8 Tips for Choosing the Best SMS Provider
Not sure what to look for in an SMS marketing provider? Read these 8 top tips to find out.
Understanding that consumers engage more with texts is one thing, but identifying the right solution for sending messages is another critical piece of the marketing puzzle. Businesses need to know how to choose an SMS provider that will give them the proper foundation, essential tools, and features to ensure message deliverability, maintain compliance, and boost engagement.
Learn what makes the best SMS provider with these top considerations.
#1
Compliance and Security
Compliance and security are two of the top features to look for in an SMS provider. After all, you want to ensure that you’re following relevant regulations to avoid fines and retain audience trust.
A2P Registration
A2P compliance is the new standard for sending SMS and MMS messages from an application to a person, hence the acronym “A2P.” This mandatory regulation ensures that all business-to-consumer messages are vetted, trusted, and safe.
EZ Texting provides clear guidance on A2P information and registration so that businesses like yours can quickly and without interruption to their SMS strategy set up with a 10DLC number. Once your phone number is registered, you’ll soon notice the improved deliverability of your messages and the added peace of mind that comes with being in compliance.
Built-In Opt-Outs
Understanding the ins and outs of SMS compliance isn’t easy, so you need an SMS marketing provider that provides the necessary safety nets and built-in features to help your business comply with federal and state regulations.
EZ Texting’s embedded opt-in/opt-out logic ensures that contacts who opt out are removed from your list and those who opt-in are provided with the required consent language. Our helpful feature, SafeSTOP, means that when a contact replies “STOP” to one of your messages, they will be removed from your text subscriber list. All of these guardrails go a long way toward ensuring that your business maintains the highest compliance standards.
Ongoing Monitoring
Phone carrier, federal, and state regulations can change over time, as can compliance and security requirements for your customer texts. Choosing an SMS platform that offers ongoing monitoring is crucial to staying current on any industry shifts that might affect your SMS messaging strategy.
This is where the EZ Texting dedicated compliance team comes into play. Our team understands that the regulatory landscape has changed in the past and will likely do so again, which is why they continually monitor potential regulations to stay ahead of the curve and ensure that your messages reach customers while staying compliant. Additionally, they conduct manual reviews and manage intelligent monitoring of SMS content to ensure that EZ Texting customers meet legal guidelines with every text they send.
#2
Scalability
No matter the size of your business, you want to ensure that your text marketing capabilities can grow with your company. Acquiring more customers — and SMS subscribers — shouldn’t come at the cost of lower messaging speeds.
With EZ Texting, your SMS marketing plan can expand as your business grows. We offer four competitively priced subscription plans, each accommodating various audience sizes, from 500 to 50,000+ contacts. Each plan comes with our robust suite of SMS features that can help your business generate more leads, get more opt-ins, and boost sales. Learn more about how text marketing works.
#3
Customized and Personalized Messaging Options
Finding the best SMS provider means offering the full suite of messaging options, from mass texting and automated replies to scheduled reminders and MMS messages. Whatever you need for your business, ensure the text marketing platform provides that capability. With EZ Texting, you can find all these options and more, including two-way messaging (more on that next). Fulfill the needs of each SMS campaign by choosing which methods work best — and personalizing each text according to parameters you’ve set up with customer segmentation. Then, watch your engagement soar.
#4
Support for Two-Way Messaging
When choosing an SMS platform for business, make sure that it supports two-way messaging. Two-way texting can create a closer connection between your audience and your brand. Through a one-to-one interaction, your business can quickly respond to inquiries, reschedule appointments or employee shifts, share important updates and more — all in an engaging, easy-to-access format.
All EZ Texting customers can view inbound and outbound messages in Team Inbox, an efficient, centralized collaboration tool that allows your team members to manage all conversations with contacts.
#5
Analytics and Reporting Tools
The best SMS provider will offer top-notch analytics and reporting tools to help you keep your SMS campaigns on track. With built-in analytics, you can track clicks, bounce rates, opt-outs, delivery rates, and more, gaining insights into what worked well and what didn’t. And with EZ Texting, you can even monitor contact-level engagement to better understand how your audience interacts with your messages. With these analytics and reporting features, you can create and optimize SMS marketing campaigns that engage customers and win more business.
#6
Omnichannel Capabilities
You’re probably already striving to reach your audience across all touchpoints — like email, social media, and your website — but did you know that some SMS marketing providers allow you to reach potential SMS contacts through various channels, not just text?
Features to look for in an SMS provider include omnichannel capabilities, like click-to-text, QR codes, SMS keywords, and sign-up forms.
Click-to-Text Generator
Garner instant engagement with EZ Texting’s simple yet powerful click-to-text generator. You can seamlessly capture web traffic by embedding a branded, customized click-to-text button on your mobile website. Website visitors simply click the button, which immediately opens their texting app and produces a prefilled message that they can send to the prefilled recipient field (aka your textable number) to subscribe to your SMS list.
Sign-Up Forms
In addition to capturing more SMS subscribers with a click-to-text generator, you should also be able to use customized sign-up forms. EZ Texting helps businesses maximize engagement and optimize channels by offering a sign-up form feature that can either be embeddable or shareable. Use them on your website, email blasts, or social media platforms to convert more customers.
QR Codes
Does your business have marketing collateral, signage, or a brick-and-mortar presence? If so, ensure you’re using QR codes to bridge the gap between in-person and digital experiences with your brand and boost customer list growth.
Keep researching if an SMS provider doesn’t offer this helpful tool for your text marketing efforts. EZ Texting, for example, makes it easy for businesses to generate dynamic QR codes and even update the QR code destination after it’s printed.
SMS Keywords
SMS keywords make it easy for people to sign up for your text list — and they expand your brand’s reach. Your chosen SMS marketing provider must offer this feature for a reasonable price. Use SMS keywords in paid online ads, out-of-home displays, in-store signage, on your website and social media posts, and more. These handy little tools enable higher engagement, personalization, and increased opt-ins.
#7
App Integrations
At this point, you might be thinking, “All of this sounds great, but how can I connect these SMS features to my CRM platform?” This is an important question that cannot be overlooked when choosing an SMS platform for business. A holistic view of all potential and current customer interactions is vital to nurturing your audience.
EZ Texting integrates hundreds of platforms, apps, and CRM systems. Instead of tracking siloed data across marketing platforms, combine it all in one place by integrating EZ Texting with your CRM.
#8
Ease of Use
Even if the best SMS provider has all of these tools and features, it might not be worth your time, effort, and expense if it's not easy to use. Text marketing platforms need to be intuitive and approachable to be effective and deliver results quickly. EZ Texting fits the bill.
The EZ Texting interface is designed with users of all skill levels in mind, with a central hub as a jumping-off point, helpful prompts, and step-by-step navigation for setting up campaigns. You can also leverage features like AI Compose and AI Reply, which use generative AI to help you craft compelling text messages that align with your brand voice. And if you need any help along the way, just access our help center or contact customer support for dedicated solutions.
Are you ready to discover why businesses choose EZ Texting for their SMS marketing needs? Sign up for a free trial today!
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