Text messaging can unlock new potential for businesses, helping them connect with their audience in a personal and convenient way. Organizations of all sizes are adopting SMS for its high open rates, fast response times, and diverse applications. Text messages boast open rates of up to 98%, with 9 out of 10 recipients responding to texts within 30 minutes. SMS can help your client or business reach new audiences and generate loyalty.
As a developer, you can implement text messaging into your client or company’s systems with an SMS API. When you partner with a reputable cloud-based Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) provider, you can build automated systems and messaging apps that enhance and streamline business communications.
What Can an SMS API Help You Accomplish?
An SMS application programming interface (API) allows developers to integrate messaging into apps and systems. Messages are sent over the internet from toll-free or 10-digit long-code (10DLC) numbers, allowing you to build cost-effective, reliable, and scalable messaging features for business. Tools like automation allow your company or client to send messages in bulk with excellent delivery rates.
Some of the software and systems you can implement text messaging into using an SMS API include customer relationship management (CRM) systems, communication platforms, websites, and business apps.
Features You Can Implement With an SMS API
An SMS API makes it easy to build various messaging systems and applications for your client or company. You can help organizations make personal connections with customers and provide better experiences. Check out the following business-enhancing software and systems you can build with an SMS API:
- Automated Notifications: You can design an automated system to send customers notifications for business-related events. Appointment reminders can help service-sector businesses reduce no-shows by allowing the patient or client to reschedule or confirm their appointment in advance. Businesses can also send notifications via SMS to customers to inform them of a delivery or completion of a transaction.
- In-App Messaging: Integrating messaging into an app provides users with a convenient way to contact the business. For instance, a ride-sharing or delivery app can have a click-to-message button for customers to contact their driver.
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Passwordless authentication and 2FA provide a layer of security for users. Various businesses, such as social media platforms, banks, and email providers, use 2FA or passwordless authentication to send a text message to a registered phone number, verifying the login is from an authorized user.
- Marketing Campaigns: Marketing campaigns can benefit from the high open rates of SMS with reliable bulk delivery using an SMS API. Your company or client can send a text message to registered customers, informing them of a sale, event, or product launch.
- Feedback and Surveys: Your client or company can improve customer retention and user experience by requesting feedback using SMS. Customers can receive a text featuring a link to a survey or feedback request to identify any challenges during the transaction and the customer’s overall experience.
- CRM Messaging Integration: You can integrate messaging into a CRM, allowing employees to continue using familiar software while gaining access to valuable features. CRM integration provides workers with ease of access and higher productivity.
- Multimedia Sharing with MMS API: If text is not enough, you can use an MMS API to integrate multimedia messaging into an app. Customers and users can send pictures or videos demonstrating their product challenges, and the business can reply with instructional images and videos to provide support.
Why Are Businesses Adopting SMS Messaging Strategies?
Businesses are adopting text messaging for a wealth of reasons, from improving marketing campaigns to personalizing communication with customers. Modern consumers prefer having multiple options to reach out to the brands they work with. Having SMS in addition to voice, email, and chat support can provide an omnichannel solution to satisfy demands and improve the customer experience.
Related: Seamless Integration: The Power of SMS API for Developers
SMS APIs unlock near-limitless potential for businesses. They provide fast and convenient communication, allowing customers and organizations to interact and resolve problems promptly. Text messaging can also be automated to send messages in bulk and deliver a range of functionality. No matter the industry or how your organization wants to utilize text messaging, you can provide comprehensive solutions with SMS APIs.
7 Reasons Why an SMS API is a Must-Have for Modern Businesses
There are several reasons to implement SMS for business. It can help your client or company connect with customers and workers, enhancing business productivity. Whether your organization wants to open up new communication channels for customers or kickstart a digital marketing campaign, take a closer look at the following reasons to implement an SMS API.
Reason 1: Exceptional Open Rates
As mentioned above, businesses can benefit from the 98% open rates that SMS delivers. High open rates are vital to successful marketing campaigns, ensuring your company or client’s message reaches as many users as possible.
Reason 2: Personalized Communication
One reason SMS has high open rates is that consumers see it as a more personalized and convenient method of communication. Consumers prefer a range of options when interacting with their favorite businesses. Adding SMS to your client or organization’s communications strategy is sure to please customers across the board.
Reason 3: Fast and Convenient
The adoption of mobile devices around the world is astounding. On average, U.S. consumers check their phones 144 times daily, spending over four hours on the phone each day. This level of interaction on their mobile devices makes integrating text messaging a convenient and efficient way to reach out to customers. It’s often more convenient for users to send a text message to a business. For instance, if a user is at work or on a quick break, it’s preferable to send a text message compared to making a phone call.
Reason 4: Reliable and Scalable
A cloud-based messaging solution offers reliability and scalability that traditional carriers can’t match. The cloud offers near-unlimited scalability, allowing businesses to increase capacity during peak seasons to message consumers in bulk. They can also scale back down without a loss on investment when business and traffic return to normal.
