5 Benefits of Using a Phone Validator API for SMS Marketing Campaigns
Using a phone validator API can improve your SMS marketing campaigns. How? Here we share 5 major benefits of using a phone validator API. Start sending messages more quickly, more accurately, and more securely.
Keep reading to find out what a phone validator API is, how it works, and how it can benefit your SMS marketing campaigns. If you use SMS for marketing, it’s important that you do it right to get the best results.
What is a Phone Validator API?
API stands for “application programming interface”. Basically, an API is an application (or app) that is able to operate data. Specifically, Searchbug’s APIs are apps that verify data and find personal contact information in real-time.
APIs are powerful search tools that can be integrated directly into your own website, application, or mobile app. Searchbug offers many search tools and services that you can use each time you visit our website, but by integrating an API into your own website, you benefit from data operation automatically.
APIs allow you to keep your database records current, know your customers better, and stay compliant with current regulations. In the case of a phone validator API in particular, it can identify line types, local number portability (LNP), and carriers of numbers that enter your website on forms.
This allows you to know which numbers are active or disconnected, which numbers have been ported to a new carrier, and which numbers are on the federal Do Not Call (DNC) list. All of this information at your fingertips helps make your phone data more meaningful.
Next are 5 ways using a phone validator API can especially improve your SMS marketing campaigns.
5 Benefits of Using a Phone Validator API for SMS Marketing Campaigns
With around a 98% open rate, SMS messaging is an effective marketing strategy. But there are many more benefits you can experience when you work with verified, clean, accurate phone data.
1. Ensure SMS Delivery
First, a phone validator API verifies phone numbers so that you can send SMS text messages successfully. Do you know how many phone numbers that enter your database on web forms are fake or outdated? Would you rather not know…?
Consumers sometimes provide incorrect data intentionally in order to avoid marketing calls and messages. Integrating a phone validator API directly into your website lets you know whether a phone number is active or disconnected at the point of entry.
That means you don’t have to wait until you send an SMS message and get an undeliverable message in return to find out that you have numbers on your list that are inactive. The reachable phone number API verifies that a phone number is reachable as soon as it enters your database.
A phone validator API also identifies the line type of each number that enters your database. This way, you can organize phone numbers that are landline and those that are mobile.
The more reachable numbers you have at your disposal, the more SMS messages you can accurately and consistently deliver. Therefore, the better your SMS marketing campaigns will be.
2. Save Time and Money
Unfortunately, it costs money to send SMS messages. So you want to make sure that each SMS message you send converts to a sale or lead. Furthermore, you don’t want to waste money sending SMS messages to numbers that aren’t even reachable.
For example, you will want to know which phone numbers that enter your database are landline and which are mobile. There is no sense in sending SMS messages to landline numbers that you know won’t be able to receive them.
A phone validator API ensures that only good, valid data enters your system. This way, you can be confident that the time and energy you spend working with your data will be worth it. It also provides you with more accurate metrics which will positively influence future business and marketing decisions.
3. Speed Up SMS Delivery
A phone validator API can identify the carrier of each number that enters your database. This speeds up SMS delivery and ensures accuracy. Text messaging software requires the phone carrier of the number it’s sending a message to. Each carrier is like a route, and when the software knows which route it needs, it can deliver messages quicker.
You can do a phone number carrier lookup one by one if you have only a few or in bulk for an entire database. But with a phone number API, you can get this information automatically for each number that enters your database!
4. Use SMS/MMS Email
If you have each carrier’s domain, you can compile a list of SMS email addresses. For example, the format of an SMS email address will look something like 8009902930@vtext.com—the user’s mobile number and carrier.
However, you can’t utilize SMS/MMS email unless you know the correct domain. Which means you need to know the carrier of each mobile phone number you want to message. Phone validator APIs can provide the direct carrier address to send text messages to each phone via email. SMS email is useful for sending mass SMS messages via email when you have text-based permissions (which save the cost of using a 3rd party text message provider).
5. Remain TCPA Compliant
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) doesn’t just cover phone calls. Regulations cover SMS messaging as well. TCPA guidelines are broad enough to cover landline numbers as well as mobile numbers.
You can avoid millions of dollars of fines by honoring the DNC registry. How do you know which numbers are safe to text and which aren’t? A phone validator API can screen for numbers listed on the DNC list in real time. This allows you to not take any unnecessary risks and save yourself thousands of dollars in fines per number per offense.
How to Use a Phone Validator API
To use Searchbug’s phone validator API, all you need is a free Searchbug account and a prepaid balance. You can start with $10 to test the system and see if it works for you, but afterwards you will want to increase your balance to match your anticipated volume. This way, your service won’t be interrupted.
Each API is unique both in function and in cost. You will want to compare phone verification APIs to see which one best meets your needs. Then, you can estimate the cost by entering your anticipated number of monthly queries. Keep in mind that with monthly cumulative volume-based pricing, the rate automatically decreases as your monthly volume increases! The price resets on the first of each month.
Our phone validator API is available for U.S. and Canadian phone numbers. Results are delivered in XML or JSON format, the service is quick and reliable, there are no contracts (just a minimum balance), and data handling is secure and private.
Why Use a Phone Validator API for SMS Marketing Campaigns?
A phone validator API helps keep your database full of verified, clean, accurate data that is ready for you to use right away. Validating data at the point of entry saves the time and money associated with manual data cleaning and using invalid or outdated information.
The quicker you have usable phone data, the quicker you can roll out your SMS marketing campaigns. After that, you benefit from more accurate delivery, more conversion potential, and more reliable metrics. For just $10, you can try it and see for yourself today!
