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Twilio SMS is, as the name would suggest, Twilio's SMS platform which can be deployed for mobile marketing, or other use cases where sending a text in an automated fashion might be useful (e.g. two-factor authentication, push notifications, etc).Twilio AnalyzedAt my organization, we use Twilio to send text message alerts to our subscribers. While the primary delivery channel for our content is via email, as a premium upsell feature we offer our same content sent as a text message as well. Many people currently prefer to receive alerts via SMS rather than email, so it's a nice perk for them.,Sending the same text message to thousands of users. With Twilio's number pooling, you can use a "number pool" of regular phone numbers to round-robin send the same content to 1000s of users without getting blocked by the carriers. Great Ruby API, very easy to use and write unit tests for Call forwarding to your personal cellphone, to allow users to reach you (after going through an automated phone tree),Price is expensive. Twilio is the market leader and thus they charge more than their competitors. By far our most expensive SaaS service is Twilio. Support reps are not always helpful Documentation can be confusing at times,8,Twilio has caused us to increase our conversion rate by approximately 3% Twilio has increased customer happiness and thus decreased our churn rate (not measured precisely) Twilio has made it faster to ship phone-related features, thus helping us keep our development efforts on-schedule,Bandwidth,Trello, Stripe, ZapierTwilio SMS reviewWe use Twilio SMS for all our messaging sends related to bookings, reminders and marketing messages. API integration with our applications was very simple and it is easy to then manage responses from SMS into our customer service applications.,Simple API integration Robust & Scaleable Cost Effective,Better support for MMS,10,Positive ROI with reduced SMS costs compared to original provider,MessageBird SMSTwilio tWins!Twilio SMS is built into our software and allows us to relay text messages through auxiliary numbers in order to protect contact information (in a very similar model to Lyft and Uber).,Twilio SMS support is on point! Their messaging rates aren't the cheapest but if there's something that you are scratching you head to find the answer to, Twilio has it on lock! The UI is particularly easy to use and easy-to-understand, easy to modify at any given time. Twilio SMS provides detailed bug reports and offers good guidance on where to look for origination of errors in our system.,UI interface collapses randomly bringing you back to the Dashboard page. Wish that "Active Numbers" page could further segment. If you have thousands of numbers used for different things in your application, it's impossible to group them or anything so they are just lumped into one gigantic folder. The sales department is a little intense. Like 8 emails in the past month about scheduling a meeting that's kinda far out.,8,Twilio enables our software to send text messages, including anonymous text messages. Twilio enables our software to receive and respond to text messages over an online platform.,Nexmo,Heroku, Mandrill, WixTwilio - often paying more is worth it!Twilio SMS is used for our transactional notifications and lender alerts.,Very reliable service Consistent deliverability Well documented Copilot telephone number pooling,Expensive compared to competitors Version control can be wayward in docs Unable to download more than 10,000 logs at one go,8,Ease of use has saved time implementing our messaging system All ease of implementation has saved time/money, the service is expensive in the long run though Reliability has ensured our users consistently receive notifications,voodoo sms, firetext and Nexmo,Segment, Mandrill, MailChimpWe love TwilioWe used Twilio to send text messages to both our clients and their customers when they book reservations. We also use it to verify we have a mobile phone number for the customer, send virtual gift cards, and more.,Twilio appears to very easy to configure. Twilio offers great reporting tools so we can scan text messages that are sent without having use a website control panel or build a custom UX. Twilio prices were more affordable than our previous solution and appear to scale well for future needs.,As we have started using Twilio for additional notifications, we would like to label them. The tools to do so did not seem as easy as I would expect. They want us to set up a different number for each notification, but that would cause the user to get messages pertaining to the same action from different numbers and doesn't seem smart. We had a few errors with Twilio adding an extra 1 to the US country code that we were not sending them. Made us wonder if some prefixes were flagged.,10,Twilio saved us a decent amount of money when compared to the previous solution. The open rate on SMS is considerably higher than email and faster too.,Call Central,Postmark, Campfire, 8x8
  3. Twilio SMS Reviews
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Twilio SMS
25 Ratings
Score 8.6 out of 101
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Twilio SMS Reviews

Twilio SMS
25 Ratings
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Score 8.6 out of 101
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Ben Gelsey profile photo
October 17, 2018

Twilio SMS Review: "Twilio Analyzed"

