Netflix. Amazon Prime. Apple TV. Sky. AT&T. Dish Network. Comcast. China Radio & TV. Foxtel. Odds on, you have a paid subscription to at least one of these or a similar provider of TV and film content. Choice can be both a blessing and a curse though can’t it? Forrest Gump was definitely on the right track in 1994 when his character in the film of the same name said: “My momma always said, life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

The quality of your content and its frequency and timing of distribution have the capability of making or breaking your organization so choosing the right deliverer (or deliverers) is critical. Here you need to ask the right questions to establish exactly what you are going to get.

A slick website, some nifty sales patter and a couple of whitepapers under the belt a great provider does not make. There is far more to it than that. You need a provider (or providers) with real strength and depth across the board; organizations you can trust. Size alone does not guarantee that. Focus is critical. Something that is not lacking here at Mitto.

Given its ubiquity and ease of use, Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS has become THE mobile engagement channel of choice for any organization wanting to converse with as many of their customers/team members as possible. A2P SMS just works. As a result, transaction volumes continue to rise globally, now amounting to north of two trillion annually. A2P SMS is where we came from starting out and it still forms a huge part of our very essence.

So what makes for a great A2P SMS service provider? Here are just some of the things we think you should be looking for when looking to entrust a company to deliver your transactional and marketing content globally.

  • Can they grow with you?

Bring the right product or service to market and things can change fast for even the smallest enterprise. The low volume of domestic transactions today can turn on a dime into a requirement for large volumes of international traffic. Go with a delivery partner that has comprehensive coverage and systems that can power even the largest campaigns.

  • All coverage is not built equal

To increase security and quality, direct connectivity with mobile network operators is increasingly being sought. 2-way delivery requirements are fast becoming the norm as brands come to understand the importance of having valuable conversations with their customers.

  • Throughput, accuracy and latency

Over the years SMS has created an aura of urgency. There is an inherent expectation for almost immediate content delivery so a provider’s platform and connectivity need to be capable to meet these expectations from every angle, able to process and route high volumes rapidly and accurately. Your provider needs to have a good handle on all the complexities of routing, particularly those surrounding the prevailing regulations and number range / porting issues.

  •  Command and control

It is important to know where you stand at all times. Any company that provides you access to a suite of easily customizable reports that provide visibility on mobile engagement spend, traffic volumes and more has to be great news. 

  •  Pricing that is too good to be true

If a provider’s price to a specific route is supremely low then this surely has to be a red flag.  Whilst             quality routing does come at a price, it offers great value, providing a great return on investment. Supremely low pricing swirls around the market and whilst tempting, the loss of goodwill and negative engagement impact going with this has is more often than not the reality.

Whatever choices you make, remember your content is extremely valuable and you have to ensure it gets treated as such every step of the way into the hands of your customers. Literally.