TextWik
Taking SMS Marketing to a New Level

“Why is SMS marketing important for my business?” A daunting question in today’s times where social media has taken over the marketing world by storm, leaving the impression that SMS marketing has lost its charm. However, reality check states something contradictory. The rise of mobile development and communication technology has given a significant boost to SMS marketing. With a higher open rate, easy accessibility, and the ability to quickly reach targeted customers, SMS is finding a bigger audience with each passing day. Especially, when people are spending an average of 10 hours per day on their mobiles rather than on laptops and other devices, it has provided ample opportunity for SMS marketing to capture the attention of potential buyers. Spurring a revolution in the mobile marketing arena, TextWik has successfully brought the advantage of SMS marketing at the disposal of marketers through its robust solution. The company’s powerful SMS marketing software enables companies to unleash the full potential of SMS and MMS marketing by helping them to create and send personalized messages. Effectively, the platform also helps marketers gain insights on the response rates with detailed analytics reports to drive business revenues. “We see that the clients get 98 percent open rates for all the SMS they send to their customers,” says Kenneth Momanyi, founder and CPO of TextWik.

Momanyi reflects on the moment of realization that led to the foundation of TextWik. He observed that SMS was still the simplest and quickest way to convey promotional as well as transactional messages. “When I used to get SMS messages about some product offers from the retailer I visited recently and updates on my account transactions sent by my bank, I felt it was important to get these messages to know about my bank balance or get information about the product I need. Instead of getting annoyed, I felt like I was notified about important things I needed to know.” That is when he realized that SMS marketing had a higher chance of becoming the best communication channel in mobile marketing and founded TextWik with a team of experts from U.S. and India to deliver the true value of SMS messaging.

Momanyi further explains that text messaging, or SMS, is the most attention-grabbing, immediate, and convenient form of communication. “Thus, it is becoming important to ensure mobile messaging is included in not only the marketing mix, but also as a form of collecting data to understand one’s customers better, improve services and the user experience and become a leading organization that distinguishes itself by closeness to the customer. Personalization and tailored service is the new next thing in a world of uncountable competition,” says Momanyi.

The Recipe to Successful SMS Marketing

Built in collaboration with various technology partners like Twilio, Nexmo, Plivo, and SlooceTech, the TextWik platform is carefully crafted taking the marketing needs of clients and end-users into consideration. The platform allows clients to send bulk messages at a time while the software balances all incoming and outgoing messages without any hassle. Clients can send SMS marketing messages from a pool of numbers in order to speed up or slow down the delivery process.

When bulk messages are sent to a particular person, the platform automatically identifies the previously used phone number to create a consistent experience and increase the response rate. Similarly, the platform also allows clients to schedule bulk messages weekly, biweekly or monthly as per their needs that can be supervised from the dashboard. To create more personalized content and increase customer retention, TextWik clients can send birthday wishes and set appointment reminders as well. The platform also allows two-way messaging enabling clients to chat with their customers back and forth. TextWik also allows companies to send MMS or picture messaging with rich media content for end customers, resulting in higher open rates and faster response times.

We are looking forward to working with Google RCS that will enable TextWik to bring the ability to share engaging content such as high res images, video clips and GIFs through their text messages

Users, at any point, can also check for the open rates and response rates with all details including the area of response. The advanced analytics tool embedded into the platform with a content intelligence system provides actionable insights on business opportunities while allowing the user to track subscribers and communication deliverability, seamlessly and effortlessly. The platform’s SMS statistics allows clients to monitor failed messages, segment or delete subscribers to clean up their list. Clients also have the option of changing the content of outbound messages so that each message varies for each contact. The platform also boasts of sender intelligence that offers a comprehensive sender monitoring and analysis system to enhance protection against messaging abuse.

Going Beyond Marketing

The platform’s built-in CTIA and GDPR compliance allow businesses to remain complaint globally with transparent disclaimers encompassing opt-in and opt-out subscriber management, which is manageable from a single dashboard. Moreover, TextWik’s comprehensive API is highly customizable to the needs of clients although Bulk SMS, Appointment Reminder, and Website Widgets features remain a common choice. The surge in the percentage of internet users has compelled TextWik to build an innovative feature—Website Signup Widgets—that generates subscriptions through a form on the homepage. Further, to keep the existing customers engaged, marketers can use another feature, Polls, which collects information pertaining to the needs and wants of the consumers.

Interestingly, TextWik’s platform seamlessly integrates with email marketing services offered by major email marketing service providers such as MailChimp, GetResponse, and SendinBlue. “We allow clients to automatically add customers’ email addresses to send them marketing emails,” says Momanyi. TextWik has introduced a ‘Sub-Account’ feature allowing the clients to breakup a job into smaller tasks amongst their employees. Here, the employees can create their sub-accounts with permissions to access certain features from the parent account for enhanced efficiency and better tracking.

Disrupting the mobile marketing field for over a decade now, TextWik has successfully garnered numerous clients from various industries such as hotels, restaurants, gyms, and non-profits.

Iqbal Areosa Makboul, Co-founder & Chief Experience Officer
In one instance, one of TextWik’s clients needed help to understand how SMS marketing could deliver value to their business. Before actually developing a solution for the client, TextWik illustrated a demo to prove the retention and engagement benefits based on various parameters, including the client’s marketing strategy. Using TextWik’s bulk SMS tool and other features, the client was able to segment its customers depending on scenarios and send personalized communication accordingly. Consequently, the client could analyze and ascertain the count of customers who entered the code to avail a discount. According to Momanyi, the client’s sales shot up by over $60,000. The client also witnessed increased sales, particularly on weekends and on occasions such as Black Friday.

The Next Evolution of SMS

Powered by a passionate team of software experts, TextWik is all set to support the next level of SMS—Google RCS. TextWik endeavors to align with Google’s upcoming Rich Communication Services (RCS) that equips SMS with advanced functionalities to share high-resolution pictures and videos. Google’s RCS will provide the ability to create interactive SMS messages, allowing businesses to create compelling marketing content for their audiences. “We are looking forward to working with Google RCS that will enable TextWik to bring the ability to share engaging content such as high res images, video clips and GIFs through their text messages,” says Momanyi.

"We see that the clients get 98 percent open rates for all the SMS they send to their customers"

Also, TextWik is partnering with leading mobile network operators globally, and building a trusted platform that is used by its growing international client base in more than 180 countries to engage their customers with SMS (text) messaging wherever they are with affordable rate. The company is also planning to integrate various social media channels like Instagram and Twitter and apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat into its platform allowing marketers to reach as many customers as possible on various channels.

In a world where data and insights are turning the biggest drivers of growth, TextWik is adapting to the changing culture. Iqbal Areosa Makboul, Co-founder and Chief Experience Officer, brings her expertise in UX Research from the companies such as Google business intelligence, strategy consultancy, insights and analytics. Under her management, TextWik is focusing on helping companies improve their user experience and understand their consumer better through data, insights and analytics. TextWik wants to continue mastering the mobile marketing arena to help its clients unleash the full potential of SMS marketing and grow their business. Also, it intends to create a robust 24/7 support operations for the clients to guide them in maximum utilization of TextWik’s features and gaining maximum benefits. The firm already has a client base that spans from Middle Eastern and Asian countries to the U.S. and plans to expand its footprint in untapped markets.