EZ Texting Review

Why EZ Texting Is Best for Advanced Features

EZ Texting is our best pick for advanced features because it includes many premium tools across all of its plans while most competitors restrict such features to top-tier plans. It also includes some unique tools other short message service (SMS) marketing platforms lack. 

For starters, EZ Texting’s native Shutterstock integration impressed us. No other text message marketing platform we reviewed lets you search for, insert and edit high-quality stock images directly into your messages. 

EZ Texting also includes web sign-up forms and a link shortener — standard features among text messaging platforms — but ones that EZ Texting does especially well. The artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools for composing new messages and responding to incoming texts sets EZ Texting apart from the competition. Crafting compelling copy in the right tone and providing helpful customer responses take only a click, letting your team efficiently reach more people. 

Managing contacts is especially easy with EZ Texting’s Team Inbox, which allows multiple users to reply to ongoing conversations. That’s a feature not many platforms offer, especially with entry-level plans. With free incoming messages, plus unlimited keywords, contacts and custom fields, EZ Texting empowers your customer service team to keep your contacts happy and loyal.

In addition, EZ Texting customers can access the company’s open application programming interface to develop any third-party integrations they might need. Some competitors lack this feature, although some offer other approaches to custom integrations.

Usability

EZ Texting lives up to its name. The advanced features are simple to use, the user interface is crisp and clean, and every tool lacks needless complications. We especially love that you get unlimited keywords and segments, so you can manage contacts as you please.

EZ Texting’s easy-to-use dashboard lets you send messages with a click, keep on top of contacts and see how many credits you have remaining. Source: EZ Texting

The setup process is straightforward. If you need guidance, there is a resource center with articles and videos to get you started. Scale and Enterprise plans also include access to an onboarding specialist who will reach out to walk you through using the platform. 

After setting up your number and importing contacts, you’ll see the EZ Texting dashboard, which places everything you need right at your fingertips. You can compose new messages with one click from the create button on top. All other features are on the left-hand menu bar. You can’t customize this dashboard, but we found we didn’t need to; EZ Texting offers one of the most user-friendly dashboards we encountered in our review. As you compose, you’ll see how your message will look to recipients. 

You can access EZ Texting’s integrations from the menu. There, you’ll see the brand’s native integrations with Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Squarespace, and Zapier. We were disappointed that there were so few native integrations, but through Zapier you can custom build integrations to sync your contacts and automate your messaging.

EZ Texting Features

AI Compose

EZ Texting leverages AI-powered text generation to make sure your marketing messages are always top-notch. We love how simple the process is. From the messaging window, you select between appointments, promotions or events, input a prompt then choose from three responses that are generated automatically. 

We appreciate that EZ Texting gives you multiple message options off the bat, and with one click you can edit the length or tone. AI Compose will even translate the message into Spanish. While many competitors now offer AI text generation, we found EZ Texting’s tool to be one of the most robust and easiest to use. 

AI Compose generates three message options and makes changing the tone, length and language as simple as a click of the mouse. Source: EZ Texting

AI-powered Team Inbox

EZ Texting’s robust AI features also make managing customer interactions easier than ever. AI Reply scans your business website and previous conversations to generate automatic responses to incoming customer messages. We appreciate that this tool cuts down wait time and lets your employees focus on more pressing customer needs. 

AI Reply is part of the Team Inbox, EZ Texting’s central location for customer service collaboration. Conversations can be assigned, snoozed or closed while filtering lets employees see their assigned contacts, new messages and those with the longest wait time. While the collaboration features aren’t the strongest of all the platforms we reviewed, we like that EZ Texting doesn’t wall off this advanced feature behind more costly plans, although you may have to pay more for additional seats if you require access for more users.

EZ Texting helps your team to work together to provide excellent customer service with conversation assignments and filtering. Source: EZ Texting

SMS Workflows

EZ Texting has recently introduced powerful automations to its platform. With a series of prebuilt templates and a foolproof drag-and-drop editor, you can set up automations for any purpose, such as abandoned cart reminders, auto-replies, feedback requests and birthday messages. 

While the addition of this feature makes EZ Texting an even stronger text messaging service, we were disappointed that it is one of the few tools not included in all plans. If automations are necessary for your business, you’ll have to subscribe to the Boost plan at three times the cost of EZ Texting’s entry-level plan.

Native Shutterstock Integration

EZ Texting is the only text message marketing platform we reviewed that integrates with Shutterstock or any other stock photography platform. This integration always appears when you draft text messages so that you can easily insert high-quality stock images into your messages. You can modify these images and add text to them before they go into your messages. After you send your message, you can use the image again in future campaigns. We were especially impressed with this feature.

Web Sign-up Forms

Although a common feature among most services, EZ Texting stands out for its web sign-up forms. You can share this form on Facebook or Twitter or store it in a QR code. Alternatively, you can create a sign-up form designed to be embedded on your website. In either case, this feature is relatively advanced. It can help you grow your text messaging list, and if you keep up with these new subscribers, you can use it to improve customer loyalty. [Related article: 3 Ways to Offer a Customer Loyalty Program]

Contact Management 

EZ Texting excels at advanced contact management. All plans include unlimited keywords, contacts and custom fields, allowing deep customer segmentation tailored to your unique target audience. Tags and filtering help you get the right person or group without wasting a ton of time searching through your contact list. We especially love some of the more advanced features, like the smart contact cleaner that automatically deletes duplicate or erroneous numbers and the age verification feature. 

