11 Best SMS Marketing Software for Engaging Your Audience

Text message marketing is an easy and effective communication channel for marketers. It’s affordable, convenient, and simple. There are dozens of platforms with varying features and capabilities, and choosing the right one can be tricky.

We’ll review the 11 best SMS marketing software to help you decide. But first, let’s find out what to look for in an SMS marketing service.

What Makes a Great Text Marketing Platform for SMBs?

Small and midsize businesses need more than just mass texting. Let’s see what makes a superb text message marketing service for SMBs.

Ease of Use

Some mass texting platforms are SMS API services in essence, requiring technical knowledge to integrate them with your existing setup. You need an intuitive service that your team can easily plug and play, without depending on an agency or outsource developer for the setup.

Ease of use is also crucial for navigation and dashboard design. SMS marketing is a part of your marketing strategy, and you can’t afford to lose time with messy navigation and crowded dashboards. That’s why the best platforms are intuitive in their design.

Plentiful Integrations

A core quality of good SMS marketing platforms is their abundant integration opportunities. McKinsey’s Next in Personalization 2021 report found that 71% of consumers expect brands to deliver personalized interactions.

SMS marketing tools should integrate with marketing and sales platforms you already use. That way, you can facilitate personalized conversations over multiple channels.

Two-Way Messaging

Two-way communication helps you instantly respond when customers have a question. This way, they can make an informed decision, which is crucial for their satisfaction. And you’re providing the information that leads to an immediate purchase.

It also helps when you need instant feedback. Say you’re planning a store-wide price increase. You may want to tap into your SMS subscribers with a willingness to pay survey. They can express their feelings and share suggestions. It’s a good way to understand customer sentiment before implementing major changes. You’ll find that the best SMS marketing platforms usually offer 2-way communication.

As an important form of business communication, customer communication is essential for improving customer experience. So a powerful text marketing platform can be a good strategy for customer experience management.

Best SMS Marketing Services

Tons of text message marketing tools are available for all businesses. Below we review the 11 most popular tools with their features, limits, and pricing. You can choose the right one based on your needs and budget.

1. Textmagic

Textmagic is a powerful SMS marketing platform for all sizes of businesses, with a super easy setup. You can set it up and send an SMS in minutes.

You can send SMS messages to basically anywhere in the world, with access to over 1K mobile networks across 190+ countries. The experience is very well thought-out, from setup to all its features.

And Textmagic SMS marketing software scales with you. You can add unlimited sub-accounts with full access to all features and use auto-responders to speed up your service. It’s a reliable tool if you have large-scale operations across various locations.

You can also add your Textmagic number to your messages, allowing customers to directly call you with a single click. The Text to Speech feature even converts your text messages into calls, meaning you can convey important automated messages over the phone in seconds.

Other noteworthy features include:

• MMS
• 2-way conversations
• SMS marketing list segmentation
• Scheduled texts
• Personalization
• Phone, email, live chat support
• Templates

Textmagic limits single messages to 160 characters, including spaces.

Textmagic Pricing

Textmagic pricing model allows you to buy credits that never expire. There are 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1K, 2K, 3K, 5K, or 10K credit packages.

You can use your credits to:

• Send text messages
• Buy dedicated virtual numbers
• Forward incoming voice calls
• Use the Carrier Lookup tool

Pricing changes based on where your recipients are located. Here are the rates for some destination countries:

The platform has a 30-day free trial where you have 0.4 credit and full access to all features. See the Textmagic pricing for a closer look at its pricing. Textmagic will suggest a credit bundle based on your destination countries and the number of messages you want to send.

2. SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting is popular SMS marketing software with a simple, scalable design. The tool offers enterprise-level team features, but it never gets complicated.

SimpleTexting allows you to invite unlimited team members. Your customer service agents and sales reps can get their SMS numbers. This way you can assign conversations to the right persons and teams. Admins are able to check on team members to see if they need help and take on the conversation if necessary.

One of the best pros of using SimpleTexting is the 306 characters limit per text. Most platforms’ character limits are around 160 characters. You can shorten any URL with the Tiny Link feature to save up your character limit.

SimpleTexting offers some other features worth mentioning:

• 2-way messaging
• MMS
• Scheduled texts
• 90 integrations with popular apps like Salesforce, Zapier, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Slack, Shopify, Instagram
• Templates
• Autoresponders
• Personalization
• Phone, chat, email, and SMS support

SimpleTexting Pricing

SimpleTexting pricing has 8 monthly tiers:

The tool offers 2 add-ons. Constant Contact, WooCommerce, Squarespace, Wix, Zoho, Zendesk, and Keap integrations are available on all plans for $49 monthly, allowing you to sync contacts between apps. Mailchimp and Zapier integrations are free. Advanced Automations has custom pricing and comes on $229/month or higher plans, allowing you to create complex automations and integrations.

SimpleTexting charges an additional activation fee ($4) and a monthly number registration fee ($10) for local numbers.

