A simple text can speak volumes! It’s not just a saying; it’s a verifiable fact backed by compelling figures: a staggering 98% open rate and an astonishing 90% of messages read within three minutes of delivery. Hold on, that’s not all – a whopping 89% of consumers prefer to communicate with businesses via text. Now suppose you are a growing e-commerce brand and you want to know how to choose SMS provider. Google it and you will find an endless list of SMS providers.
How do you navigate through the overwhelming options among SMS providers in the market? Fear not, we have made the job easy for you. This post provides you will all the considerations you should make on how to choose sms provider. But before we set the stage, we shall learn about what is sms platform and the role of sms provider.
Let’s begin!
What is an SMS Platform?
An SMS platform is a technology using which businesses can send text messages to their subscribers or customers. SMS Platforms are equipped with tools and features that help in creating, managing, and sending messages in large volumes i.e. in bulk or individually.
In other words, SMS platforms act as intermediaries between businesses and telecom networks to facilitate SMS communication.
What is an SMS Provider?
An SMS provider is a company or service that provides SMS platform service to businesses. SMS providers have the infrastructure that allows businesses to communicate with their customers via SMS reliably and securely.
For example, REVE SMS platform provides businesses with tools to create, manage, and send text messages to their customers. It includes features such as campaign management, contact list organization, analytics, and automation to streamline SMS marketing efforts.
How to Choose SMS Provider? 10 Key Checkpoints
How to choose SMS provider? It’s a critical decision for businesses and individuals alike. To ease out this complex process, I have created these 10 solid checkpoints mentioned below. Let’s take a look:
Types of SMS Support
When you are selecting an SMS Platform, check the types of SMS supported by the provider. Some of the popular types of messaging include Promotional SMS, Bulk SMS, Wholesale SMS, Transactional(OTP), and Response-Driven SMS to name a few.
With the ability to support multiple types of SMS Campaigns, it opens up a wide space to try different types of SMS marketing techniques as per the business requirements. In addition to this, the contact selection facility with a dynamic campaign facility is also available with some SMS platforms.
Some solutions also come with multilingual SMS support, which is a great feature if you have clients in different geographies. Businesses should also make sure that normal and multiple SMS character sets are supported while evaluating an SMS Gateway. The combination of all these will help to produce effective results.
An ideal SMS platform provider should support different types of SMS messages to cater to different aspects of your business.
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Bulk SMS
The ability of an SMS platform to send SMS messages in large volumes. Such messages are often promotional like SMS messages about festive discounts, new products launched, alerts, etc.
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Promotional SMS
As explained above, promotional messages are designed to promote or advertise a business. The ultimate goal is to drive customer engagement.
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Transactional SMS
These messages carry transaction-related information and are often time-sensitive. They include order confirmations, OTPs (One Time Passwords), delivery updates, appointment reminders, or account notifications.
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Response Driven SMS
These types of messages are crafted to generate a response or action from the customers. The action can be in the form of a reply, clicking on the link, taking part in a survey, etc.
Reliability
Every business wants timely communication with customers. For instance, messages that carry information in the form of business-critical alerts and OTPs can only rely on an SMS platform that remains up 24/7. Therefore, your SMS provider must have a robust infrastructure to ensure reliable message delivery. Check whether they have multiple data centers in different locations for business continuity.
These days, SMS service providers guarantee a near-zero uptime of as good as 99.99%. Real-time monitoring and Automatic Retry mechanisms are two important aspects that your provider must offer.
Scalability
Your checklist cannot just miss this factor. Scalability is the ability of the SMS provider to accommodate your growing needs without affecting the quality of service. Often businesses start with a small number of SMS campaigns but gradually the number multiplies and so does the volume of SMS messages. What’s the use of a communication platform that cannot adapt to your business needs? When choosing the right SMS platform, make sure the provider can handle your current requirements and can serve your growing needs.