Ben Gelsey
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
At my organization, we use Twilio to send text message alerts to our subscribers. While the primary delivery channel for our content is via email, as a premium upsell feature we offer our same content sent as a text message as well. Many people currently prefer to receive alerts via SMS rather than email, so it's a nice perk for them.
  • Sending the same text message to thousands of users. With Twilio's number pooling, you can use a "number pool" of regular phone numbers to round-robin send the same content to 1000s of users without getting blocked by the carriers.
  • Great Ruby API, very easy to use and write unit tests for
  • Call forwarding to your personal cellphone, to allow users to reach you (after going through an automated phone tree)
  • Price is expensive. Twilio is the market leader and thus they charge more than their competitors. By far our most expensive SaaS service is Twilio.
  • Support reps are not always helpful
  • Documentation can be confusing at times
When you have a big list of users that get occasional text messages, Twilio is perfect. With Twilio's number pooling feature it makes implementing this a snap. However, if you need to frequently send texts to a big list, the cost is going to grow too rapidly for most business models and thus it is untenable.
Read Ben Gelsey's full review
No photo available
October 17, 2018

"Twilio SMS review"

Verified User
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Twilio SMS for all our messaging sends related to bookings, reminders and marketing messages. API integration with our applications was very simple and it is easy to then manage responses from SMS into our customer service applications.
  • Simple API integration
  • Robust & Scaleable
  • Cost Effective
  • Better support for MMS
Online business with a strong customer communication/contact focus.
Read this authenticated review
Olivia Capizzi profile photo
March 13, 2018

Twilio SMS Review: "Twilio tWins!"

Olivia Capizzi
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Twilio SMS is built into our software and allows us to relay text messages through auxiliary numbers in order to protect contact information (in a very similar model to Lyft and Uber).
  • Twilio SMS support is on point! Their messaging rates aren't the cheapest but if there's something that you are scratching you head to find the answer to, Twilio has it on lock!
  • The UI is particularly easy to use and easy-to-understand, easy to modify at any given time.
  • Twilio SMS provides detailed bug reports and offers good guidance on where to look for origination of errors in our system.
  • UI interface collapses randomly bringing you back to the Dashboard page.
  • Wish that "Active Numbers" page could further segment. If you have thousands of numbers used for different things in your application, it's impossible to group them or anything so they are just lumped into one gigantic folder.
  • The sales department is a little intense. Like 8 emails in the past month about scheduling a meeting that's kinda far out.
Customer engagement is a great scenario for Twilio, for an application where someone needs a little handholding, but not a bunch. We have found that when they work with our development team they answer so many questions in minutes that we might have been mulling over and researching for days. Where Twilio wouldn't be appropriate, maybe when sending mass text messages just for the hell of it. Their messaging rates are a little high in the industry.
Read Olivia Capizzi's full review
Rich Warren profile photo
March 13, 2018

Twilio SMS Review: "Twilio - often paying more is worth it!"

Rich Warren
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Twilio SMS is used for our transactional notifications and lender alerts.
  • Very reliable service
  • Consistent deliverability
  • Well documented
  • Copilot telephone number pooling
  • Expensive compared to competitors
  • Version control can be wayward in docs
  • Unable to download more than 10,000 logs at one go
Twilio is perfect for transactional notifications where high deliverability and reliability trump cost. Inbound messaging is comprehensively covered so works well for scenarios where auto responses are necessary like a chat bot. Only available via the API so not helpful for one-off marketing campaigns, better to use a competitor like FireText if a non-technical team member needs to create a campaign. Copilot feature makes pooling US numbers very simple and user-friendly - easy to get around the 1 message per second and to ensure the same user is only reached from the same number. Copilot also enables international phone number pooling, choosing the nearest available number. Purchasing telephone numbers is very cheap (typically $1 per month per number) and easy - we've only had one time where they have run out of US numbers. International texts can be reasonably priced, especially in the US. Very expensive in the UK compared to some other competitors such as Voodoo SMS. Denmark and Aus oddly expensive. Generous discounts available for Y Combinator alumni with and ongoing discount if you have the volumes. Live reporting is difficult to filter and slow to use. Live texts typically do not appear until at least 2 minutes after sent. Support is fantastic, although good luck getting someone on the phone!
Read Rich Warren's full review
Ivan Collins profile photo
March 09, 2018

Twilio SMS Review: "We love Twilio"

Ivan Collins
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We used Twilio to send text messages to both our clients and their customers when they book reservations. We also use it to verify we have a mobile phone number for the customer, send virtual gift cards, and more.
  • Twilio appears to very easy to configure.
  • Twilio offers great reporting tools so we can scan text messages that are sent without having use a website control panel or build a custom UX.
  • Twilio prices were more affordable than our previous solution and appear to scale well for future needs.
  • As we have started using Twilio for additional notifications, we would like to label them. The tools to do so did not seem as easy as I would expect. They want us to set up a different number for each notification, but that would cause the user to get messages pertaining to the same action from different numbers and doesn't seem smart.
  • We had a few errors with Twilio adding an extra 1 to the US country code that we were not sending them. Made us wonder if some prefixes were flagged.
Use Twilio any time you need to send automated text messages or voice messages. I'm sure there are other notification types that are useful too.
Read Ivan Collins's full review
Greg Dungan profile photo
March 07, 2018

Twilio SMS Review: "Twilio Works for Me"

Greg Dungan
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
I use Twilio SMS with my customers to initiate chat applications from text messages. I've found that this works particularly well with my recruiting customers. I can create chat applications (live or bot-based) and then, using Twilio SMS, initiate those applications from text messages.

