Top Group Texting App for Business

Want to boost sales and productivity for your business?

Of course you do!

You also probably know that text marketing would be a good thing to try to help accomplish that, and that you want SMS software that can allow for group texting for business.

But maybe you’re not sure where to start. Or you’re just trying to find the best option for you and your business.

Here you’ll find the answers to some of your questions. Discover how group texting for business can help you grow and succeed!

• What group texting app for business should I use?
• What is the cost of group texting for business?
• How do I use a group texting app for business?

What Group Texting App for Business Should I Use?

With marketing, it can be hard to tell whether you’re getting a good return on your investment. You may be throwing money at different strategies and trying to analyze results. But even when you have good metrics it’s not always clear what is causing the trends within those analytics.

And yet, sometimes it is obvious that what you’re doing isn’t working!

Whichever boat you’re in - whether you’re unsure about your marketing trends, or you simply know you need to do something new - one thing is clear. Every business wants to get the most out of their marketing campaigns. No one wants to waste time and money on efforts that will yield little to no results.

So you’ll want to know some features to look for in a group texting app for business.

A Group Texting App for Business Should Let You Segment Your Contact List

When you send out your business texts, odds are you don’t need to send the message to your entire contact list every time.

One way to get the most out of your group texting for business is to make sure your SMS marketing software allows you to create targeted segments (we call them “groups”).

A feature like that may sound simple but can really make a difference!

Any good group texting app for business will have a way for you to organize your contact list so that you can send targeted messages.

Thus, you’ll increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaign - and also reduce the chances of people opting out from receiving your messages!

Depending on your business, you could set up groups based on location, purchase history, demographics, customer status, specific events, or any other criteria you find useful.

Then you can add customers to these groups individually, or by importing a list from a spreadsheet into the online platform.

(Your audience should be able to add themselves to these groups as well, but more on that in the next section.)

Here are some examples of groups you could set up when group texting for business:

• Location: Georgia, First Street Branch, East Coast
• Purchase history: Purchased Course, Purchased Shoes, Purchased Subscription
• Demographics: Ages 18-25, Female, Seniors
• Customer status: Leads, New Customers, VIP Customers
• Specific events: October Webinar, Annual Conference, Big Winter Blowout Sale

Separating out your contact list like this will really help your texting campaign succeed!

A Group Texting App for Business Should Allow Contacts to Subscribe Themselves to Your Groups

The ability for your contacts to subscribe themselves to your specific groups will save you both time and hassle.

A group texting app for business will have different options for subscribers to be able to add themselves to your contact list, and to the specifically segmented groups within your contact list:

• Your subscribers can send a text into a particular phone number. (For example, “Text DISCOUNTS to ###-###-#### to be subscribed to our texts!”)
  • This phone number will be unique to your account so people can send any content they'd like into your number to subscribe to your texts. Or you can set up “keywords” if you want people to be assigned to specific segments within your account.
• Your subscribers can scan a QR code. The QR code generation should be free and allow you to download the QR code file directly to your computer. That way, you can easily advertise it to your potential audience.
  • All that your customers have to do is scan the code and hit “Send” on their phone to be automatically subscribed to your texts.
• Your subscribers can visit a free online sign-up page to fill out a simple subscription form. You should be able to make some basic customizations to this sign-up page to have it match your business’s branding.
• Your subscribers can be added to your group texting app for business via another software that you may already use (such as a CRM or some other database). This can be done by using the integration site Zapier.com, or by setting up your own integration through an API.

All of these options will give you more freedom and flexibility as you implement your group texting for business.

A Group Texting App for Business Should Allow You to Schedule and Automate Messages to Your Groups

Once you have your segmented groups set up on your texting platform, you should be able to schedule and automate messages to your different groups.

To get the most out of your marketing efforts, you need to be able to set up your group text messages ahead of time.

You’ll want a way to schedule a specific day or time for your texts. You may also want a way to set up a “drip campaign” - a series of automated messages that go out at predetermined intervals.

