Questions to ask yourself when selecting SMS Provider
SMS messages are not only used for personal correspondence, but also for business purposes. In order for a company to communicate with its customers, it is necessary to choose a service provider that meets the requirements of the organization.
The scope of business does not matter. The company can provide insurance services, engage in online sales of various products. The Bulk SMS system will be a great way to notify users about updates, news, or new product arrivals.
Before starting cooperation with a provider, there are a number of factors worth paying attention to notification delivery speed, integration with other platforms, experience, and scalability. Each of the parameters has an important influence on the effectiveness of the chosen marketing strategy.
Figure out the real price of a service
No less important factor in choosing International SMS service providers is the price of its services. SMS mailings should be the cheapest – it is an easy way to deliver valuable information to the customer. That is why many service providers offer a wholesale price for companies that need to send notifications to a large number of customers.
Mass mailings will help to attract the target audience because it takes no more than 2 minutes to read an SMS sent to the phone. The high prices of these services motivate companies to switch to a budget provider that can fulfill the requirements.
Some providers inflate the cost, basing it on the high security of mailings. Do not forget to study the price lists of different companies in order to choose the best pricing policy and not to exceed the budget allocated for marketing.
Understand deliverability metrics
Delivery metrics are important because they affect the effectiveness of mailings and increase conversions on your site. If the target audience doesn’t respond to SMS, it means they’re not interested in the service or they simply didn’t receive the notification. That’s why the provider should send you regular statistics, which should include the following parameters:
- time spent on delivery;
- number of delivered messages;
- number of SMS that didn’t reach the subscriber due to inactivity.
If the provider doesn’t fulfill the requirements, and your customers don’t receive the long-awaited mailing, it means that the money you’ve paid for isn’t going to the right place. SMS messages are delivered instantly after they are sent, in some cases up to several hours. The longer it takes for the notification to arrive, the less effective the platform is.
Explore the interface
Many providers ignore the usability of their own platform. During operation, questions and difficulty navigating can arise. If text message sender differs from others in ease of setting up and speed of functions, the provider has done a good job. All you need to do is to provide your contact base and mailing text, and after a while, you will be able to observe the growth of conversion rates and company revenues.
Define integration process
The TOP SMS service provider offers easy API integration. The interfaces include tools and a set of protocols, so multiple systems can communicate with each other without any problems. You will be able to use the functionality and get up-to-date information about the provider.
It doesn’t matter what platform you’re running on. Even if it is open source, the integration will go through in the shortest possible time. Moving your own company to a different CRM system will be much more difficult than using the available interfaces to continue to work.
