With what seems like millions of SMS providers to choose from, picking one that best fits your business can be a real headache. You need to think about how easy the platform is to use, like uploading and managing contacts, the price per SMS, and if there are any hidden costs in this. Also what products and features they offer and what you need, what kind of support you get, and so forth. The list goes on and on.
However, if you are only planning on sending your customers SMS messages automatically through an API, then your decision making becomes a little easier.
You don’t need to think about all the extra features in the online SMS platform along with the ease of use of it, all you need to think about is 3 things.
Does the provider offer direct connections, how easy is it to follow the API instructions, and of course, the price per SMS? 3 simple questions that won’t take you long at all to find out.
1. Do they use direct connections?
Number one on the list is to check if the provider is using Direct UK Connections. These are links with major providers like 02 and Vodafone. So when you send your customers a text message, your message goes through one of these providers and straight to the user’s handset within a matter of seconds.
What some providers are using is something called grey routes. These are not directly connected into the providers and will take numerous International hops before being sent to the user. Meaning a much slower delivery time, as well as your data being sent through other multiple systems and sometimes your messages getting lost.
2. How easy is it to follow the API documentation?
The best API in the world is pointless unless you can use it. That is why we have made our API instructions as easy and as simple as possible. But don’t just take our word for it, see what our customers have said about it.
“The Text Marketer API code integrated perfectly with our internal systems and has proven to be a worthwhile tool to contact our current and prospective customers. – Highly recommended.”
“As a new user, it was very easy to set up an account. I am using the php based SMS API and it is extremely easy to use.”
3. What is the price per SMS?
Since you are just integrating with an API there is no need to be spending 8, 10, 12 pence a text. You are doing most of the work integrating it into your system and you won’t need access to the online SMS platform to send these messages.
Meaning there is no need to pay overinflated prices, which is why at Text Marketer we have an extremely competitive and low price per SMS.
If you are interested in seeing how easy it is to use our API and send your customers automated messages, sign up for a free account and use our sandbox area for free to test with.