Business dynamics across the globe is changing as we speak.
It is rapidly changing the conventional ways that used to dominate over the years. Hence, adapting to modern practices has become necessary to remain in the race.
Using an SMS API to send messages to your customers is one such technique that continues getting bigger.
What’s the reason behind this?
Nowadays, people are all-time busy that reaching out to them becomes difficult. But one thing that remains close to them always is mobile phones. And that’s the reason why sending SMS is still an effective way to notify users for various use cases like login, password change, transaction, order update, etc.
Don’t just go by the words; check out some interesting facts! Recent research showcases that about 5 billion people globally utilize SMS messages. And that’s 65% of the total population at present. This number is projected to reach 6 billion by 2025.
Started making sense, right?
SMS, being a powerful tool for engagement, allows businesses to send timely and concise messages to customers in an effort to help them with their products or services.
How do businesses leverage SMS?
- Marketing campaigns for targeting potential customers
- Reminders and alerts to notify customers
- Sales promotions as SMSs have high opening rates
- Discounts vouchers or coupons
- Virtual gifts
- Password confirmations to mitigate security issues
- Product verifications
- To facilitate order processing
- Product launches
- Customer support
- Conducting surveys to gather feedback from customers
- Check-ins and arrivals
- Tracking goods
Next, let’s know a bit about SMS API.
What’s an SMS API?
The software interface used to send a short message through programs is an SMS API. It utilizes a gateway that works as a “bridge” between the World Wide Web (WWW) and carrier networks, enabling the codes to pass through and reach the destination.
It helps you to:
- Send & receive SMS
- Review sent message status in real-time.
Benefits of using SMS API:
- Automates the processes involved to send and receive SMS messages. It reduces the requirement for manual management, thereby, cuts down costs associated.
- Increased efficiency, productivity, and faster workflow
- Tracking messages using delivery receipts
- Message tagging helps to match all responses corresponding to messages
- Faster, secure, and reliable delivery
- Effortless integration with different systems
- The clarity in reports and results
Choosing a decent provider for SMS API can be difficult at times. Certain aspects influence the quality of service. Hence, you must consider those aspects before making your commitment.
Time ⏱️
The overall process of getting an SMS API partner takes time. It includes hours of research and negotiations based on how many network operators are available in a country. Furthermore, integrating APIs also takes time in addition to testing and deployment.
As time is money which you can’t afford to waste, compare which service provider can provide you with quality service in a decent time-frame.
Features and Quality 💯
Features, API quality, functionality, as well as relation management count when it comes to having a beneficial and successful partnership. So, always check what they offer and compare to choose the right blend of all these ingredients.
Besides, your partner must be focused on the future as well for enhancing customer satisfaction and integration of new channels and tools such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, and more.
Compliance 👁️
Never overlook the compliance factor associated with the product. It includes the lawfulness, transparency, and the quality of the presented documents like privacy policy and service agreement.
In addition, check the physical security where they store and process data as well as the security measures practiced for systems like 2FA, limited access, encryption, etc.
Cost 💰
Finally, the cost is a big deciding factor, especially for small-scale businesses and startups. For that matter, check how much the overall service costs you with respect to what you are getting. If you find a correct balance, go for it.
Without further ado, let’s jump onto finding the best SMS APIs for your business!
Twilio
Keep exchanging messages globally using Twilio that millions of developers love. It lets you deploy notifications as well as reach your users reliably with intelligent routing, phone numbers from 32 countries, and redundancy. It lets you handle responses automatically and offers intuitive chatbots.
You can also set triggered alerts to notify your users. Offer personalized support through dialogue workflows, which can route easily to 2-way conversations. Create stronger customer relationships using the API and scale your conversations to extend support to groups on WhatsApp, SMS, and chat.
You can build AI-powered bots to help your customers. Customize opt-ins, opt-outs, keywords, and help messages. Twilio lets you code in your preferred language and perform tasks faster, leveraging helper libraries, debugging and monitoring tools, documentation, and a serverless environment for hosting your codes.
You get SMS features like:
- Alphanumeric sender IDs
- MMS-enabled phone numbers in Canada and the US
- Shortcodes in CA, UK, and the US
- Message queuing and expiration setting
- Scaler and sticky sender
- Smart content management through encoding, concatenation, etc.
Twilio offers multi-channel messaging via SMS, Slack, and Alexa. It authenticates users with a push notification or 1-time passcode. It validates real humans to prevent fraud and hides phone numbers to protect identity. Twilio is compliant with GDPR data protection, SOC-2 certification for 2FA, and ISO 27001.
Vonage
Create memorable customer journeys with the help of quality conversations using Vonage. It lets you book appointments, orders, confirm deliveries, etc. safely and seamlessly. Deliver timely alerts regarding pending appointments, keep your customers engaged, and send SMS at the right time.
Validate users through SMS or voice codes in their mobile phones. Re-route your messages proactively to ensure the best delivery. Reduce the likelihood of unpredictable SMS delivery by eliminating the complexity involved with regulations and global carriers.
The API comes with automatic Unicode translation along with short codes for simpler messages. It offers local numbers for 76 countries, persistent sender IDs, and high deliverability.
It enables two-way messaging, smart splitting, 10 DLC, and programmable phone numbers. Stay complaint as Vonage automatically queues bulk messages and reassembles long text messages seamlessly based on carrier specifications. They help you resolve issues quickly, provide sub-accounts for better organization of services and applications along with dashboard analytics to check the performance of your campaigns.
