In the ever-growing DTC landscape if you want to cut through the clutter and contact customers where they prefer engaging then SMS marketing is your best bet. Modern SMS marketing opens up a world of conversations previously thought unimaginable with a humble text message. And marketers investing in SMS marketing are reaping results, sometimes with open rates as high as 98%.
Some of the other key benefits of using SMS marketing are
- Higher click-through rates
- Affordability
- Easier attribution
- Lower cart abandonment rates
- Shipping notifications
- Promotional messages
- Ease of automation
Now that you already know the value that SMS marketing can add to your business, you must be eager to get started. (You can also read our blog Set Up and Start SMS Marketing in 5 Simple Steps)
Thankfully, SMS marketing for your Shopify business isn’t difficult to set up.
There are a number of apps out there that can get you up and running in a matter of seconds. However, choosing which app to use is the most difficult part, which is why we did it for you.
While conducting user research and interviews to launch Lifesight Engage, we spoke with hundreds of ecommerce marketers and DTC founders on Shopify to know which SMS marketing tools they preferred and why.
Based on popularity, these are the top thirteen. To avoid bias, we’ve arranged them alphabetically. We have analyzed how well they rank in terms of features and pricing and included the most popular reviews and ratings for all of them.
1) Attentive
With Attentive, your pop-ups and forms for SMS marketing just become more click-worthy, messaging can be tweaked at any point in time, and you can be assured of compliance built-in as well.
Top features:
1) Campaign analysis helps you monitor the effectiveness of your SMS campaign, and key trends and even tweak your messaging.
2) Two-Way Text Messaging allows customers to have conversations with your brand over SMS and MMS.
3) Text Scheduler allows you to send single or bulk messages to multiple users at a given time.
4) Unique discount codes can be generated for each customer.
5) Compliance checks are built-in to the platform and compliance teams are also present.
6) Provides integrations with several e-commerce platforms, mail service providers, customer service and shipping platforms, and data and loyalty platforms.
Pricing:
Offered after the demo is requested
Overall rating:
4.8 out of 5 stars as per 372 reviews
Popular review:
2) Automizely
In addition to extensive campaign analytics features, Automizely offers a library of pre-designed templates for your pop-ups that will give you an edge over the competition.
Top features:
1) Campaign analytics allows you to find conversions over a period, new subscribers, and the products that were added to the cart.
2) Automizely reviews allow you to import product reviews to the Shopify store in a matter of minutes.
3) A library of several pre-designed templates is present to choose from.
4) TCPA and GDPR compliance checks are built-in to Automizely SMS marketing.
5)Integrations are made possible with Shopify, Shopify Plus, Woocommerce
Pricing:
There is a free version that offers the basic features, and an Enterprise version that offers advanced features. The Enterprise version includes all the basic features and Enterprise SLA, Enterprise customer support, API uptime SLAs, a dedicated account manager, quarterly account reviews, custom integration, and multi-users (10 seats included). A request needs to be placed to obtain the price for the Enterprise version.
Overall rating:
4.9 out of 5 stars as per 269 reviews
Popular review:
3) Cartloop
Bring your customer a 1:1 shopping experience which is guaranteed to deliver a higher average order value and improve lifetime value with Cartloop.
Top features:
1) Gather real-time insights and customer feedback over the course of your SMS campaign
2) Offers support on dedicated phone numbers manned by human agents.
3) Two-way text messaging is possible in Cartloop so that customers can have uninterrupted conversations even on SMS.
4) Cartloop allows you to generate custom URLs and URL shortening is also possible.
5) TCPA compliance checks are built into the platform.
Integration is made possible with Klaviyo, Recharge, Gorgias, Zipify, Zendesk, Zapier, etc.
Pricing:
Comes in three packages:
- Sales at $100/mo
- Full Conversational at $500/mo
- Enterprise Custom (price available on request) – the only package with 24×7 support and white-glove service.
Overall rating:
4.8 out of 5 stars as per 100 reviews
Popular review:
4) Firepush
A cost-effective SMS marketing app that favors detailed reporting and allows you to add email marketing also at a later point in time.
Top features:
1) An intuitive dashboard that gives information on campaigns and the performance of automation.
2) Several easy-to-use SMS automation for customers who abandon carts have been dormant, etc.
3) Target customers based on several filters such as money spent and the number of orders
4) Integrations are made possible with tools like OptiMonk, PageFly, Wheelio, and GemPages.
5) GDPR compliance is built into the platform which helps build high-quality subscriber lists.
Pricing:
Firepush comes in three packages (Basic, Pro, and Enterprise) in increasing order of features, and the price of each depends on the number of contacts you wish to add, the number of SMSes sent, and the target country.
Overall rating:
5 out of 5 stars as per 5 reviews
Popular review:
5) Postscript
Great multi-stage automation with support for A/B testing resulting in better targeting is a great feature of Postscript. The added support for CTIA means that the messaging is appropriate.
Top features:
1) ‘Reply to skip’ and ‘reply to buy’ options give more power to the subscribers and help retain them.
2) Hyper-targeted segments of customers so that the promotions are well-timed.
3) Extensive campaign analysis with support for A/B testing which helps marketers strategize.
4) Several integrations with the help desk, email marketing, popup builder, review platforms, and so on.
5) Compliance with TCPA and CTIA allows the building of SMS lists that prevents pitfalls such as reassigned numbers and litigation.
Pricing:
Comes in four packages
- Free
- Growth ($100/month)
- Professional ($500/month)
- Enterprise (price available on request). There is an additional tariff for every SMS and MMS that is sent and a charge for the carrier too in every plan except Enterprise. In Enterprise, you only pay carrier charges additionally.
