According to statistics, 7.26 billion people worldwide own a smartphone or mobile device, and over 6 billion text messages are sent daily. People worldwide also prefer using their smartphones to desktop computers when browsing the internet, because it's more convenient and offers personalization.

This status quo should prompt you to invest in mass text messaging pronto. As long as appropriately planned and executed consistently, improving your SMS marketing by sending mass text messages can become your key to standing out from the competition and attaining long-term success in today's highly competitive business landscape.

What is Mass Texting?

Mass texting is the process of sending a Short Message Service (or SMS message) to thousands of recipients simultaneously. Mass texting is usually done with the help of a bulk SMS service provider. Some of the most common industries that send mass text messages are restaurants, churches, service companies, political parties, and even employers. These businesses use mass text messaging to inform their contacts about relevant and personalized information that may provide value to their day-to-day lives. For instance, sports teams send a mass text message to their audience to give score and game-day traffic updates.

Sending mass text messages is a straightforward process. In fact, by investing in a mass text messaging service, the process will only require you to log in to a platform, select a group or contact that you want to send messages to, compose a message, and set a schedule on when you want the SMS messages to be sent.

Compared to other marketing channels, bulk text messaging offers better open rates. A recent study shows that an SMS campaign has an average open rate of 98%, while emails only have about 20%. The same study also mentioned that mass texting campaigns have better response rates than email marketing campaigns.

The higher open rate of text messages can be attributed to the fact that text messages offer a more direct route to customers, as they're notified immediately once the message is received. Text messages also have better chances of being seen immediately compared to emails. On average, a text message is opened within 90 seconds of delivery, while emails are opened after 90 minutes of delivery.

Advantages of Using a Mass Texting Service for your Business

Incorporating text message marketing by investing in a mass text messaging service is a smart investment, because it offers countless benefits. Yes, taking this route will require you to spend money, but utilizing mass SMS for your business will be worth it in the long run.

Still not convinced? Here are the advantages of using a mass texting service for your business:

High Open Rates

As mentioned previously, the open rate of SMS messages is higher than emails. And while not everyone who opens and reads your text message will respond to your offer, it still allows you to educate target audiences about the presence of your business and your products and services. Awareness is the first step in the marketing funnel, meaning you have better chances of converting individuals into customers if they know more about your business.

Customizable Campaigns

Customization is crucial in marketing, especially when you're trying to retain existing customers. These individuals patronized your products and services in the past, and they're expecting that you know at least one detail about them. How can you foster customer loyalty if you treat your patrons as first-time buyers?

Using a mass texting service enables you to reach different target audiences and even create sub-groups from a large number of individuals. By segmenting your target audience, you can easily personalize messages based on their needs, wants, lifestyles, and other factors. This will make it easy for you to send different text messages to prospects and existing customers.

Offering a customized campaign is crucial to your business's success, because, as a study showed, personalization directly influences the buying behavior of customers. According to the study, 76% of individuals are likely to purchase from brands that personalize, and 78% of customers are more likely to refer friends and family to brands that personalize.

Enhanced Communication

Customer engagement is crucial in the industry, but not all businesses can successfully achieve this goal. For many, it ends up being a hit or miss. This usually happens when businesses choose the wrong promotional channels or keywords, invest in marketing services that don't sit well with their target audiences, or use a marketing channel that doesn't create or leave much impact.

As mentioned, mass texting campaigns enable you to personalize messages that pique the interest of your prospects and existing customers. Over time, this allows you to enhance communication with your target audiences because you'll be able to offer something they want or will add value to their lives.

Mass text messaging also gives your recipients the ability to reply using a keyword provided in your previous text message. This allows them to get more information within seconds, encouraging customer engagement and loyalty.

Higher Conversion Rates

The average response rate of email is 10%, while mass text messages are an impressive 45% and up. On average, people respond to text messages within 90 seconds of receiving them but 90 minutes for emails. Regardless of the goal you want to achieve with your marketing campaign - whether educating target audiences about your business's existence or upcoming promotions - you'll receive a higher response rate when the message is sent through a mass texting service.

Little to Zero Barriers to Delivery

Several factors can affect the delivery of emails to recipients. You have to consider the stability of your internet connection, as well as the recipient’s, and ensure that your email doesn't end up in the their spam or junk folder. This is never the case when you send mass text messages. As long as you get the correct number for your recipients, you can be sure that the text message will end up in their inboxes.