3. EZ Texting

EZ Texting is one of the best SMS marketing platforms with advanced features.

EZ Texting has a one-of-a-kind MMS feature: native Shutterstock integration. The integration offers 20 million free photos from the Shutterstock library, which can level up your SMS marketing game. And the best part is you get automated suggestions based on your message’s content.

EZ Texting allows you to create QR codes for your campaigns. It’s important to note that QR codes for URLs are extremely powerful for bringing offline audiences to your online resources. You can use campaign-specific QR codes in print ads, virtual ads, and in-store. And you can collect leads with web signup forms.

Other useful EZ Texting features include:

• 2-way messaging
• Link shortener
• Personalization
• Templates
• Text automations
• High-volume number
• 6 integrations with popular platforms like HubSpot, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Squarespace, and Zapier
• Phone and chat support

The character limit is 160 characters per text.

EZ Texting Pricing

EZ Texting has 4 pricing plans:

• Launch: Starts at $25/month w/ 500 messages – Extra text messages cost $0.030/per message
• Boost: Starts at $75/month w/500 messages – Extra text messages cost $0.025/per message
• Scale: Starts at $125/month w/500 messages – Extra text messages cost $0.020/per message
• Enterprise: Starts at $3000/month w/300K messages – Extra text messages cost $0.010/per message

All plans include all the features we highlighted.

4. SlickText

SlickText is an SMS marketing tool with lead generation and nurturing tools, automated workflows, and advanced segmentation.

Website popups, polls, social opt-in links, custom QRs, and checkout forms are incredibly easy to create. You can display those subscriber growth tools on your website.

Demographic and behavioral segmentation tools and automated workflows come in handy for targeted conversations. Having them available is great when running multiple marketing campaigns for different goals.

SlickText also offers mobile-friendly opt-in forms that you can use as landing pages. You can organize text-to-win contests and SMS surveys to drive engagement. The tool creates unique promo codes to help you entice or reward customers in campaigns like that.

And it has many other useful features:

• Text-to-join (2-way texting)
• MMS
• 1-on-1 onboarding session to help you set goals
• Analytics
• Age verification
• Native integrations with Shopify, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Zapier
• Webhooks
• Phone, chat, email support

SlickText’s character limit is 160 characters/SMS.

SlickText Pricing

SlickText offers 8 pricing plans:

5. MailUp

MailUp is an email and SMS marketing software with automation and advanced reporting.

When you send marketing messages with MailUp, you receive a receipt that shows delivery time and errors. You can also view in-depth stats and reports by campaign or contact.

MailUp allows you to link 10 SMS in 1 message, for when you need up to 1,500 characters. As an email marketing tool, it makes growing your email and SMS list easy. And you can automate messages for both channels effortlessly. You can use the drag-and-drop editor to create product and service landing pages, with mobile-optimized landing page links added to your SMS and emails.

And it has some other great text messaging features:

• Inbound SMS (2-way conversations)
• Transactional SMS campaigns
• SMS and email automation
• Personalization
• 20+ integrations with popular platforms
• Phone and email support

Regular message length is limited to 160 characters.

MailUp Pricing

MailUp pricing changes based on where your recipients are located and how many credits you buy. Here are the per-message rates if you buy 1K messages in these countries:

The credits expire in 2 years. MailUp has a free 15-day trial where you get to try Plus edition features with 1K emails.

6. Octane AI

Octane AI is a smart customer engagement platform for text message marketing and more.

You can set up and track SMS marketing, ads, shoppable quizzes, opt-in tools, and customer data with Octane AI. It works with your email, subscription, ads, and customer support platforms.

You can use abandoned cart messages, order confirmation, win-back campaigns, and post-purchase messaging to increase customer retention.

Octane AI Pricing

Octane AI pricing is based on your annual store revenue. It has 2 plans with 6 revenue tiers. The Octane plan starts at $50/month if you’re making less than $1M.

You get unlimited engagements on all plans. You get personalized text messages with the Octane Plus. It starts at $200/month for stores that make less than $1M.

7. Omnisend

Omnisend is a brilliant marketing platform for eCommerce with email marketing, SMS messaging, and automation. It’s one of the most powerful and intuitive text message marketing services.

They use shopping history, engagement data, and various other variables to give you relevant recommendations.

You can sync Omnisend segments with Google Customer Match, allowing you to engage with an audience across Google Shopping, Gmail, Google Search, and YouTube. And you can use its engagement tools on your website, in emails, and in SMS.

The tool also offers pretty solid automation features. Custom and pre-built workflows, A/B split testing, dynamic content blocks, and personalized recommendations are all available on all plans—even on the free plan.

