As an entrepreneur, marketing always needs to be at the top of your priorities. It’s a competitive business space we operate in, and it keeps on getting stiffer. Especially if you have operations only, the tools you use to market your business can make a huge impact on product promotion as well as lead conversions.
And these days, short messages are among the most effective marketing tools. They’re, short, concise, simple to understand and easy to send to many customers or prospects to your contact list at a go. But it becomes a little bit challenging if you have to manually send dozens or thousands of customized business messages monthly to your audience. And this is where finding the right bulk SMS marketing software becomes crucial! According to DialMyCalls, most businesses that embark on an SMS marketing campaign find that the cost of bulk text message marketing is very low when compared with other marketing campaigns and, as a result, will generate a solid ROI. So what are you waiting for?
Ideally, it’s hard to look past the price factors when looking for the perfect SMS marketing software. But there are more critical elements you may want to take into account, especially if you want your SMS marketing campaigns to be successful.
Below is a brief guide to selecting the best SMS marketing software.
1. Integration
The first thing you want to do is to choose SMS software that can be integrated into your existing applications. For instance, finding an SMS software that integrates with your loyalty or CRM applications will help to reduce the workload from your staff, allowing them to stay productive in other areas. In addition to this, it will also help minimize the cost of running your business and spare you from a lot of headaches. Today, the best SMS API’s have been developed to work across most of your business platforms and applications. This means that from that one single interface, you’ll be able to send SMSs in bulk from any of your business devices.
2. Ease of Use
It’s very important to ensure that the SMS software of your choice is easy to use. This, without necessarily needing to hire or enroll your staff in a training program. It should have a simple layout and an easy process when creating and sending bulk messages to prospects, leads, and existing customers. To help you out, you should always try out the software before buying it. Not many vendors will allow this, but if you find one, you’re sure that they also trust the software quality.
3. Full-Time Support and Customer Service
The best SMS API software systems are supported by service providers who help in taking care of the SMS management processes, software maintenance, and solving your networking issues. Unless you have a dedicated tech team that is well capable to handle these tasks, you need to rely on a service provider who’ll offer you 24-hour support and provide you with insights on how to improve your SMS marketing campaigns. In addition to this, the service provider also needs to provide you with complete analytics that will accurately help in tracking the performance of the SMS marketing software. Other factors to consider when choosing an SMS service provider include:
- Experience in the field of SMS APIs
- Operating costs
- Transparency
- Should offer legitimate routes that are recognized by network operators and hubs
4. Scalability
Before considering just any SMS software, you want to take into account factors such as future prospects and the growth of your business. While your business could still be in its infancy stages and sending only a few hundred SMSs per month, it’s important to choose SMS software that will accommodate the needs of a growing business. Choosing a scalable platform will help eliminate the challenges and the costs of having to change service providers in the future.
5. Accessibility
Now, depending on the size of your business, a single person can handle most of your communication needs if you are a small business. But larger businesses may need to hire additional staff members to send out messages about different topics. With this in mind, you want to ensure that the SMS marketing software platform can be shared by multiple users. Accessibility is a crucial aspect because having a clear picture of who or the number of people accessing the SMS marketing software can help save your business a lot of costs down the line.
6. Versatility
Another important aspect to consider when choosing SMS marketing software is the ability to send different types of media other than plain SMSs. Well, it’s called an SMS marketing software because this is what it does. But having one that can share links, voice files, pictures, or videos will help boost results in your SMS marketing campaigns. A good SMS marketing tool should be versatile.
7. Don’t Forget Your Audience
Before picking an SMS marketing software, you’ll also want to consider its geographic reach in relation to your audience. While some programs are designed to be used in particular countries, others are capable of letting you send messages even to your customers across the border. So before making your pick, it’s important to ensure the SMS marketing solution will serve your intended audience, now and in the near future. Of course, this will also depend on the size of your business and the prospects you have for its growth.
More than ever before, mass texting matters in marketing. It’s no wonder why most businesses are investing in SMS marketing software. But with the many texting software and providers out there, it can be a bit confusing. Either way, choosing the best SMS marketing software will go a long way in boosting your marketing and helping your business grow. The above pointers may not provide you with all the answers, but will surely help to narrow down your search.