Today, more than ever, narrating your brand story to your audience is crucial. And thanks to technological advancements, businesses have started to adopt well-planned strategies to boost their marketing efforts – particularly with text. But finding the right SMS Service provider is not always easy.

That is especially important, knowing that millions of companies maintain a competitive edge thanks to SMS Marketing.

Gone are the days when text messaging was only used for general communication. Today, businesses can send personalized and feature-rich messages to their customers. 

So if you are willing to incorporate SMS marketing services in your strategy, read on to find out how to choose the best provider.

Check out:

A Complete Guide on Writing Effective Promotional SMS 

Top 10 Bulk SMS Service Providers in the Market

Factors to consider when shopping for a reliable SMS service provider

Choosing the best SMS provider needs a lot more than just a simple price comparison. 

The success of your SMS campaigns depends on factors such as:

• Delivery time
• Delivery rate
• Uptime
• Scalability
• Security
• Support
• Compliance

However tempting it may be to select the least-priced SMS service provider, that decision might end up being a lot more expensive than you think (especially when hidden costs are involved). 

So the key thing to remember is that selecting the right SMS service provider isn’t a gamble. And it shouldn’t be. 

You do not exist only to become a statistic on someone else’s sales target. You need to ensure you get precisely what you are looking for and what you deserve.

So, here are the factors to consider when selecting the bulk SMS company that will assure maximum returns for your business.

Consider the following:

• Comprehensive SMS Services
• Authentic Reports
• Message Delivery Rate
• CRM Integration
• Voice Bulk SMS feature
• 24/7 Customer Support
• Personalizes SMS Campaigns 
• Message Bounce Rate
• Scalability
• User-friendliness
• Transparent Pricing
• Multi-language SMS
• Pay-as-you-go model
• Global Service

Let’s explore them one by one

Comprehensive SMS Services

When shopping for different things, would you choose to pick up items from various places or prefer a store with everything you need? 

No one wants to invite unnecessary hassle into their lives, so we suppose you’d prefer the latter. 

The same principle applies when you are looking for Bulk SMS providers. 

Having a single provider that can offer comprehensive services and offer an SMS platform efficient in handling various types of SMSes is excellent. Whether you are focusing on bulk SMS service, promotional SMS, or transactional SMS, getting everything on a common platform will make things easier for you and your business. 

And with that, you’ll be able to create strategies for marketing campaigns more efficiently in order to reach a wider audience.

SMS Marketing Trends

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Authentic Reports

Getting real-time SMS reports helps you to track the delivery status of every message sent. 

When you send messages in bulk, there’s a high possibility of discovering unserviceable, portable, or even dead numbers. In such a case, real-time reports give you instantaneous and user-friendly insights regarding SMS delivery. 

They can help you to validate the database and know if your campaign has achieved its targeted goal. 

You can retrieve such reports directly from operators who are genuine and certified via various audit teams. 

Note: You should be careful of fraudulent bulk SMS agencies that generate fake reports to compensate for their low-result bulk SMS plans.  

Message Delivery Rate

Did you know that customer data erodes at the rate of 22% every year? Well, now you do. And that’s why you need the right SMS service provider by your side.

Such a provider will help you maintain a database that’s up-to-date and accurate. 

When working on a bulk SMS campaign, every message should count. 

So while searching for a provider, please note that not all of them are created equal.

And successful SMS delivery should be non-negotiable.

You need to choose a provider with direct relationships with established local and global aggregators and networks to ensure that you execute your bulk SMSes successfully and with minimal delays in such a case.

CRM Integration

The best bulk SMS service providers offer a range of CRMs that you can easily integrate into any platform. 

That helps eliminate a lot of headaches regarding multiple applications and infrastructure. In addition, it makes SMS services via your website, mobile app, or CRM, smooth & uncomplicated.

The integration should also be straightforward, and it should guide you via documentation, support or both. 

Voice SMS feature

Voice SMS helps you to send SMSes with the help of your pre-recorded voice. With it, you can reach a significantly wider audience and consequently increase the demand and revenue from your consumers.

It’s worth noting that only a few service providers (those with a lot of experience) in the industry will provide this voice SMS feature.

 24/7 Customer Support

A good SMS service provider will always invest in a good customer support team. 

So in your search, choose a provider that offers round-the-clock customer support and guides you in driving your campaigns throughout a specific period. 

Some technical glitches might mean your SMSes won’t reach the customer. And the reasons for this may vary.

But delivery and speed must and should play a crucial role in boosting your click-through and conversion rates. So be sure to look for a platform where messages don’t take more than 5 seconds to reach your customers. 

In addition to this, the SMS service provider should give you the kind of access that allows you to monitor your messages and analytics throughout the campaign. 

It would also be amazing if the SMS platform includes a proactive system that allows the SMS provider to manage the SMS queues effectively. 

Personalised SMS Campaigns

Look for an SMS agency that enables you to create powerful and customized SMS campaigns. 

Choose one that allows you to personalize millions of texts with:

• Merge fields
• Regional texts/Localisation
• The Attachment of files/images
• Scheduling pushes

The personalization of media-rich SMS campaigns is essential and effective as customers can quickly get bored with plain text messages. Come up with creative campaigns that save your time as well as your resources. 

Bounce Rate

Sending over text messages is effective when the speed is good, and the delivery is successful. Depending on the number of SMSes you have to send, certain services take anything from a couple of minutes to several hours.

During this time, there is a possibility that some messages may bounce. If this happens, it would not be a good sign. It would clearly show that you are getting the type of service that’s likely to waste your money. 

Scalability

Always be clear about how many messages a provider’s SMS gateway can process in a minute. 

That is because there are chances that some might not have the technology to scale. 

Sometimes you have to send time-critical promotion or sale messages. In such a situation, not getting the scalability necessary can lead to a disaster. 

Your audience should receive a message at the right time for you to maximize every opportunity possible.

User-friendliness

Did you know that the most overlooked factor to consider when looking for a bulk text messaging provider is user-friendliness? 

When shopping for an SMS service provider, ensure to check for an accessible and easy-to-use platform that will fulfil all your SMS requirements.

Transparent Pricing

Honest pricing with zero hidden charges must be the motto of the service provider of your choice. 

Watch out for providers who prefer to lure customers with cheap SMS pricing. They’ll most likely top up hidden charges in the form of the following:

• API fee
• Platform subscription fee
• Higher pricing for transactional SMS
• Transactional account fees
• Sender ID fees and more

Multi-language SMS

No matter what SMS platform you are using, it should support multi-language SMSes. 


Such a feature would help break language and regional barriers.

Pay-as-you-go model

Rely on a provider that will charge you as per the services that you use.

That will help in reducing costs and encourage scaling as per requirement.

So, ideally, a pay-as-you-go model should be your target. But remember to check for hidden costs and API limitations as they may add to your total cost directly or indirectly.

Global Service

International delivery to a range of networks is also critical.

Your SMS service provider of choice should not have a local service limit. Your business should not be necessarily bound to your national borders, so why should your customers or SMSes be so?

Ready to Choose Your SMS Service Provider?

In conclusion, selecting the best SMS service provider doesn’t have to be a daunting task, especially in this day and age when SMS is only bound to grow. 

We understand that what we’ve listed above is certainly a long list. Still, it will be well worth it, and following it will ensure you select a reliable provider with vast experience, excellent service, and global reach.

With SMSCountry, you can get started with bulk SMS and SMS APIs, which could improve how you deliver your customer experiences. Find out more here or grab yourself an expert introduction & consultation by emailing us at hello@telebu.com.