Cloud-based SMS providers can deliver exceptional reliability. The ideal SMS platform can guarantee the delivery of messages with an application-to-person (A2P) messaging network that avoids gray routes and aggregators, which can limit the reach of your company or client’s messages. Your API partner can also provide dynamic failover to a working network and 24/7 uptime for critical messaging applications.
Reason 5: Cost-Effective
Cost-effective messaging is a primary factor in scalability. If your company or client requires more messaging than normal, a flexible payment option will ensure it can scale without financial consequences. Messaging services from a cloud-based platform are often more affordable than messaging from a carrier and reduce initial investment in onsite equipment and infrastructure.
Reason 6: Ease of Implementation
An SMS API offers inherent benefits regarding implementation. It can reduce hours of coding and testing to a few lines of code. APIs offer compatibility and a range of features through microservices to deliver a comprehensive solution for your client or business. For instance, if an organization wants you to build a system that automatically alerts clients of upcoming appointments, you can integrate the API with an appointment reminder microservice to deliver a fast and seamless solution.
Reason 7: Business-Enhancing Features
An SMS API can deliver various business-enhancing features. You can provide your company or client with a message detail record (MDR) that can easily be accessed through an administrator web portal, allowing them to see when an SMS was sent and received. As mentioned above, microservices allow you to tailor the SMS API to specific requirements. They provide functions for everything from phone number masking to 2FA.
How to Choose the Right SMS API Provider
The simplicity of an SMS API can make it easy to integrate. However, it’s vital to partner with a CPaaS provider that offers the scalability, reliability, and ease of implementation you need at a desirable price point. Consider the following factors when selecting an SMS API provider.
Easy-to-Integrate API
While an SMS API can simplify integration, finding a seamless and compatible solution is critical. Your SMS API partner should provide documentation, including software development kits (SDKs), quickstarts, use cases, and code examples in popular programming languages like PHP, Python, and .NET. Documentation can greatly assist you in implementing the API in your preferred programming language.
Related: Understanding SMS Marketing Pricing: How to Maximize Your Budget
An SMS API written in representational state transfer (REST) architecture will deliver resource-friendly compatibility. With a REST API, you can use simple HTTP commands like POST and DELETE and deliver a lightweight solution that doesn’t store information between requests and makes stateless calls. REST APIs are compatible with various programming languages and data types, including HTML, plain text, and JSON.
Application-to-Person Messaging
When your business or client sends messages from an application or automated system in bulk, it’s critical to send the messages from a registered A2P number. While messages from a typical mobile device can be made using a person-to-person (P2P) number, such as texting a family member or friend, bulk messages sent from an application require A2P messaging.
Find an SMS platform that makes it easy to send A2P messages while avoiding gray routes and aggregators. These avenues improperly use P2P routes to help SMS providers avoid fees, but this can result in the sender’s traffic being flagged as spam by carriers, minimizing reliable delivery.
Reliable Messaging Network
An excellent platform is reliable and provides a robust messaging network. SMS platforms offer resilient messaging with physical failover and delivery receipts. Look for an SMS platform that provides 24/7 uptime and reliability exceeding 99.99% to ensure the messaging service is always available.
Scalability and Mobility
Scalability and mobility are as critical to your messaging application as reliability. A platform that offers dynamic scalability is ideal for growing businesses, ensuring the organization has the messaging capacity to meet its evolving needs.
When working with a distributed workforce, cloud-based messaging solutions provide mobility to ensure consistent messaging from anywhere in the world. Using a local toll-free or 10DLC number, your company or client can message users from anywhere with a familiar phone number. For instance, if you have a representative in another state or country, they can send messages to a user from a local phone number, reducing confusion and improving the customer experience.
Focus on Security
When using an API for SMS communication, security is essential. APIs face the public internet, making them a prevalent vector for cyber attacks. An SMS API provider should ensure APIs are maintained and microservices are updated using a version-control system like GitHub. Cloud-based communication platforms can protect your client or company’s data by providing real-time network monitoring.
Flexible Pricing
Pricing is a critical factor to consider when choosing a cloud-based messaging platform. It ensures your client or company gets a cost-effective solution for their messaging needs. Some SMS providers offer a flat rate pricing option, allowing the business to pay a fee for a certain number of messages.
A metered or per-message plan is often more flexible. With this pricing structure, your company pays for the number of messages sent and received during a billing cycle. It allows the business to scale up or down to meet its messaging needs without overpaying or hitting a capacity wall. Flexible metered pricing will also allow you to test and evaluate the API without a significant upfront investment.
Implement an SMS API From a Reputable CPaaS Partner
As mobile devices become more integrated into society and consumers demand omnichannel options, business text messaging becomes essential. In turn, organizations look to developers to find a reliable yet cost-effective solution for their communication needs.
When you partner with Flowroute, you can easily integrate SMS communications with your company or client’s desired features. Our SMS service is scalable, reliable, and cost-effective. We offer documentation and support, helping you implement business-enhancing features to deliver a seamless solution to your client or company. Get started with a simple yet effective SMS API from Flowroute.