Overall rating:
4.9 out of 5 stars as per 142 reviews
Popular review:
6) Privy
A great app, Privy helps you stay on top of the SMS marketing game. With not just a great library of pop-up templates, but a wheel of fortune, engaging the customer becomes a simpler and more satisfying routine.
Top features:
1) Audience segmentation with customizable triggers for different scenarios in the purchase journey.
2) A library of pop-up templates that offer endless options for pop-up customization.
3) Gamification with the wheel of fortune being added to pop-ups and forms.
4) There is a dedicated support team for queries over live chat and email.
Pricing:
SMS marketing is available only in the highest $45 package which also includes conversion support and email.
Overall rating:
4.6 out of 5 stars as per 118 reviews
Popular review:
7) Recart
With unique features like a two-tap subscription and a set of well-categorized templates for major holidays, seasons, etc. Recart adds layers to SMS marketing which e-commerce companies would appreciate.
Top features:
1) Easy two-tap subscription feature that allows marketers to confirm the click to subscribe on the web page with a reply via SMS.
2) Two-way text messaging keeps conversations with customers alive.
3) A library of predesigned templates to choose from for greater personalization for every campaign on major holidays, international events, seasons, etc.
4) Automated SMS flows for several scenarios during the purchase journey.
5) Dedicated customer success team to answer every customer query with support for live onboarding and setting up workflows.
6) In addition to TCPA, CTIA compliance is also built-in which allows for a better messaging experience for the customers.
Pricing:
They offer a free 14-day trial with all included features. After that, you need to switch to a pro plan that starts at $29/month or a scale plan designed for brands with more than $1m annual revenue starting at $499/month.
Overall rating:
4.8 out of 5 stars as per 5504 reviews
Popular review:
8) SMSBump
SMSBump takes customer targeting and audience segmentation to a higher level with several SMS flows built into the app already.
Top features:
1) Narrow and robust segmentation based on several data points such as demographics and product preferences
2) Two-way text messaging that works in-app too.
3) Over 40+ SMS flows are available to choose from with conditions (such as ‘is a returning customer’) that can be added to triggers (such as ‘click to subscribe’) resulting in much more targeted campaigns.
4) Branded URLs with support for URL shortening
5) A library of several emojis to select from for the SMS marketing campaigns.
Pricing:
The plans are divided into two groups
- Quickstart Plans for new and growing brands (includes Free and Growth ($19/month))
- Flexible Plans for small to enterprise businesses (includes prime (59/month) and powerhouse (199/month). There is an additional tariff for each SMS that is sent, differing across plans, but no carrier charges.
Overall rating:
4.8 out of 5 stars as per 2678 reviews
Popular review:
9) SMSGo
Add a conversational bot to your regular SMS conversations so that it saves time for your agents and improves their productivity, while also gathering customer feedback.
Top features:
1) Two-way text messaging with support for MMS.
2) Customers can send not just queries but feedback also through SMS.
3) Additional COD verification for transactions that require it.
4) A conversational bot is available in the enterprise version for conversations on SMS.
5) SMSGo button integration on the company website for omnichannel communication.
6) TCPA compliance checks are built-in to the platform.
Pricing:
SMSGo comes in three packages.
- It starts with the Basic version, which is available for free.
- The Standard version is available for $29.99/month.
- The Enterprise version for $199.99/month.
Overall rating:
5 out of 5 stars as per 9 reviews
Popular review:
10) TxtCart
Plug and play solution that is a very friendly option for those migrating from another SMS marketing app and live onboarding support from the TxtCart team makes this a great option too.
Top features:
1) Campaign analytics with advanced dashboards (in Enterprise plan only)
2) On-time unique discount coupon codes that attract customers.
3) Integrate with ReConvert, Zipify, CartHook, and other Shopify apps
4) GDPR and TCPA compliance built-in for high-quality subscriber lists.
5) Fully managed support team with human agents and a dedicated account manager for each company.
Pricing:
Available in three packages
Starter – priced at $0/month and 15% of sales on TxtCart.(The SMS blast campaigns, Audience segmentation, and Insights are not available in the Starter pack).
Growth – $49/month and 7.5% of TxtCart sales
Pro – $299/month and 2.5% of TxtCart sales.
Overall rating:
5 out of 5 stars as per 3 reviews
Popular review:
11) Winback
A very clean and easy-to-use interface that makes it very user-friendly for beginner marketers is a plus point for Winback.
Top features:
1) View deliverability and CTR when you segment your audience.
2) Automated triggers for every scenario like upsell/cross-sell and back in stock.
3) On-time unique discount codes that attract customers.
4) Supplements pop-ups with the wheel of fortune to capture customers.
5) TCPA compliance built-in for generating subscriber lists using pop-ups, email links, etc.
6) Projected with a KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) interface.
Pricing:
Packages are available in four tiers: Free, Starter (at $19/month), Ramp ($59/month), and Growth ($199/month). The Growth tier supports up to 12,500 monthly SMS.
Overall rating:
4.3 out of 5 stars as per 84 reviews
Popular review:
Closing words
Each app lists its features in its own way. We picked it and used specific keywords for each feature, making it easier for you to arrive at a decision. Hope the list of features and the pricing, along with ratings and reviews for each SMS marketing app clarifies what you should be looking for in any app of this kind. Though not every app offers MMS features, some stand out for offering campaign analysis as well. Go with what you think you would want more from an app and also consider the pricing when you make a decision. Most apps also have a per SMS and MMS and added carrier charge apart from the regular price that you pay for a plan, which may cause you to look elsewhere. Yet we feel there’s more than enough here for you to reach a great decision. Good luck with your search!
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