What's the Best Text Messaging Software for Business in 2019?

Business text messaging software has come a long way in the last decade. Because of its effectiveness, text message marketing has boomed and there are a lot of new software providers on the market.

While some companies are simply looking for the absolute lowest cost software or are lured by slick packaging, smart businesses are on the hunt for the full package. Business text messaging is a mature marketing channel with lots of software providers. Therefore, companies should be picky about their software decisions because there is a wide range of options on the table.

We've been around for over 10 years, have served over 210,000 organizations and our customers have sent billions of texts. During that time, we've come to a solid understanding of what makes a text messaging software for business outstanding.

The best text messaging software will make your life easier and better by providing powerful tools and service at an exceptional value. Selecting the best software will help you deliver real results and make you look like a genius in the process.

We'll show you how to find the best option out of a crowded market.

How to Find the Best Text Messaging Software for Business in 2019

The best text messaging software will have a combination of an intuitive, simple interface, exceptional dedicated customer service, a full range of features, a track record of success, and come at a reasonable cost.

Make Sure It's Easy to Use

Business text messaging isn't complicated. You pick the right group of contacts, draft a short message, and send. You don't have to worry about optimizing the content to get past some mysterious algorithm filter like you do on Facebook or Google. You don't have to draft a catchy subject line to get people to open the message like you do with email. You won't be sitting at your desk for hours or days, writing and editing lengthy content like you do with blogging.

Text message marketing is simple, fast, and effective. Your software should be as well. The interface shouldn't be cluttered, the navigation should be intuitive, and the features should be easily accessible. The best text marketing software providers include default message templates for your industry, so you don't have to start writing from scratch.

Keep in mind that you probably won't be the only one on your team using the software. If it takes you a long time to get trained, it will take them a long time as well. The frustrations compound. Look for a platform that provides a "get started" tour and helps you get up-to-speed in minutes, not hours or days.

Consider Customer Service

No matter how good the software looks, you're going to need to contact support at some point. Prioritize a software provider that has a good reputation for customer service. The top bulk SMS platforms understand that their success is tied to yours, so they train their support team not only on their platform, but on the text marketing best practices which lead to quick success.

Find a service which is committed to going above and beyond to help their customers, provides quick responses, and is creative at developing solutions.

Look for a Robust Feature Set

There's a lot more to text message marketing than sending a one-off text blast. You can do a lot more with mass texts than you might think at first. You can use text messaging software to provide support chat functionality, conduct polls and surveys, and set up appointment reminders, and more. Look for a software that offers the following features.

• Easy Keyword Reservations
• Customizable Sign-up Forms
• Automated Reminders
• Text-to-Vote SMS Polls
• Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) functionality for attaching images and video
• Text-to-Landline
• Dedicated Short Codes
• Chat
• Link Shorterner
• Drip Campaigns
• Personalization Tokens
• Text Forwarding
• Message Templates

Examine User Reviews

If you're on an extremely tight budget, you might want to roll the dice with an unproven company to save a few bucks. But if you're looking for the best text messaging software for business, you want to choose a provider with a proven track record of success.

Look for a software provider that is recognized as the best in the mobile marketing industry. Take a few minutes to look through the testimonials and case studies on their website. Search for 3rd-party reviews on sites like G2 Crowd. As you look through these resources, look for reviews from companies like your own. Find reviews from organizations that are your size or are in your industry. Does the software provider deliver results for your type of company?

Weigh Value Against Cost

Some businesses make the mistake of simply comparing cost with features. They neglect to consider the more intangible attributes of the best text messaging software as we've listed here. That doesn't mean that cost isn't a consideration, of course.

Look for a platform that makes pricing simple and transparent and do the math. Look out for hidden fees. Some platforms charge more for MMS messages than SMS. You should see tiered pricing based on volume which accommodates smaller companies that want to grow into big companies through text marketing.

Kick the Tires

Once you get down to a list of three or fewer (that shouldn't be hard based on the criteria we've listed here), take the finalist(s) for a spin. You should be given enough free text credits to see how the platform works with a trial. Keep in mind that if the sign-up process is long or complicated, the software inside probably will be too.

We've worked hard over the last decade to make our platform easy-to-use, deliver exceptional customer service, and provide a powerful feature set, all at a great cost.

In our free trial, sign-up and setup take only a few minutes. You'll have sent yourself a test text message in much less time than it took you to read this post. Click below to get started.