You don't need to break the bank when you send text messages to customers. Find out how affordable SMS marketing can be.
I’ve got bad news and good news for you. The bad news: you can’t perform “cheap” or free SMS marketing if you want to do it right. But the good news is that affordable SMS marketing is possible if you use your resources smartly.
When you’re working with a small business budget, you want to save where you can. This is especially true in the nonprofit sector. Even though the core part of SMS marketing – sending messages – costs money, you can minimize costs to get more out of your marketing funds.
In the end, affordable SMS marketing isn’t really about what you pay, it’s about how you use it to reach your customers and contacts to achieve a good return on investment (ROI).
Read on to learn about the return on investment of text message marketing and how to get the most bang for your buck.
While text message marketing requires a bit of an investment, businesses that use SMS for customer communication find it’s worth it. Consider these two factors:
SMS marketing costs are about on par with channels like email and cheaper than more extensive options like content marketing.
Let’s look at the price of texting first. SMS marketing messages cost a fraction of a cent each – between $0.01 and $0.05 per text – and services often bundle those messages into credit packages. For example, SimpleTexting charges $29 per month (plus a carrier charge of $10) for 500 credits and all features.
The cost of other channels varies depending on their complexity. Email has similar costs – take Sinch Mailjet as an example. This email service provider (ESP) offers a limited free plan. Then you can unlock more features as you grow. A premium Mailjet plan is $27/month.
According to Siege Media, outsourcing content marketing campaigns can cost $6,000 or more a month. That’s their estimate on the low-end. Many small business owners feel they lack the time to create their own content, but hiring an agency may not be in your budget.
It’s become much harder to reach people on social media in recent years as the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn changed their algorithms to keep users on their platforms instead of visiting your website. So, in what feels like a bait-and-switch, brands and small businesses must pay to reach people on social media.
How much are business paying? Quite a bit. According to research from WebFX, more than half of businesses (52%) pay between $100 and $5,000 per month on social media management. That’s on top of paying for social media advertisements, which around half of businesses pay between $1,000 annually to as much as $25,000 per year. The truth is, big brands are spending a whole lot more than that on social media promotion.
You want to make more money from any money you invest in marketing, including SMS marketing. Fortunately, text messaging has a great ROI (return on investment) for many businesses.
Take it from businesses themselves. In our 2024 SMS marketing study, 81% of businesses agreed that text message marketing was a useful option for driving revenue. On top of that, 40% of businesses reported that SMS marketing contributed to 11% to 20% of their revenue.
Plus, some returns from investing in affordable SMS marketing come in the form of savings and operational efficiency. For example, Vogel Heating cut 50% of its phone calls by communicating with customers over text messages.
You can get even more out of your text message marketing by choosing an affordable SMS marketing tool that fits your needs. Follow these tips as you look for the right software:
With so many services out there to choose from, it can be hard to know where to get started. Here are a few lower-cost choices that appear in lists like our best services for small businesses:
With most affordable SMS marketing platforms that have monthly allotments, you are able to exceed the limit and switch to a pay-as-you-go model for the remainder of the month.
Once you find an SMS marketing solution that fits your budget, you can also adjust your texting habits to save money. Here are seven strategies to make your text message marketing more affordable:
Did you know that different types of messages have different costs? Text messaging services usually charge more for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages than Short Message Service (SMS) messages.
Here’s how SimpleTexting charges each type of message, for example:
The higher cost of MMS doesn’t necessarily mean you should only text with SMS, though. Since SMS supports up to 160 characters and MMS supports up to 1600, it depends on how much you have to say. MMS could actually save you money on campaigns longer than 480 characters (that’s three SMS messages).
Sometimes, you’ll find your message getting just too long to count as a single SMS. If you find your text going over the 160-character limit, you can save credits by shortening it with AI.
SimpleTexting makes this process easy with the AI Message Rephraser feature of our AI Assist. Click the lightbulb icon when you draft a message in the Inbox and choose Short and sweet to shorten it.
Here’s a before and after example:
Before:
After:
The rephraser also has Expand, Friendly, and Formal options for you to lengthen your message, make it sound more friendly, or make it sound more formal. These choices can save you time on editing, which also saves you money in the long run.
You may have a text list you need to advertise to get more people to join, such as a deals and promotions list. But this advertising can cost money if you don’t have graphic design skills.
We made six sets of free Canva templates to help you save on these costs. They all include the necessary disclaimers under TCPA regulations to help to stay compliant, too. Dig into them here and customize them to fit your business.
If you haven’t used Canva before, it’s free to use most of its features. It’s perfect for marketing teams trying to reduce costs.
While SMS marketing services – the tools you use to send texts – generally aren’t free, there are plenty of free tools out there to support your texting. We offer a variety of free text marketing tools, including:
You can also get thrifty with your apps and look for free tools to organize your marketing. Some marketing tools also have surprisingly generous free plans – ask other folks in your industry for their picks. In some cases, you can use a spreadsheet instead of investing in a new app, too.
At SimpleTexting, we always encourage SMS marketers to comply with text messaging laws because it’s the right thing to do. But as a bonus, it also saves you money that you’d waste on:
Texting compliance is fairly simple, too – it just takes a little attention to detail. The process involves steps like:
You can learn more about following texting laws from our compliance guide. This isn’t legal advice, though – talk to a lawyer if you need advice specific to your business.
Findings from Sinch’s report The art and heart of customer communications reveal that U.S. consumers typically choose either SMS or email as they’re preferred channel for hearing from brands. Your customers want you to reach them via text messaging. So, the real question might be can you afford not to use affordable SMS marketing?
Think about it this way…. One SMS messages will cost you just a fraction of a penny. But that message might win you a customer’s loyalty for a lifetime. It could save you from losing their business. Using SMS connects you with your customers in a way that’s not just effective and reliable, it’s also personal and conversational.
As you look for an affordable SMS marketing service, give SimpleTexting a try. We outline all of our costs on our pricing page so you can make an informed decision.
Best of all, we offer a free 14-day trial – with no credit card required – for you to take all of the features for a spin. Give it a shot today.
Melissa writes thoughtful content about marketing and productivity for B2B SaaS companies like CoSchedule, Zapier, and Databox. She has six years of professional writing experience. Outside of the content marketing world, she sometimes writes about video games.
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