In practice it works like this. A webpage, social media ad, or search engine ad displays the message, "Text 'jobs' to ###-###-####." The prospect sends a one-word text that says, "jobs" to the number provided. That number is one that I purchased through Twilio and connected to my chat application. The initial message starts a text conversation with either a bot or a person and the prospect gets his or her questions answered.

By connecting applicants to a human or a bot instantly, we can usually increase our clients hire rate significantly while reducing the time it takes to schedule interviews.
  • Twilio provides reliable phone numbers that we can track to gain analytics on how they are used.
  • Twilio provides phone numbers that we can connect to chat applications so that they can be initiated via text message.
  • Twilio provides excellent tech support.
  • Twilio's setup process can be a bit tech-heavy, so if you aren't used to using APIs and integrations, you may want to have someone set it up for you.
  • Twilio's usage analytics could be more comprehensive and user friendly.
  • This might seem picky, but Twilio make you use a overly complicated password to login. I use at least a dozen online tools and this is the only platform that does this to me. As a result I can never remember the password and I always have to look it up. It's not a major negative, but it is a hassle when you're super busy.
Twilio works well for initiating chat applications. It works well for providing trackable phone numbers to enhance the SEO and conversions on your website. Twilio numbers offer programmable voice, text, video, chat, and fax capabilities which makes for a lot of very versatile features that you may not have with a landline or mobile number.

You obviously don't want to rely on Twilio for making emergency calls, because, although their up-time is extremely good, they are susceptible to internet outages.
Read Greg Dungan's full review
Nicholas Kouvatsos profile photo
March 07, 2018

Twilio SMS Review: "Highly customizable, inexpensive."

Nicholas Kouvatsos
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Twilio to send out SMS and MMS message to our list of subscribers. We've written a custom integration with Infusionsoft to accomplish this. We also use the Twilio Studio for campaigns like "Text SLIDES to ????? to receive the slides from this presentation."
  • We like Twilio because it's so much less expensive than any other provider.
  • The entire system is built on API calls, so Twilio is completely customizable, and not limited by a user interface.
  • I've been playing with the Studio recently, and I think some additional functionality could be built in. I was trying to be foward thinking and thought I may be able to build out separate flows that interact with each other. So instead of creating one massive flow for every foreseeable interaction, I could build out a front end flow to determine which flow to direct them. If they text "SLIDES" it would direct them to the flow that handles slides. If they text "DISCOUNT" it would direct them to the DISCOUNT flow. If they texted something that didn't match, they'd be directed to a default flow. Within each flow, I should be able to reuse common items, like trying to match them up to someone already in my database, without having to rewrite the flow arguments every time.
I'd certainly recommend if they have the ability to write code or have someone who can. But if they don't, there isn't really a user interface to send text messages.
Read Nicholas Kouvatsos's full review
Peter Lange profile photo
March 06, 2018

Twilio SMS Review: "SMS Services that pay for themselves"

Peter Lange
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Twilio in a host of applications that are developed by my company. First, we have it integrated into our CRM platform, enabling our customers to correspond with their leads via SMS messages. We also use it for verifying password change requests. Also, we use it in a variety of insurance industry related portal applications to send alerts to the insureds when a new business policy is written, or when a new document or bill is available.
  • Twilio obviously does a great job at sending SMS Messages. The delivery is quick and never fails. The coding for sending them is relatively simple
  • They provide you with a lot of options in terms of selecting your own phone number to use from their pool of local numbers.
  • Their customer service is prompt and responsive and makes every effort to help you even with technical problems.
  • Their documentation could be greatly improved. It can be hard to figure out what you are looking for if you don't already know where an how to look for it. When new features are added, also their communication of those features is sometimes non-existent.
  • Their API is easy to use, once you understand it. But in getting to that point, it can be hard to understand. For example, I doubt that the average person will understand that there is in fact a messaging queue and that something can be removed from the queue before it sends (if you are quick and lucky) and more importantly, why would the average person want to??
Twilio is great for sending text messages from websites, and from apps and services. I use it to alert me when scheduled jobs don't happen, as well as to alert my customers when certain actions are taken in their website that they want immediate notification for. If you deal with anything that is mission critical, and you just get too much email to ever notice an emailed alert, getting a text message (or even a phone call from their voice service) is just the ticket.
Read Peter Lange's full review
Brad Ranks profile photo
March 14, 2018