Other Omnisend features worth mentioning:

• Drag & drop email builder
• Automation splits
• Wheel of Fortune
• Teasers
• Landing pages
• Sales dashboard
• Campaign and automation reports
• Dedicated customer success manager on Pro plan

Omnisend Pricing

Omnisend pricing:

• Standard: Starts at $16/month for 250 contacts
• Pro: Starts at $59/month for 250 contacts

Pro plan combines email and SMS. It includes free SMS and MMS credits. But you can also purchase SMS credits separately. SMS pricing changes based on your destination country. Sending 1 SMS to a US number costs $0.015.

8. Klaviyo

Klaviyo is one of the best SMS marketing platforms with behavior-based automations to drive revenue.

You can use Klaviyo’s SMS automations to increase average order value and retention:

• Tap-to-subscribe welcome offers
• New product announcements
• Coupons and time-sensitive sales
• Back-in-stock and price drop alerts
• Order/shipping/delivery confirmations
• Purchase follow-ups and support

The AI-powered SMS Assistant is one of a kind. You just put in a brief description about your campaign, like ‘Black Friday deals on PC accessories,’ and the assistant comes up with multiple copy recommendations. It’s that easy.

The tool’s Peer Benchmarks can help you keep the pulse of the competition. Klaviyo creates tailored benchmarks based on your average item value, growth, monthly revenue, industry, and campaign frequency. You can compare your efforts with businesses like yours.

Some of the other notable features include:

• 2-way messaging
• Drag-and-drop automation builder
• Built-in forms and popups
• Real-time, marketer-friendly segmentation
• Predictive data
• Rich pre-built and custom reporting
• Automated A/B testing
• Facebook Messenger and Instagram ads integration
• Phone, chat, and email support

Klaviyo Pricing

Klaviyo’s pricing has 1 paid plan with SMS. The Email and SMS plan starts at $20/month with 500 contacts and 150 SMS credits, and you get 10X your contact tier monthly emails. Pricing is based on your contact tier and the number of SMS credits.

9. Trumpia

Trumpia is among the best text message marketing services, making text message marketing campaigns easy to manage.

Trumpia makes data capture and targeted messaging very easy. The data capture feature collects and stores customer data you’re interested in; you just have to create text keywords and choose the type of data you need.

Then Smart Targeting updates your filtered distribution lists, saving time and maintaining your messages’ relevancy. It helps businesses nurture customers with custom workflows.

And the tool stands out with excellent support. There’s 365-day phone support, and online support responds in 9 minutes on average.

Here are the features in our honorable mention selection:

• 2-way messaging
• Unlimited keywords
• SMS voting
• Link shortener
• Analytics reports
• Dedicated account manager and compliance training on Advanced Plans
• Auto-responder
• Drip campaigns
• Contact scoring

Trumpia Pricing

Trumpia software has 2 pricing plans with monthly SMS tiers:

You get 10X your SMS limit monthly emails on all plans. Advanced Plans limits on data sets and contacts per workflow increase with your monthly SMS tier.

10. SendPulse

SendPulse is a modular marketing platform made of 10 products, including text message marketing. SMS messaging is straightforward and affordable, making it a great choice for small businesses.

SendPulse’s functionality may be limited compared to the other software we’ve mentioned, but it’s a reliable tool for sending personalized and bulk SMS. And the pricing is competitive and transparent as well.

You get free subscription forms, web push, and URL tracking. You can send balance replenishments, sign-up confirmations, birthday discounts, and other updates to your customers.

SendPulse also offers 24/7 live chat support in 5 languages.

SendPulse Pricing

SendPulse pricing changes based on the country you want to send SMS to. Here are some of the destination country rates:

• United States: $0.02/per SMS
• Canada: $0.013
• United Kingdom: $0.034/per SMS
• Germany: $0.074/per SMS
• Netherlands: $0.076/per SMS
• Australia: $0.029

11. Podium

Podium is an all-in-one text message marketing and communications platform. It’s a combination of growth, communications, and payment tools, and its SMS marketing features include some unique offerings you can’t find elsewhere.

It offers a no-code chat tool you can add to your website. Customers leave contact info via webchat, and you text back with the information they need. Even if they leave the chat, web chat immediately transfers the conversation to text. It’s a brilliant function that cuts down your response time.

The Call-to-Text feature is equally unique, moving the conversation to text when customers want to leave a call.

You can create Google review links that invite your customers to leave reviews. Podium sends automated invites based on specific customer touchpoints, such as when you resolve their support ticket or complete an order.

You can have unlimited users on Standard and Professional plans. Although it’s a bit pricey, Podium can seriously help you grow.

Podium Pricing

Podium comes in 3 pricing plans:

• Essentials: $289/month for 1K contacts, 3 team members, 500 monthly SMS
• Standard: $449/month for unlimited contacts, unlimited team members, 1K SMS
• Professional: $649/month for unlimited contacts, unlimited team members, 5K SMS

Conclusion

All of these tools are packed with features that bring value to a business. We highlighted what makes each of them stand out. It’s really important that you give a try to the ones that you can. Most offer free trials or free credits to test their features.

Choosing the right SMS marketing platform is vital for your SMS marketing campaign’s success.

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