The importance of investing in an easy-to-scale platform lies in the fact that you only pay for the services you use. You can start small and expand and pay accordingly, ensuring hassle-free growth.
Features
A platform with a comprehensive set of features should be your choice. Look for:
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Sender ID Modification
A sender ID is the sender’s information that is visible to the SMS recipient. As a business, you need to make sure that your sender ID aligns with your brand. This is an important consideration for your choice of SMS platform. Look for the below-mentioned options for modification in the sender ID:
- A regular business phone number.
- Use a phone number in an international format such as +167232323.
- A short code associated with your business such as 955660.
- Using an alphanumeric text string such as DOMINOS that represents your company.
Customized sender IDs are a good way to enhance trust among your customers and also improve their experience.
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Multi-Language Support
An SMS platform that supports only one language can become a barrier to international communication for your business. Even if you are a local business at present, you may expand your operations across the globe in the time ahead. Therefore, opting for an SMS platform that supports multiple languages can save you from a lot of hassles later.
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Two Way Messaging
SMS Marketing is not always about sending texts to customers, but in various scenarios, a business might need to receive texts from customers as well. This is why it is important to consider an SMS platform that supports 2-way messaging. It’s a great tool to create interactive communication with your clients and customers. Marketing campaigns such as surveys and feedback can be easily conducted using a two-way messaging feature in an SMS platform.
Consumers can easily share their opinions about the products and services by replying to the text messages. They can even communicate problems or issues allowing businesses to address them promptly.
Pricing
As a business investing in SMS marketing, you need clarity about how much money you need to invest in the SMS platform. This is where you need transparency about pricing from your SMS vendor. Ask your shortlisted providers about whether the quotation they have given includes a setup fee, monthly hosting fee, per SMS fee, tax add-ons, etc. Make sure to ask if there are any hidden charges or what will be the ‘final cost’ so you don’t get bill shocks later. It’s a critical factor to get the best value for your money.
Customer Support
From evaluation to purchasing and even post-purchasing, your provider must assist you at each step. It is quite likely that you will have several queries when you are deciding upon an SMS provider. You need answers to your queries as quickly as possible. This also stands true after your purchase as well. You may encounter a technical issue which you have no idea about. Or maybe you need assistance during odd hours.
What can be of help in such a situation? A provider that offers 24/7 technical support with responsible and knowledgeable personnel. And most importantly, don’t forget that in today’s hyper-connected world, a provider that extends support via multiple channels like email, chat, and phone would be the best option.
Besides direct assistance, you may also check for support documents, guides, tutorials, and community forums. This often comes in handy when you are not
Data Privacy and Security
These are an absolute essentials for any business. Here are some aspects to be checked in terms of data privacy and security when selecting an SMS platform provider.
- The provider must comply with industry-standard global regulations like GDPR and TCPA to ensure user data encryption and protection. Non-compliance with regulations can lead to costly results including suspension of the service.
- Your SMS platform must enable you to send messages using a suitable business phone number. This is usually a short code like a toll-free number or a 5-6 digit number. The usage of regular 10-digit numbers for marketing messages is no longer allowed in countries like the U.S.
Reporting and Analytics
SMS marketing is not just about creating and sending SMS campaigns, there’s a lot of afterwork that you need to keep track of to drive better results from your efforts. Reporting and analytics tools allow you to track delivery rates, bounce rates, subscriber engagement, and campaign performance in real time. When you compare different SMS providers, you will find out that every provider has a different level of detail when it comes to reporting and analytics.
Some SMS platforms provide delivery receipts for individual recipients and the total number of messages delivered. So you know who received your message and how the campaign performed. You might even get all these insights in graphical form for easy, quick, and better understanding. It gives you a clear picture of your campaigns’ success rate and better plan future campaigns.
Another critical thing is the time at which you can access these reports. Real-time tracking can be extremely valuable when it comes to time-sensitive business communication. So look out for a platform that comes with in-built reporting and analytics features.
