Virtual phone numbers to send and receive SMS online for business
Get your business a virtual phone number to send and receive SMS and text messages online for U.S. and Canadian phone numbers. Text from our website-based service or mobile apps.
- Choose a dedicated short code, 10-digit long code, or toll-free number as your online phone number.
- Forward calls from your online SMS number to a phone.
- Send text blasts and receive SMS from individuals for one-on-one conversations.
THOUSANDS OF NORTH AMERICAN BUSINESSES USE OUR SMS PHONE NUMBERS
What are virtual phone numbers?
Given that one-third of consumers prefer to contact a business via text message over any other communication channel, having a text-enabled virtual phone number is a big part of meeting customer expectations.
Like a real phone number, your online virtual phone number is unique to your business. You can use your business’s existing phone number or get a new phone number to text online. If you choose a new virtual phone number, you can set up call forwarding to direct calls to a physical phone, too.
Your virtual phone number allows you to send bulk SMS, receive SMS online, and respond to individuals.
With a business text messaging platform like SimpleTexting, you can start texting from your virtual phone number to numbers in the U.S., Canada, and some mobile carriers in the Caribbean.
How do virtual phone numbers work?
1. Choose your number
You can text-enable a current phone number, choose a new toll-free number, register a new 10-digit number with an area code local to your business, or apply to provision a dedicated short code.- Text-enable an existing number to send and receive SMS
- Provision an easy-to-remember 6-digit dedicated short code
- Register a new number with your local area code
- Get a new toll-free phone number
“Instead of getting bogged-down in all the intricacies of setup on several other platforms, SimpleTexting allowed us to get up and running within the same day.”
Verified Reviewer
2. Send text messages online
Now that you have a virtual SMS phone number, you can send your first SMS — or MMS — message. You can text any number of contacts at once — from one to thousands.- Text customers, employees, volunteers, and more
- Send text-only messages or include rich media like images, GIFs, PDFs, and more
- Schedule texts to send at a set time in the future or send right away
- Automate appointment reminders and confirmations, alerts, and more
“What I like about this software is that I am able to contact recruits without using my own telephone number. I am able to message recruits the same as on my personal phone, but I am not crowding up my personal messages app.”
Lauren S.
3. Receive SMS online
Receive SMS and MMS messages for free and use our simple Inbox to manage your business’s two-way messaging.- Mark conversations as resolved or temporarily hide them
- Filter and prioritize conversions
- Assign conversations to team members
“I would oftentimes need customers to send me photos of their equipment setup and I didn't want to give out my personal phone number. This way I was able to have people message the business itself and not involve personal phone numbers.”
Kayla Green
Types of online phone numbers
Whether your business needs to engage contacts 1-on-1 or send mass text marketing campaigns, our team can help you select the right virtual phone number.
Toll free phone number
Local phone number
Your existing phone number
Dedicated short code
Virtual phone numbers vs. traditional phone numbers
VIRTUAL SMS PHONE NUMBERS
- Usable on nearly any device
- No need to use your personal cell phone number
- Separate personal and professional communication
- Multiple team members can send, receive, and respond from one number
- Access all messages with one platform online and with mobile apps
- Text many contacts at once — dozens, hundreds, or thousands
- BCC mass texts keep contact lists anonymous
- Send group text messages without reply all
- Automate SMS workflows with auto-responses and campaigns
- Integrate with business tools and apps to automate texts
TRADITIONAL SMS PHONE NUMBERS
- Tied to a specific phone and location
- Unable to separate business from personal on the same device
- Have to share multiple numbers for multiple team members
- No dedicated system for business text messaging and inbox
- Limited to 20-25 maximum contacts for group texting
- Text recipients see all phone numbers in group texts
- Everyone gets replies from group texts
- Unable to automate responses for many use cases
"It is very user-friendly overall. Everything is clear and makes sense. You get an app on your phone that you can check any incoming messages from if you need to. You get your own phone number - great for businesses who are trying to implement SMS marketing!"
Ashley S.
How you can use your virtual SMS number
How to get a virtual business phone number
Want an online phone number to receive text for your business? Follow these three steps.
Sign up for a free trial.
Keep in mind that you’ll get 50 messaging credits, and any texts you send will include a SimpleTexting watermark. This way, you can try before you buy.
Upgrade to a paid account.
Have an existing number you want to use? Reach out to our customer support team to see if it’s eligible to be text-enabled.
Choose a number from our virtual number pool.
This is an industry-wide standard, and we make the process super simple. You’ll fill out some information about your business, and our customer support specialists will handle the rest.
"While looking for an SMS solution for our business, we were fortunate to come across SimpleTexting. From the ease of sign-up, the ability to use our existing toll-free vanity number, incredibly reasonable rates that can grow with your business, to the feature-packed application that you can use from a mobile device or desktop setting, there is no need to look any further.
We recommend SimpleTexting without hesitation and we see a long and successful relationship with this outstanding company."Rev. Steve
Why should you get a virtual SMS number from SimpleTexting?
Find out why SimpleTexting is the best texting service to help you separate business texts from personal messages.
Manage on-the-go
Receive SMS online
Connect your apps
Reduce costs
Dedicated support
No contracts
Forward calls to another number
"It makes SMS and shortcodes easy to use and manage. Other software would entail months of setup for a shortcode. It's all about convenience and efficiency. Also easy to create and schedule blasts to our clients and hot leads. THE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS AMAZING. We have never had a chat wait for more than 3 minutes."
Pauline V.
Customers who use our virtual numbers
Text marketing: Bella Santé’s secret to growing SMS lists and stellar campaigns
Check out how Bella Santé found its ideal text marketing match with maximum results and minimum effort.
Read their success story
How Pallas Seeds nurtures and connects its customer community with SMS
Check out how Pallas Seeds uses texting to inform and empower its community of growers
Read their success story
How a Missouri real estate agent sidesteps email spam filters with SMS
Emails getting caught in spam filters? Find out how a Missouri real estate agent uses SimpleTexting’s SMS platform to deliver listing alerts directly into his clients’ hands.
Read their success storyFrequently asked questions about getting a text-enabled number
Below is a list of frequently asked questions regarding our virtual SMS mobile numbers.
Do you offer virtual phone numbers for SMS outside of the US and Canada?
Can I text-enable an existing 800 number?
How much does a new virtual number cost?
Do I need a virtual SMS number to send text blasts?
Are virtual phone numbers safe?
Can I get a virtual phone number to text free online?
Still not convinced? Read reviews about our virtual SMS numbers
The best service for nonprofit organizations
Same-day setup
Super helpful number setup
Easy to use
Get a virtual SMS number for your business today
Your customers are probably already texting you, don't wait any longer to answer! Get started with texting today.