Requires Minimal Effort From Recipients

SMS messages have a 160-character limit, meaning you can't send long messages to your recipients. This will force you to create and deliver short, concise, and easy-to-read messages. Text messages that possess these qualities make it easier for your recipients to get the gist of your SMS marketing campaign than if they have to spend a few minutes reading a lengthy email.

Many text message providers even offer different features to encourage recipients to respond. The easier your text messages are to read, the more likely the recipients will act upon your message. This warrants better conversion rates and better branding!

Cost-Effective

One of the most significant advantages of using a mass texting service provider for your business is its cost-effectivity. Unlike other marketing services, such as radio, print, or TV, mass text messages are cheaper but offer a better return on investment (or ROI).

By using a texting platform to market your business and offerings, recipients have the choice to opt-in or opt-out of your SMS marketing campaign. Contrary to popular belief, this option isn't a disadvantage to your business - it actually gives you the target individuals who are actually interested in your business. This prevents you from wasting resources on cold leads.

Trackable

It'll be challenging to improve your marketing campaign if you don't know what works and what doesn't. How can you determine which elements of your marketing campaign you should continue using if you're not equipped with this information? Do you think you can properly allocate your marketing budget if this is the case?

Mass text messaging is easily trackable as providers regularly issue detailed reporting, which can help determine the success of your SMS marketing campaign. The information you can get from these reports will enable you to create a better, more effective text message marketing campaign in the future.

Mass Texting Features

Now that you know the benefits of harnessing the power of mass text messages into your existing marketing campaign, it's time to discuss some of its most noteworthy features. This information will help you understand how bulk texting works and how it can improve your overall marketing campaign.

Scheduled Texts

It's common for entrepreneurs to treat their business as their baby, but regardless of how much you try, there will be instances when you'll be unavailable to send a mass text. For example, reminding your target audience about a promotion on Thanksgiving Day might be challenging if you have to celebrate the holiday with your friends and family.

Being able to schedule messages is just one of the many features of mass texting. With this feature, you can schedule a message ahead of time and send it even when you're not available. This means you can offer promotions and communicate with your target audience regardless of whether it's a weekend or holiday.

Using a texting platform even allows you to send a mass text at the same time every week or every year. Does your business consistently offer a 15% for moms on Mother's Day? Use mass texting to inform your target audience about it annually.

Advanced Reminders

For businesses offering services, no-shows can deprive them of the chance to interact with customers. The time you spent waiting on a customer (who ends up not showing up to their appointment) is a valuable resource your business could have used in receiving customers and building relationships among new audiences.

One of the best features of a mass texting service is being able to send advanced reminders to consumers. This will help reduce no-shows and help your business make the most out of your resources. With this feature, you can remind your customers about their upcoming schedules and ensure they won't forget to visit your store.

Personalized Texts

You won't be able to make a lasting impression or build relationships with your customers if you send the same message to all of them. How would your loyal customers feel if they received messages as if they hadn't bought any products from you? Do you think you can gain more customers if your message doesn't even suit their demographics or pain points?

With mass texting, you can create and send personalized texts to various recipients simultaneously. This enables your business to evoke customers' emotions and encourage them to patronize your brand. The more personalized your texts are, the better your chances of building professional relationships with your prospects and loyal customers.

Synced Texts Across Different Devices

Different people use different types of devices today - while some use Android phones, others are happier with Apple devices. By using mass text messaging, you can cater to audiences regardless of the device they use. Mass texting enables you to send synced messages across different devices, which means that you don't have to create one for every device.

Multimedia for Optimal Engagement

Who says mass texting is only about sending texts? There are now providers that allow you to send multimedia to your recipients. With this feature, you can make your messages more engaging while better explaining complex ideas.

Group Texts vs. Mass Texts

Group texting involves at least three recipients. One thing that differentiates group text messages from mass text is that you don't need to pay for any services or apps to send a group message, as most mobile devices already have this functionality.

However, group texting has a limit regarding the number of recipients you can send your message to. Depending on the model of the smartphone used and the carrier's terms, group texts only allow you to send messages to no more than 30 recipients. Older smartphones only offer to send messages to ten recipients simultaneously.

