS marketing software for your business. Here are some tips to help you make the right choice:
Assess mobile keyword functionality: Look for an SMS marketing platform that offers mobile keyword functionality. This lets customers subscribe or unsubscribe to your SMS service using keywords, such as START or STOP. In addition, the tool assists with requesting other customer support and services using keywords as suggested by the chatbot.
Look for an SMS analytics dashboard: Find a text marketing and automation solution that offers a reporting and analytics dashboard. This helps you monitor and track the performance of SMS campaigns in real time. Furthermore, you can generate performance reports to share with business-wide stakeholders and optimize the campaign efforts accordingly.
Opt for a contact management system: Consider an SMS message marketing solution that offers a contact management system. The system lets you automatically capture and store customer and prospect information. Further, it allows capturing information through different modes, such as web forms or chat conversations.
How much does SMS marketing software cost?
Most products in the market are priced on a per user, per month basis and can be broken down into three common pricing tiers based on their starting price.
Price ranges*:
$19 - $28
$29 - $59
$59+
*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offering found on vendor websites on January 09, 2023. These ranges correspond to the 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products.
Hidden costs associated with SMS marketing software
The above pricing list summarizes pricing for the base plans of most products. An enterprise or premium product that is priced higher may include additional features, for example, CRM integration, advanced campaign editor, mobile keywords, demo videos, and priority support. However, even the free plan may have some hidden charges, such as training and implementation costs, customization costs, add-on charges, and integration and scalability costs. Before making a choice, ask the software vendor about any such hidden charges to ensure full pricing transparency.
Frequently asked questions when selecting SMS marketing software
Here are some questions to ask SMS marketing software providers before making a final purchase:
What are the supported mobile carriers?
You need to check the list of mobile carriers supported by the selected SMS marketing software. Most SMS marketing solutions cater to all active operators to enhance their clients’ reach. However, there might be cases where the software supports only a few of the major mobile carriers, hence you need to carefully consider this aspect before buying.
Does the tool offer a built-in campaign editor?
You need to ask the software provider about the tool’s ability to allow edits on graphics, templates, and text messages. You should be able to add the built-in graphic elements as well as upload new ones that match your marketing message. Some tools also offer advanced editing features for you to modify the design of the pre-built SMS templates or create multimedia messages. Check if the available editing functionality matches your business requirements.
What are the supported social media platforms?
You need to ask the software if the selected SMS marketing software lets you integrate with social media platforms and chat applications. Also, identify if the software needs an API integration or downloading add-ons.