Link Tracking

We love that EZ Texting helps you understand campaign engagement with trackable links. Simply click the link icon in the message box and EZ Texting will shorten your link automatically so that you don’t go over the character limit. EZ Texting branded short links are recognized by carriers so you can avoid text message spam filters. You’ll be able to track campaign engagement in the reporting tab and segment future mass messages based on who has clicked the link and who hasn’t. 

With EZ Texting’s link shortener, you don’t have to waste valuable messaging space on long URLs; plus, you can track clicks and segment based on engagement. Source: EZ Texting

EZ Texting Costs

EZ Texting includes all its advanced features, unlimited keywords and a 10-digit long code (10DLC) number with every plan. Pricing is based on how many contacts you plan to communicate with. If you choose a monthly plan, unused messages roll over and expire after 60 days. Annual plans allow you to use messages anytime throughout the year. 

We love that most advanced features come standard. Higher-tier plans offer varying delivery speeds and users, plus lower costs for additional messages and some extra features, like workflows, shortcodes and an onboarding specialist. 

Here’s a breakdown of EZ Texting’s four plans:

While the 500-message credit limit might seem restrictive, additional messages usually cost less than with competitors. For example, in our review of SimpleTexting, we found that 1,000 messages cost $49 per month, while EZ Texting would charge $40. When you consider that so many advanced features are included with the entry-level plan, the difference is considerable.

EZ Texting allows you to expand functionality with these add-ons:

• Additional numbers: $25 per number, per month. You can choose local 10DLC numbers or toll-free numbers. You can also add texting capabilities to a landline, which not all platforms allow, or use a voice-over-internet-protocol number.
• Additional users: $10 per user, per month. Each user gets a unique, secure login with custom permission levels.
• Additional messages: Volume packs of additional messages can be added on at the messaging rate included in your plan. 

You can test out EZ Texting with a 14-day free trial and 120 credits but, due to industry regulations, you’ll only be able to text yourself. We appreciate that you can easily extend your trial directly in the app and that free trial credits roll over when you subscribe. 

EZ Texting Setup

EZ Texting has one of the easiest setup processes of all the text message marketing platforms we reviewed. When you first start using EZ Texting, you’ll indicate how you plan to use it. You’ll also answer some questions about your previous experience, and EZ Texting will determine which videos and tips to give you. These resources make the setup even easier than it is for other SMS platforms, which are generally also fairly easy to implement. For some plans, an EZ Texting representative will also contact you during onboarding to help you get up and running.

Whenever you use an EZ Texting tool for the first time, you’ll see a brief explanation of why and how to use it. That’s true for fundamentals, such as mass messages, and advanced features, such as the sign-up forms. These instructions make setup quick and painless. You might need slightly more time to upload your contacts, migrate other data, and set up add-ons and integrations. But it’s still a fast process and involves no extra fees. Plus, we love that the website includes excellent videos that cover every aspect of using the platform.

EZ Texting Customer Service

Compared with some other text message marketing services, EZ Texting’s customer service left us wanting more. We do like how easily you can find EZ Texting’s customer service number from the help button at the top right of the dashboard. 

We appreciate that EZ Texting offers extended support hours, seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. However, the only way to speak to a rep is through live chat or by creating a support request. EZ Texting says most support requests are handled within 30 minutes. We would have liked the possibility to contact EZ Texting directly by phone, something many competitors offer. Before reaching out, you can always browse the answers to frequently asked questions in the help center.

EZ Texting has a somewhat mixed reputation when it comes to customer service. In our research, we encountered reviews complaining of slow response times or insufficient answers, while other reviews praised customer support reps as being highly knowledgeable and helpful, especially around implementation. 

EZ Texting Drawbacks

Although we found that EZ Texting’s per-message price is usually more cost-effective than the competition, this isn’t the case with high-volume messaging. If you need to purchase thousands of additional messages a month, EZ Texting might become too expensive. For businesses looking for high-volume marketing messages at an affordable price, we recommend reading our Textedly review, our choice for scaling businesses.

While we love that EZ Texting offers so many advanced tools in its entry-level plan, we would have liked to also see the newly implemented automated workflow feature included. This is one of the few features that EZ Texting restricts to premium plans, but the price jump is significant. We were also surprised that there were so few native integrations, meaning businesses that want to include even more advanced functionality will probably need some coding knowledge. 

We were also disappointed that the mobile app isn’t fully functional. You can get notifications of incoming texts and reply to messages, but the app doesn’t allow you to compose and send mass messages or use many of the solution’s advanced features. Besides its limited functionality, the app is only available to iOS users. If you need access to advanced messaging features on the go, read our review of Textline.

Methodology

To review EZ Texting, we first sat down for a guided demo with company representatives. We then signed up for a free trial and tested the tool ourselves. We also reached out to customer support and reviewed online customer reviews. We conducted a similar review of other top text messaging services in the market. When determining which solution is the best for advanced features, we specifically looked at plans and pricing, unique features and onboarding and support.

Overall Value

We recommend EZ Texting for …

• Small businesses seeking advanced text message marketing features.
• Small businesses looking for an SMS marketing tool with an especially fast setup.
• Small businesses that want to leverage powerful AI to communicate effectively and efficiently with their customers. 

We do not recommend EZ Texting for … 

• Small businesses looking for low-cost, high-volume marketing messaging. 
• Small businesses that need to integrate their SMS platform with multiple solutions.
• Small businesses that need a fully functional mobile app.

Max Freedman contributed to this article.