As the name suggests, mass texts are used to text a large number of individuals at the same time. This process will require specific messaging apps and mass texting services. In general, there's no limit on the number of messages you use with a bulk SMS service provider. Sending bulk text messages is essential when sending appointment reminders and business texting.

As discussed above, group texting is only beneficial when sending a text message to a limited number of individuals. Given the technical limitations of most smartphones, carriers, and operating systems, it's challenging to effectively communicate to thousands of individuals through group texts.

If you want to reach more audiences simultaneously, sending mass text messages is the best way to go. Picking this option also provides convenience as you can invest in a service provider that'll do all the leg work on behalf of your business. This allows you to focus on other areas of your marketing campaign without compromising the quality of your bulk texts.

How Much Does a Mass Texting Service Cost?

Mass texting services are usually priced as a monthly subscription and cost $25 to $30 per 500 SMS messages. However, remember that not all mass texting services follow the same pricing models. While some service providers only charge clients per month, others require a platform fee and per-message fee, in addition to the monthly subscription fee.

When choosing a mass texting service, it's crucial to evaluate the cost base on the valuing factors:

Per-Message Rate

Mass messaging providers usually charge based on the number of messages you want to send every month or year. In general, the more SMS messages you want to send in a given time frame, the cheaper the services are.

Availability of Unlimited Text Messaging Plan

If the provider you're considering offers an unlimited text messaging plan, inquire if there's a limit on the contact groups you can have. Unlimited text messaging plans aren't always the best, because some providers don't allow you to send text messages to your entire contact list.

Platform Fee

Ask the provider if they charge any platform fee to their customers. Some providers will charge customers platform fees on top of their monthly subscription, while others charge their customers based on the number of text messages you'll send.

Level of Service

The cost is essential when choosing a mass texting service, but it should never be your sole consideration. Selecting a cheap provider that doesn't offer high-quality customer service will only hurt your business in many ways.

Aside from the cost, assess the quality of the provider's customer service. They should be available 24/7, especially if you need to send emergency alerts. Determining the platform's ease of use is also helpful. A texting platform that requires weeks or months to master will prevent you from earning any ROI from your investment.

Upgrade, Downgrade, or Cancel

You can never predict what will happen next to your business, so it's crucial to choose a provider with no hidden fees or contracts. Look for text message providers that allow you to upgrade, download, or cancel services anytime.

With these options, you'll be able to support your business's demands as it grows and avoid paying for a provider that no longer benefits your business.

Is it Safe to Use Mass Texting Services?

The text messages you send for marketing purposes should abide by the rules and regulations set by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (or TCPA). There have been plenty of litigations and even class-action lawsuits caused by text messaging, which is why it's crucial to understand the risks involved when using SMS marketing and paying for a mass texting messaging service.

This section will discuss three common risks associated with mass texting services and how you can minimize your exposure to each.

Risk #1: Not Offering Enough Opt-In Mechanisms To Audiences

According to the TCPA, all businesses using a mass text messaging service should obtain consent for automated communications. Some of the best practices are: requiring recipients to consent by opting in to receive text messages from the company and using a "double opt-in" once the recipient agrees to receive text messages.

Risk #2: Misunderstanding the Emergency Exception

For emergency purposes, the TCPA provides an exception for consent requirements for an entity to communicate with a recipient. According to the TCPA, emergency purposes are situations that affect the health and safety of the consumers.

Risk #3: Giving Unclear or Mixed Signals About Program Costs

The Federal Communications Commission (or FCC) requires the recipient's "clear and conspicuous disclosure" as part of their prior written consent, and businesses will face risks if their disclosures lack clear language. For instance, if you're going to inform your audience about an upcoming contest with discounts as prizes, your SMS messages should tell them if they have to pay anything to join.

Takeaway Points

Mass text messaging is a wise investment for any business. With it, your marketing campaign will have better open and conversion rates, and you'll be able to create personalized strategies that will appeal to your target audience. Mass text messaging is also cost-effective, and ideal for businesses that are still small or new in the industry.

But since mass texting campaigns also come with several risks, finding the best text message provider is crucial. The provider you choose can significantly affect the success of your campaign, as well as the brand your business makes in the eyes of the public - pick carefully.

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