User Review: "Twilio SMS Automation is key"

Brad Ranks
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We are using Twilio to communicate via SMS to partners and employees. It give us a way of managing texts from specific groups to select groups as well as individuals. It helped us automate the process, rather than relying on mobile phone carriers and their networks. For us, this is a perfect solution.
  • Easy to implement
  • Reliable
  • retainable
  • Deliverability can go out, but it seems to be rectified quickly.
  • Outage notifications would be helpful for administrators to be able to disable the service during an outage, so the issue does not compound.
Perfect for automation.
Read Brad Ranks's full review
Akram Hasan Sharkar profile photo
March 09, 2018

Twilio SMS Review: "Leading us to be next level"

Akram Hasan Sharkar
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We started as a small company, and soon realized we needed voice and SMS integration. We tried all possible hardware installations, but there was too much drama and it was expensive. Then we decided to look for any alternatives, honestly there were many but not many that fulfilled our needs. When we found Twilio we were amazed at how easy it was to implement SMS and voice integration.

Their API was very easy to understand and make it work with our projects. Ever since we are using Twilio with all our projects.
  • Their fast and secure API
  • Easy documentation and amazing customer support
  • Detailed log for all activities
  • SDK for all programming languages
  • Pretty much everything seems okay to us, though I would appreciate it if their pricing went down a little bit.
Twilio is amazing for 2 step authentication. SMS notification, 2 way SMS. As well as voice calls. It was very easy to configure Twilio with our system. It also works great for SMS marketing.
Read Akram Hasan Sharkar's full review
Doug Smith profile photo
April 11, 2017

User Review: "Twilio SMS services are AOK :-)"

Doug Smith
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Twilio SMS is integrated in our SaaS application called the Atrium by LSPWare LLC. It will send SMS text messages to interpreters asking them if they can accept an interpretation job. They can respond via SMS if they are interested in the job. These SMS text messages are fully integrated into the product and will automatically assign interpreters to jobs.
  • Twilio's interface (web site) is very intuitive and modern to use.
  • Twilio's services are growing. We started to use their phone number formatting service (free) to recognize what country the phone number came from and how to format it in their locale.
  • We plan to use additional services in Twilio like using multiple local phone numbers for some of our larger clients that send tens of thousands of text messages.
  • Twilio's logs could be better. There are times I want to report on how many outgoing and incoming SMS messages I have sent via the app. This information is obtainable but could be improved upon by more filters.
If you are a SaaS company and need to integrate with SMS, phone or video, Twilio is for you. There pricing structure is pretty straightforward and allows you to auto-reload your account when your balance is low. This is a nice feature, as I don't have to worry about not sending SMS messages because I forgot to fund the account.
Read Doug Smith's full review
Ben Farmer profile photo
September 07, 2016

User Review: "Twilio SMS - it's all about the APIs"

Ben Farmer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Twilio SMS is powerful in its sheer simplicity to use and implement. SMS is ubiquitous today and a simple concept to understand - but Twilio SMS makes it as easy to use as it is to understand why you need to use it. From billing, segmentation, APIs, debugging, documentation - it's simple to use and works as expected. Every time.
  • It's simple to implement from a programmatic standpoint
  • The APIs are extremely well documented
  • It's very cost effective
  • If you don't have control over the application level, it might be hard to integrate
  • Initially, the usage limits are low
When you need to send SMS messages (or even MMS) and you have control of the applications - Twilio should be the default choice. There are a couple of instances where Twilio SMS might not make sense: 1. If the initial volume of messages was very high and there was willingness to invest in the time and effort in building the carrier connections to directly send the SMS messages. 2. The originating SMS number was highly dynamic - Twilio requires authorization verification to send out an SMS as a number. While Twilio provides excellent APIs to automate this process, it could be an issue needs to be considered.
Read Ben Farmer's full review

Twilio SMS Scorecard Summary

Likelihood to Recommend (25)
8.6

About Twilio SMS

Twilio SMS is, as the name would suggest, Twilio's SMS platform which can be deployed for mobile marketing, or other use cases where sending a text in an automated fashion might be useful (e.g. two-factor authentication, push notifications, etc).
Categories:  Push Notifications,  Mobile Marketing

Twilio SMS Technical Details

Operating Systems: Unspecified
Mobile Application:No