Why You Should Always Work with a Tier 1 SMS Aggregator

It’s no secret that intermediaries often mark up prices to cover their own costs, don’t have connections to the original source and may not offer the same quality product or service that you would expect from a direct provider. Work with a middleman and you may wind up paying excessive fees and giving up some control of the process. 

Similar risks exist in the SMS aggregation space. Fortunately, there is a small number of Tier 1 aggregators who alleviate these risks.

Tier 1 aggregators connect directly to both the top wireless networks and the smaller cellular carriers. This ensures that both SMS and MMS messages take the fastest path from your company to its customers. Plus, even the largest non-Tier 1 aggregators don’t always provide the level of service businesses expect from a true partner.

There are only four companies that have direct connection to all major U.S. carriers—Vibes being the only independent one left.

If you use a non-Tier 1 aggregator, your messages will have to be funneled through one or more additional aggregators before they even reach the carrier. That carrier then sends the message to the end user, which means there will always be a minimum of three different touchpoints before final delivery.

Don’t Risk Disappointing your Customers

Nearly 97% of the US population carries a smartphone, which makes text messaging one of the easiest and most accessible ways for your organization to communicate with current and prospective customers. These advantages can diminish quickly when companies work with non-Tier 1 aggregators.  

Here are just a few real-life examples of challenges that companies have faced when not using a Tier 1 aggregator:

• A credit card holder who receives the text message alerting them of a fraudulent new transaction - asking them to approve the purchase or not - too late.

• A patient who misses a dentist appointment because they received their text reminder for it after the fact.

• A two-factor authentication code that arrives six hours after being issued by a financial institution, sending the customer into a panic because they thought someone might be trying to access their account.

You can help your customers thwart fraud, get to the doctor on time or sleep more peacefully by working with a Tier 1 aggregator that offers the connections, expertise and customer service levels that your customers deserve. 

If you're looking for a reliable and reputable way to send SMS messages, a Tier 1 SMS aggregator is your best choice. By removing one or more “middlemen”—all of whom need to be paid for their services—from the process, Tier 1 aggregators save your business money while ensuring reliable, rapid text message delivery to your recipients.

A Tier 1 aggregator partnership isn’t just a "nice to have" for world-class message delivery; it’s a necessity. Relying on a lower tier of SMS aggregation services can increase reputational risk and position your business as unreliable in your customers’ eyes.

For example, when an SMS aggregator can’t manage a high volume of messages at scale, that can diminish customer service levels when your customers need it most. 

And if you run into a problem and need it fixed fast, there may not be anyone standing by to help you at 10pm on a Saturday night. 

Here are more benefits of working with a Tier 1 SMS aggregator:

• Faster campaign provisioning. Tier 1 aggregators handle the submission process for short codes and other sender IDs, which allow companies to send SMS and MMS messages to their customers. Without direct connections to the carriers, Tier 2 aggregators can’t handle those intricacies on your behalf.  

• Better connection speeds. Tier 1 aggregators get the highest throughput between the carriers and the messaging providers, resulting in faster distribution of SMS and MMS messages and a higher level of successful messages sent.

• Proactive technical support. If there’s a technical issue at the carrier level, the Tier 1 aggregator is likely well aware of the problem and able to address it proactively (versus waiting to be alerted to the problem and reacting to it). 

• More streamlined troubleshooting. With Tier 1 aggregators there’s less hassle for you when troubleshooting since it's all handled with one support team vs. multiple support teams with both the software company and the third party. For example, if there are service interruptions indirect connections with wireless carriers means these interruptions are harder to find and resolve when they occur, and messages must go through an additional organization, data centers, and at least one more API to reach their destination.

Standing By, Ready to Partner with You

As a Tier 1 aggregator, Vibes offers: 

• In-house, 24/7/365 award-winning customer support 

• 60+ US carrier connections including Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile

• Unrivaled throughput and uptime: our SMS uptime record since 2016 is 100%

• A system that processes 8,000 messages per second to ensure successful message delivery that reaches your audience when you need to reach them

• Unbeatable time to market - we get our customers’ campaigns provisioned and launched in market within 4-6 weeks, 3x faster than other SMS aggregators who typically need between 2-6 months

We’re also the first to know about any carrier rate changes or other news that may impact your mobile messaging and services. 

The Bottom Line

Companies looking to build resilience in times of uncertainty can lean on their Tier 1 SMS aggregator to help them develop more efficient text campaigns, save them money and to do more with less.

By removing one or more “middlemen” - all of whom need to be paid for their services - from the process, Tier 1 aggregators save your business substantial cost. They also ensure reliable, rapid throughput of text messages to your customers, every time.

Get in touch with us today to learn more about our aggregation services and how we can help your SMS business be as successful as possible.