Here’s an example of a what a drip campaign might look like for your group texting for business:

• A message is sent to your customer immediately upon signing up for your texts
• A follow-up message is sent 3 days later
• A third message is sent 7 days after that
• A final message is sent after another 30 days

Automation and pre-scheduling means more efficiency and less wasted time. And who doesn’t want that?

A Group Texting App for Business Should Have Convenient Access to Send Messages to Your Groups

You need a group texting app for business that is quick, convenient, and easy.

Your time is valuable and precious, and you don’t want to waste it stumbling around a clunky platform or a buggy mobile app that doesn’t do what you want it to do.

Instead, find a service that is straightforward, simple, and easy to use.

One thing that can help with this is to find a service that has a mobile app - not every service does!

You may be a “mobile app” person but you’ll still want access to a solid online platform, in the event that you need something more robust at a particular moment.

Or vice-versa - Perhaps you hate dealing with mobile apps, but even so, you’ll want the option to quickly and conveniently send a group business text message on the go.

So find a service that has both a robust online platform as well as a convenient mobile app to send your texts.

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So now you know what types of features to look for in a group texting app for business, but there’s another all-important question to ask.

How Much Does a Group Texting App for Business Actually Cost?

To determine how much a group texting app for business will cost for you, you’ll first need to know a few things about how the pricing works.

First off, group texting for business is usually priced according to how many messages you’ll be sending.

Now, one thing to note is that each recipient for your messages counts as at least one message credit. For example, if you send a group text message to 500 recipients, it actually counts as at least 500 message credits.

Another thing to remember is that SMS can technically only be 160 characters. So if your message contains more characters than that, it will count as twice as many credits or more.

Lastly, if you send MMS (picture messages), they can allow more characters (in some cases up to 1,600). They also allow you to attach an image, but may use up more messaging credits per recipient. (An MMS may be counted as 3 message credits per recipient, for example.)

If all of that was a little confusing, here’s a summary to help bring it all together!

• Group texting for business is typically priced according to how many messages you’ll be sending
• Each recipient for your group text message counts as at least 1 message credit (i.e., a message sent to 500 recipients would use up 500 credits)
  • If your group text message is more than 160 characters, it will count as 2 or more message credits per recipient (i.e., a message sent to 500 recipients would use up 1,000 credits)
  • If your group text message is sent as an MMS (picture message), it may count as 3 message credits per recipient (i.e., a message sent to 500 recipients would use up 1,500)

Now, remember too that not all of your customers and leads will likely sign up for your group texting for business. So even if you have hundreds of thousands of customers in your overall customer database, only a small percentage of those will be on your text marketing list.

With all of that in mind, let’s get into how much a group texting app for business will cost for you!

Customer Base of 250 or Fewer Contacts?

If you have a small customer and lead base - say, 250 contacts or fewer who will sign up for texts - a group texting app for business can be very affordable.

Depending on how often you’re sending messages, you can run less than $30 per month. You’ll want to look for a plan that allows around 500 message credits per month.

Customer Base Between 251-1,000 Contacts?

Even if you have a slightly more robust customer and lead base, somewhere between 251-1,000 contacts, a group texting app for business still doesn’t break the bank.

We’d recommend a plan that gives you 1,000-2,000 message credits per month. You can find a plan like that for less than $60 per month.

Customer Base Between 1,001-5,000 Contacts?

Once you start getting upwards into thousands of recipients, you can start to feel the investment cost a bit more in your marketing budget, but it’s still not debilitating.

If you have between 1,001-5,000 contacts, you’ll start seeing fees in the hundreds per month, but you can still get plans for less than $250 per month. Look for plans that will give you 5,000-10,000 credits per month.

Customer Base Between 5,000-20,000 Contacts?

This is the point at which group texting for business can admittedly get costly. But the return on investment you can get from the sales and revenue is more than worth it!

