Best SMS Marketing Software 2023 – Features and Pricing Comparison

Let’s dive into this article where we have ranked the Best SMS Marketing Software in 2023. We judged these softwares based on their overall ability to send SMS and pricing. For example, an ideal SMS marketing platform should be able to send and receive messages, send automated texts or Drip SMS, and Bulk SMS. But first, let’s learn why is it the high-time to invest in the SMS marketing strategy.

Is SMS Marketing Effective in 2023?

• Response Rate: According to a study, it has been found that people usually take approximately 90 seconds to respond to an SMS (Short Message Service) or text. Compared to emails respondents take nearly 90 minutes to respond, SMSs are a far better option.
• Open Rate: When your customers are on vacation or away from work, the one thing they still keep close to themselves is their phone. And SMSs are one of the few marketing channels that can get delivered even if there is no internet connection. You don’t even have to install any additional apps to check text messages. Due to these factors, the text message has the one of highest delivery rates and the best open rate i.e. 97%.
• Increased Engagement: COVID-19 has increased consumer screen time drastically in the past couple of years. On average, screen time is increased by 49% of consumers in the USA. Not just this, 67% of consumers said their texting time has also increased during the pandemic.
• Opt-in Rate: SimpleTexting conducted a survey in which 1300 consumers and marketers participated. As per this research, 62% of consumers have opted-in for the text from one business, and 48% of consumers have opted-in for the text from one to three businesses. Brands have also seen an increment of 52% in the opt-in rates from customers, on the other hand, only 10% faced decreased opt-in.
• CTR Click-through Rate: The businesses that currently have incorporated SMS marketing have been witnessing a click-through rate of 20% – 35%.

Best SMS Marketing Software in 2023

1. SuiteCRM SMS Campaign

SuiteCRM SMS Campaign is a package of three products-

• Live Chat (Click to SMS)
• Drip SMS
• Bulk SMS

The capability to send SMS is powered by Twilio SMS API which is one of the most reliable SMS and cloud communication platforms in the market. These aspects alone make it the best SMS Marketing software.

All these tools work on SuiteCRM (The most used Open-source CRM in the world) and because of that, you also get the features of a full-fledged CRM as well. It means you can create target lists, workflows, and separately manage contacts, leads, accounts, and whatnot.

Features and Benefits–

• Live Chat: This is the 2-way conversation that can be initiated by either agent or the customer. Here, you can send emojis in addition to text messages. You can use pre-built SMS templates in ongoing conversations and also engage in conversation with multiple customers at one time.
• Drip SMS: You can also send SMS messages to the right customer at the right time using the Drip SMS functionality. Here, you can create a series of SMS messages with pre-built templates and ready to go at a pre-defined time. Then just add a customer to the Drip sequence manually or based on status.
• Bulk SMS: Bulk SMS is sending the same message to a large group of customers. We did this by keeping all compliant guidelines under consideration.
• SMS Template: Here, you can use the drag-and-drop builder to create SMS templates. There is no limit to the number of templates that can be created.
• Audience Segmentation: In SuiteCRM, you get the target list audience that allows you to segment your target audience based on any criteria. Apart from that, you will get all other CRM features.
• Easy Opt-out: If a customer wants to Opt-out then they can simply send the STOP in the message and that phone number will get opted out.
• Send Unlimited Messages: There is no limit to the number of messages you can send. The cost of sending messages will fall under the Twilio SMS Pricing.
• Set up Multiple Sender Accounts: In this, you can set up as many agents account as you want. Each agent can have their own phone number and have separate user accounts in SuiteCRM.
• One-time Payment: This tool comes at a one-time cost and lifetime support. It means you don’t need to pay a hefty monthly subscription and per-user fee.

Pricing–

• Click to SMS (Live Chat): A one-time payment of $499
• Drip SMS (SMS Automation): A one-time payment of $599
• Bulk SMS: A one-time payment of $599

2. EZ Texting

EZ Texting is one of the most popular text and SMS marketing software. As per their website, the current user base of EZ Texting is more than 210,000. It is a cloud-based SMS marketing platform that any business can start using instantly. The most basic EZ Texting pricing plan is $20.

In addition to the ability to send various types of text messages, you also get other features like Reporting, Link shortening and tracking, SMS templates and media library, contact management, audience segmentation, etc.

This application is suitable for those businesses who are just looking for a simple application to send out SMS and MMS to their customers. You get the basic functionality, but it lacks the power of a full-fledged marketing automation platform. However, you get the integration capabilities with over 4,000 applications like Hubspot, Shopify, Magento, etc. Most of these integrations happen via Zapier for which you need to pay an additional amount.

Features–

• Contact Management: You can easily import a large number of contacts and then easily segment them based on different criteria. You can upload contact via CSV and xls files. 
• Group Texting: These groups or segments allow you to target a similar audience base with the same interests.
• 2-Way Texting: With two-way communication, customers can respond to messages you sent and engage in one-on-one conversations. 
• MMS Messages: You are not limited to plain-old text messaging, you can also send pictures, animated GIFs, contacts, and audio and video files.
• Text Forwarding: You can forward incoming messages to other phone numbers and email addresses. In this way, you won’t miss any message by any chance.
• SafeSTOP Opt-Out: SafeSTOP makes your marketing campaign compliant with regulatory authorities like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act).
• Drip Campaigns: You can create a series of automated messages (SMS and/or MMS) and send them out to the customers at a predefined time.

Pricing–

• Launch: The starting price is $20/month. In this, you get a 10-digit local phone number. You will be able to send up to 500 messages in a day for free and after that per message cost is $0.027. 
• Boost: The starting price is $60/month. In this, you get a 10-digit verified business phone number. You will be able to send up to 2,000 messages in a day for free and after that per message cost is $0.0225.
• Scale: The starting price is $100/month. In this, you get a 10-digit verified business phone number. You will be able to send up to 50,000 messages in a day for free and after that per message cost is $0.018.
• Enterprise: The starting price is $3000/month. In this, you get a 10-digit verified business phone number. You will be able to send up to 1 Million messages in a day for free and after that per message cost is $0.010.

Conclusion

For now, this concludes the list of the best SMS marketing software. We’ll add more tools after researching and trying ourselves out. If you have any questions regarding any of the mentioned products, leave a message and we’ll help you choose the right SMS marketing solution for your business. In the meantime, you can check the SMS vs Email Marketing comparison and find out which marketing channel will be more effective and economically viable for you.