Expert Tip: If in case you are opting for an extremely low-priced SMS service, make sure to watch out for the authenticity of the delivery reports. You may be impressed with fake reports provided to you to make up for the cheap prices.
Easy Setup and User-Friendly Interface
When you want to start sending campaigns through your chosen SMS platform, you surely want a smooth start, right? While you perform various tasks such as adding new contacts to subscriber lists, sending messages, scheduling campaigns, checking upon campaign performance, etc., you should be able to do it all without any hassle. More specifically, you can pay attention to how easy it is to segment the subscribers, preview the message before sending, customize messages schedule them, etc.
An easy-to-use portal takes away most of the workload. Make sure the selected SMS Platform for business has an easy-to-use portal. It will not only help to simplify the operation but also reduce any chance of error due to a complicated interface.
SMS API for Easy Integration
For the smooth execution of your SMS marketing campaigns, you want an SMS platform that can easily integrate with your other systems. CRM i.e. Customer Relationship Management system, social messengers, open source software, and other collaboration tools. Application Programming Interface, acts as a bridge between different software applications, allowing them to communicate and interact with each other.
This is where you need APIs. They make your life easier by allowing quick and seamless integration of the SMS platform with your other systems and apps. Look for a vendor who provides comprehensive and uncomplicated API documents.
Here’s a brief about some of the most commonly offered SMS APIs:
Common SMS APIs
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HTTPS API
Hypertext transfer protocol secure is a widely used protocol for securely sending SMS messages.
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FTP
File Transfer Protocol is a standard protocol used to transfer of files containing SMS-related data from one system or server to another.
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SMPP API
Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol is ideal for sending SMS messages in large volumes. Compared to HTTP-based APIs, SMPP offers more control and flexibility in SMS communication.
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XML API
Extensive Markup Language is capable of carrying data from various networks and integrating it with legacy platforms. An XML API for SMS might involve sending or receiving SMS data in XML format, specifying details like message content, recipient numbers, and delivery status.
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SMTP API
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol facilitates the conversion of email messages into SMS format and sending them as text messages.
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SOAP API
Simple Object Access Protocol API makes use of this protocol to dens and receive SMS messages in a predefined format. This enables communication between different software systems.
How to Evaluate Your SMS Provider?
With all the points mentioned above you can shortlist some of the most appealing SMS providers. But how do you decide upon the one that best fits your specific business requirements? The answer is – that you need to evaluate the performance of the shortlisted SMS providers. Just pay attention to the 3 steps mentioned below:
Research
When you start your search for the best SMS providers, you are likely to Google for it and prepare a list of the top providers. Besides this, you can also ask for recommendations from suitable sources in your circle. This way you can research the different SMS providers and create a list of the most suitable ones.
Trial
It is always a good idea to have a first-hand experience with the SMS platform to understand how it feels to work on it. This is where taking a free trial
Reviews
You must check the reputation of the SMS provider in the market. But how to choose SMS provider with good reviews? Search for online reviews on different websites and read them carefully. Ensure that those reviews look authentic and not framed. A company with a good number of years in the market is likely to be a reliable provider.
Why REVE SMS Platform?
REVE SMS Platform offers an enterprise-grade solution that helps companies handle carrier-grade SMS traffic. With the help of the REVE SMS platform, businesses can send all types of messages that help in the growth of their business.
REVE SMS Platform offers numerous features that can boost businesses to a great extent. It has a web-based interface, supports SMPP, and offers single and bulk SMS sending options. With its inbuilt charts and graphs, it helps businesses by providing a profit-loss report. The solution further aids in reseller, route, rate, and MCC and MNC management along with financial analysis per client.
Take advantage of the free trial to get started!
Read Also
Everything You Should Know About SMS Hubbing
How to Become a Successful A2P SMS Aggregator?
Note: This post has been updated with the latest information on 23-01-2024.