For 5,000-20,000 contacts, you’ll want a plan for 20,000-50,000 credits per month. You’ll find a wide range of prices but can select plans for less than $1,000 per month on the highest tiers.

Customer Base of More Than 20,000 Contacts?

If your group texting for business list is going to consist of between 20,000-40,000 contacts, you’ll probably want to go with a plan for 100,000 credits per month. You can get that higher-level plan for less than $1,800 per month.

If your customer base any more than that, the pricing may vary. You may need to contact sales for a custom quote.

Mobile Text Alerts Pricing

At Mobile Text Alerts, we offer a variety of plans to fit every business. Not sure how many messages you will need? Start small and let us help you build your list. You can upgrade at any time.

Plan | Message Quantity | Cost If Billed Monthly | Cost If Billed Annually

• Basic | 500 messages per month | $25/month | $19/month
• Starter | 1,000 messages per month | $35/month | $26/month
• Standard | 2,000 messages per month | $59/month | $48/month
• Professional | 5,000 messages per month | $138/month | $110/month
• Plus | 10,000 messages per month | $249/month | $199/month
• Premium | 20,000 messages per month | $449/month | $349/month
• Elite | 50,000 messages per month | $949/month | $749/month
• Enterprise | 100,000 messages per month | $1,749/month | $949/month
• Custom | > 100,000 messages per month | Contact sales

How Do I Use a Group Texting App for Business?

All of this is well and good, but you may be wondering, “How do I actually use a group texting app for business? What are some specific explanations of things I can do with it?”

Never fear! Here are some tips to help you take advantage of group texting for business.

How to Get Started

Getting started with a group texting app is very simple.

You can follow these easy steps:

• Sign up for an account.
• Get your customers loaded in. (You can either do this manually if you already have their permission, or you can have them sign up via one of the opt-in methods we mentioned before, such as texting in a keyword, scanning a QR code, or visiting an online sign-up form). Learn more about how to add contacts here.
• Prepare your first message. If you want to spend some time working on it, you can save it as a message template and come back to it later.
• Schedule your message for the right day and time.
• After your message is sent, monitor the response. You can respond back to people who reply to your message (if desired), and if your message includes a link, you can track who has clicked on that link.

How to Get People to Sign Up

Zooming out a bit, how can you actually get people to sign up to receive your group texting for business?

It’s unfortunately not usually enough to just ask people to sign up. You have to provide some kind of concrete reason.

You should do this in 2 different ways:

1. Make sure that you’re communicating the value people will get from receiving your texts. (Depending on what kinds of groups you have set up on your account, you can even get really specific to the products or services your customer may be interested in.) Here are some examples:

“

Join our text alerts to receive exclusive deals and discounts!

“

Sign up for our texts and you’ll be the first to know about half price cardigans!

“

Members of our text club will get VIP discounts, one-on-one customer service, and be in the know about exciting announcements!

2. Provide a specific, tangible benefit for signing up for your texts, such as a free or discounted item, a special deal they’ll automatically receive upon signing up, or an entry into a giveaway of a larger item. Here are some examples:

“

Sign up for our text alerts and get a free appetizer!

“

Subscribe to our texts to receive 25% off your next purchase!

“

Join our text alerts TODAY to be entered into a giveaway for a $500 Amazon gift card!

How to Get People into Groups

If you’re doing targeted group texting for business, you want to not only get your customers and leads signed up, but you want to get them into specific, segmented groups.

Then you’ll be able to send them the relevant, targeted messages we mentioned previously!

But how?

We’ve discussed ways people can subscribe themselves to your particular groups for your texts. But if you’re wanting to add them in to groups yourself, there are a couple of different ways you can do it:

• Add customers to a group manually by selecting their entry on the platform.
  • Your platform will have a contact management page, so you can select the entry of the subscriber that you’d like to add to a group from there, and click to add them to the appropriate group. Simple!