Textlocal
Over 1000 developers have found that integrating the SMS API of Textlocal with their apps, website, or CRM is effortless. It all starts by sending a message and a phone number to their gateway.
Textlocal supports different languages, including Java, PHP, C, .NET, Ruby, and Python. The status of their Platinum Partner Operator guarantees high-quality text service with a capability of 8,000 messages per second.
The SMS API personalizes the messages, schedules them, provides delivery receipts, and extracts results from surveys and mobile forms. You can return messages in the form of XML or JSON files for stress-free inclusion in an application or CRM.
You get clever features with this SMS API where you can create, delete, or manage contact groups. Form short URLs, create rules for responding to forward messages, retrieve reports, SMS/MMS balances, and many more.
Bandwidth
The powerful and easy-to-integrate SMS API – Bandwidth is both a network operator and a CPaaS provider. As a result, it offers better flexibility, control, and insights you are craving for. Send messages hassle-free on its tier-1 network to get accelerated deliverability, ROI, and deeper insights for your text alerts or surveys.
With Bandwidth, you are not dealing with a middleman as they own, as well as operate a robust network that is spread nationwide. Enjoy the endless flexibility of the SMS API and do not restrict yourself when it comes to group messaging or the number of characters. It also eliminates the need to encounter pin codes or bots.
Features:
- Supports MMS, pictures, gifs, and more
- Bi-directional emojis and codes
- The capability of 100 MPS
- Redundant network
- High-volume support
- Text alerts and notifications
- Integration of text messages into business emails
SimpleTexting
SimpleTexting is a one-stop solution for all your messaging needs, including marketing, CRM integrations, and employee communication. It is a REST API for text messaging that you can integrate easily with an SMS gateway through your applications. It reduces the need for you to build a complete messaging platform from scratch.
Simply plug into SimpleTexting and use it stress-free. The API is not only developer-friendly, but they also guarantee 99.95% uptime for it. You get customer support through three ways – phone, email, and chat. Get high throughput rates for bulk messaging and flexible plans, made for every business size.
Real-time analytics for quick data collection helps you measure your list growth, opt-in sources, and unsubscribes. You get dedicated numbers, check if your calls are getting accepted, handle unsubscribe requests, delivery reports, and easy-to-use web-hooks.
Plivo
Exchange text messages with your valuable customers globally through Plivo. You get great delivery rates even during high-scale messaging with the lowest latency. They have engineered Plivo to exhibit high availability and extreme reliability. Besides, you get GDPR compliance and Privacy Shield to protect your data and maintain privacy.
You can use local phone numbers to send SMS to any country worldwide and receive SMS from 14 countries. Customize your sender ID corresponding to your brand with alphanumeric characters, which is applicable in 100 countries apart from the US and Canada for outbound messages.
Plivo supports any type of character sets, longer message concatenation, message queuing, feedback API, sticky sender, number pooling, default purging, and more.
TeleSign
Foster effective communications with your customers throughout their journey using TeleSign. It provides timely and personalized data through SMS-based reminders, alerts, notifications, one-time-passcodes (OTP), invites, and more automated messages from applications or websites.
Get higher retention and conversion rates by providing a personalized experience to your customers that makes them feel valuable to trigger an emotional response. TeleSign is a developer-friendly API that is easy to integrate and test so you can start using the API quickly. They also help you with clear documentation, reporting, and developer tools to get a better idea.
Features:
- Employs the waterfall approach through multiple routes for better deliverability
- Supports long messages by separating texts of 160 characters depending on the operator requirements and device type.
- Formats end-users phone number properly
- Smart message splits to prevent breaking of important information like email addresses and URLs
- Shortens longer URLs into lesser characters that make an easy-to-send links
- Offers activity tracking to understand end-user behavior for conversions and click-through
- Complaint to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
- Reliable coverage in 87 countries worldwide
- Automated opt-out management
- Manage SMS campaigns via a dynamic dashboard and templates
Sinch
Make a wonderful business relationship with your customers by using the SMS API by Sinch. Connect on the channel having the highest open rates, reach, and read rates.
Their carrier network with over 250 direct connections enables every message to be delivered to when and where it matters. Add an extra layer of security through Verified SMS, post verification of which your organization’s profile is displayed along with name, logo, preview link, and description.
Utilizing its intelligent routing and local operator network, Sinch ensures faster delivery and reasonable pricing for all its services. It is easy to use for both developers and non-developers. Now, it offers an option to create custom integrations for 10os of third-party applications via the automated workflows of Zapier.
Choose either 1-way or 2-way SMS, whatever you feel is the need of the hour. Its 2-way communication is available in 60 countries without dealing with any local operator.
CM.com
Reach your audience located worldwide to improve their experience using SMS API by CM.com. Their SMS Gateway comes with detailed documentation.
Initiate your SMS marketing and include a landing page on your SMS to enhance the mobile experience of your customers. Move one step closer to serving your customers by sending them routine updates, notifications, and alerts when it matters the most.
Integrate their SMS Gateway through SMPP and HTTP to leverage over 60 direct carriers to deliver messages worldwide. CM.com’s API helps you generate one-time-passwords and deliver them through SMS while also enabling you to validate the response. They provide a clear and concise dashboard where you can see all the configurations as well as reports for analytics.
Conclusion
This modern-day world has introduced us to many incredible technologies and solutions for thriving our businesses. But SMS is still relevant and comes handy to notify your users regarding many things like transactions, new arrivals, password change, and a lot more.
Thus, go for the best SMS API and continue sending messages that add values in the lives of your customers.
