SMS has been a popular communication tool in the business industry and it still holds a significant value due to its effective reach and results. Whether you are looking forward to using transactional, promotional, or any other type of SMS message for your marketing campaigns, it is important to choose a provider carefully. There are several factors associated with the type of service offered by the SMS Gateway Platform Provider that will impact the success of your marketing campaigns.
This post is about all those factors that one should consider before selecting a bulk SMS Gateway Provider. Let us take a look:
Choose a Reliable Provider
As your primary objective is to send your business SMS campaigns successfully, it is crucial to choose a provider who has established a reliable image in the market. You can consider the level of uptime offered by the provider because that will give you an estimate of the security offered by the SMS Gateway Platform. Greater uptime means service remains available for more time which means you can use it whenever required. Many SMS Gateway Service Providers guarantee 99.99% uptime for their services.
Check the Rate of Delivery
There is no use in sending SMS messages to your customers and prospects if they don’t receive them on time or do not receive them at all. Delay in delivery is a critical factor that should be looked upon. An SMS Gateway provider with fine-tuned services can provide best-in-class delivery rates along with minimal latencies and failovers. Check whether the service provider complies with the telecommunication regulations or not. Also, look for advanced and real-time routing facilities as it helps in handling traffic during peak hours.
Ease of Use
No one wants to use a platform that is difficult to operate and use, especially when it is about sending bulk SMS as there will be several hundred or thousands of recipients viewing your message. The platform should be user-friendly with clear and concise navigation options to choose from. It should let the user send bulk SMS campaigns easily within a few minutes. You can go for a free demo to have a better understanding of this.
Check Scalability
You know that all businesses grow and shrink from time to time. Opting for an SMS Gateway platform that allows you to scale as per the need of your business would certainly be a wise move. Maybe you started by sending only a few hundred bulks SMSs, but with time, your requirements might grow by sending up to several thousands of messages in one go. So, check whether the platform will accommodate the needs of your business or not.
Round the Clock Customer Support
For the majority of the businesses, different SMS Marketing campaigns are run separately over different time clocks as per the target location. With this, the need to have 24/7 customer support is imperative as you might get stuck with a problem in the SMS Platform or might need an understanding of a particular feature. Not having support from the service provider can put you in trouble and you might have to hire or take help from a technical person. Many SMS Gateway Service providers offer free round-the-clock technical customer support.
Check the experience of the Provider
Accept it or not - Experience matters! An SMS Gateway service provider with strong industry experience is certainly a better choice than going for a new name in the market. To decide upon this metric, you can consider the number of years of establishment, the number of customers, and the type of clients. All these factors will help you learn more about the SMS Gateway provider.
Delivery Reports
Reports are an integral part of the success of any business marketing campaign. An SMS Gateway Platform can be of great value if it provides reports for SMS campaigns which may include delivery status and other details of sent messages. It gives you an overview of the message processing speed of the SMS Platform.
Multiple Language Support
Sticking to one language is simply not sufficient when you have clients and prospects from around the world. In order to break language barriers with your customers, you certainly need an SMS Gateway Platform that supports multiple languages. This will simplify the communication as you will be able to send messages in the preferred language of the customers/prospects.
Check Pricing
While all the above-mentioned factors are important, the pricing model of the SMS Gateway Provider is equally important. Check for any hidden charges so that you don’t have to face any shocking surprises later.
With all the information mentioned above, you have a quick and clear guide to choosing the best and most suitable SMS Gateway Provider for your business SMS campaigns. If you are planning to start your own bulk SMS business, then you can avail of hosted services from a reputed SMS Gateway provider by considering the above points.