• Add customers to a group manually by importing a spreadsheet.
  • In the event that you already have a list of people who have agreed to receive texts, you can import the contacts into the appropriate group. (You just need to make sure that your list is in a spreadsheet and in the correct format.)
  • Pro Tip: download a template spreadsheet here (Google Spreadsheet).

• Add customers to a group automatically from other services through integrations.
  • One way to integrate with other services is to use the integration site Zapier.com. This site allows you to integrate with thousands of other platforms so that you can add your contacts to groups automatically.

• If you are a developer or have access to a developer, you can also set up your own integration to add people to a group automatically via an SMS API. You’ll need to have the API documentation so that you or your development team can correctly set up the integration.

How to Set Up and Send Messages

Once you have your customers and leads signed up and loaded into the appropriate groups, you can start setting up and sending your group text messages for business.

The first step would be to plan out the kinds of group text messages you’d like to send, and which groups you’d like to send them to.

Do you want to send deals and discounts to your loyal customers? Giveaway promotions to new leads to entice them to purchase? Event announcements to a specific subset of your list who may be interested?

Once you’ve decided the kinds of messages you’d like to send, and the audience you’d like to send them to, you are ready to set up your message.

There are 3 different ways you can send out your group text messages for business:

• Send messages in real time - Have a group text message you’re ready to send then and there?
  • Simply log in to the platform or app, select your recipients, type out your message, and hit “Send.”
  • The message will go out to the recipients right away.
• Schedule messages ahead of time - Want to save some time and boost efficiency?
  • Plan your group text messages beforehand and schedule them out to send on specific dates and times.
  • You can be as organized with this as you’d like - You can have a specific day of the week in which you go in and schedule out the entire week’s messages, for example. Or you could plan out the whole month at one time.
• Send messages out as an automated drip campaign
  • Want more options for automation?
    • A “drip campaign” is a series of text messages that send out over specified intervals of time. They’re different from “scheduled messages” in that with drip campaigns, you don’t need to specify certain dates and times. And the messages go out individually as people are added to the group, rather than to all the group at once.
    • Here’s an example we mentioned previously of what a drip campaign workflow might look like:
      • A message is sent immediately when someone is added to the group.
      • A follow-up message is sent 2 days later.
      • Another message is sent 7 days later.
      • A final message is sent 30 days later.

Why Should I Use a Group Texting App for Business?

Now that we’ve gone over how to use a group texting app for business, let’s just go over the why, in case you’re not fully convinced!

3 Reasons a Group Texting App for Business is the Best Way to Reach Customers

Check out these numbers:

Hard to argue with that!

3 Ways a Group Texting App for Business Makes Your Life and Business Better

Group texting for business is powerful because of the effectiveness of texting in general. And because texting is effective, it can make an impactful mark on your life and business!

Stop Wasting Valuable Time and Resources

As mentioned previously, being able to separate out your marketing texts into different groups allows you to send your group text messages only to the appropriate, relevant people.

This means you’re not wasting your time and money on marketing efforts that are destined to fail for some folks from the get-go!

Boost Productivity

This is in some ways just the positive side of the last point - Organizing your customer and lead list into manageable chunks helps you not only stop wasting time but actually boost productivity.

The time that you’re not wasting on sending ineffective marketing campaigns can be spent pursuing effective, targeted group messages for your business.

Improve Both Marketing and Internal Communication

Here’s one amazing perk of group texting for business: You can use it not only to text your customers and leads, but also your employees!

A group texting app for business is a wonderfully effective way to send out updates and reminders for your workplace, because it allows you to separate out your contact list into a “customer base” group and “employee base” group.

Thus, you can take all the benefits of texting and apply it to your workplace to improve not only marketing but also internal communication.

What’s Holding You Back from Using a Group Texting App for Business?

By now you’re probably convinced that group texting for business is something you should be doing. (Otherwise, why would you have read this far?) :)

You know what it is, how much it costs, and how to use it.

What’s holding you back from implementing group texting for your own business today?

Get a free 14-day Mobile Text Alerts trial account and start sending group texts today!