SMS marketing software includes features like subscriber list building, segmentation, text campaign creation, and automations. High-performing small businesses from churches to dental practices are rapidly adopting SMS marketing software to improve customer engagement.

This article will discuss the differences between two of the largest players in this space: SlickText and Avochato. We’ll discuss the notable strengths and weaknesses of each tool, as well as providing recommendations for who each tool will suit best.

All of our recommendations are based on research, product demos with the software companies, and dozens of hours spent hand-testing the SMS marketing tools. More details regarding our research process can be found on our SMS marketing category page.

SlickText & Avochato Comparison Summary

We researched and extensively tested both SlickText and Avochato. SlickText received a SoftwarePundit Analyst Rating of 90 while Avochato received a rating of 84.

Here’s a breakdown of our review criteria and how SlickText and Avochato performed in each category:

In terms of pricing, SlickText is cheaper than Avochato for less than 5,000 messages per month. If you send more than 5,000 messages per month, both solutions are similarly priced. Avochato’s pricing is not perfectly transparent – they require you to pay for four users, which means you will have to pay at least $92 per month. SlickText begins at $29 per month for up to 500 messages.

Both solutions offer the standard features found in SMS marketing tools. These include subscriber list builders, customer segments, campaigns, and automations. SlickText’s standout features are its campaigns and subscriber data storage capabilities. Avochato’s strong points are its unlimited subscriber opt-in keywords and website widgets.

Overall, SlickText is the stronger application that is better for most small businesses. It has advanced features which can help you target your audience more effectively than Avochato. However, if you are not interested in targeted marketing and mainly leverage SMS marketing for two-way communication, we recommend Avochato for your business.

Here’s a quick breakdown of who will prefer each option:

Table of Contents

• SlickText & Avochato Comparison Summary
• SlickText & Avochato Price Comparison
  • SlickText Pricing
  • Avochato Pricing
• SlickText & Avochato Top Feature Comparison
  • Subscriber List Building
  • Campaigns
  • Segmentation
  • Automation
• SlickText & Avochato Integrations
• Bottom Line

SlickText & Avochato Price Comparison

SlickText is cheaper than Avochato for less than 5,000 messages per month. Avochato becomes more expensive if you are planning on sending 25,000 messages or more.

SlickText’s pricing is based on messages sent per month along with the number of opt-in keywords. Comparatively, Avochato has a monthly platform fee alongside an additional fee for messages sent per month.

SlickText Pricing Details

SlickText pricing begins at $29 per month. Plans are based on messages sent per month and keywords available.

Avochato Pricing Details

Avochato pricing starts at $92 dollars per month and $0.03 per message. Each plan comes with 2,000 messages per month.

Here are some prices you might spend based on messages sent per month:

SlickText & Avochato Feature Comparison

SlickText and Avochato are similar in the features that they offer, but SlickText’s features are more robust. This is especially true when it comes to campaigns and segmentation.

For a full analysis of each solution’s features, read our SlickText and Avochato reviews.

Subscriber List Building

Subscriber list building is similarly effective in both SlickText and Avochato. SlickText is slightly stronger due to the flexibility of its keyword opt-ins. In addition, SlickText has more powerful methods for capturing subscriber data after opt-in.

You can build your subscriber list primarily through opt-in keywords, manual imports and web forms in SlickText. In contrast, Avochato allows keywords, manual imports, text surveys, and live chat widgets. Unlike SlickText, Avochato provides an unlimited number of opt-in keywords in all plans.

SlickText gives you more options to respond to subscribers after they opt-in using a keyword. For example, you can add coupon codes, shorten links, and add expiration dates to your auto-reply. With Avochato, none of these options are available. Avochato’s biggest strength in this category is its unlimited keywords.

Both applications have respective methods of capturing subscriber information upon opt-in. SlickText’s method is its web forms, as seen above. SlickText’s web forms can be paired with its unlimited custom fields to capture any type of subscriber information that your business wants.

Avochato’s primary capture method is its text surveys. Subscribers are sent a set of questions after opting-in. Each answer is then stored into its respective custom field. This is an effective way to engage with subscribers directly and simultaneously capture relevant information.

Avochato’s live chat widgets are one of the more unique subscriber list building options offered by an SMS marketing tool. These are widgets you can embed on your website to engage subscribers with two-way conversations and simultaneously add them to your list. The primary use case for live chat widgets would be a customer service team assisting subscribers with any questions they have about your business.

Ultimately, Avochato’s live chat widgets are a unique way to facilitate two-way communication with subscribers. Still, we feel that SlickText’s subscriber list building options make it easier to leverage customer data in campaigns.

Campaigns

Overall, campaigns in SlickText are more powerful than Avochato. This is primarily due to SlickText’s ability to capture and leverage customer data. SlickText also has more campaigns in general. Both applications do offer drip campaigns.

SlickText’s standout campaign type are its surveys. Surveys are an effective way to engage with subscribers and simultaneously collect data. In contrast, there are no opportunities to collect data from subscribers in Avochato’s campaigns.

SlickText surveys can have different response types. You can create numeric, multiple choice, or open ended response types and store each response in a custom field that you’ve created. This means you can collect both quantitative and qualitative data from your subscribers, which adds an extra layer of depth for your targeted marketing opportunities.

Seen above is Avochato’s drip campaign builder. Although it’s effective, SlickText’s drip campaigns simply have more options to choose from.

The two primary features found in SlickText and not Avochato are the ability to link drip messages to segments and providing more conditions to trigger drip messages.

Segmentation

Segmentation is more robust in SlickText than it is in Avochato because there are more segment conditions, and segments can be stored in SlickText’s system. This means your business can leverage SlickText for more opportunities to target subscribers with highly personalized messages.

As seen above, SlickText’s segmentation tool is robust. You can choose dimensions from three categories: customer activity, contact information, and demographic. Compared to Avochato, SlickText has more relevant segment dimensions about your customers and their activity. Retail and ecommerce businesses will find this helpful for targeting their customers based on their purchases and money spent.

Avochato’s segmentation tool is less powerful and user-friendly compared to SlickText. The biggest limitation is that you cannot store segments in Avochato’s system. They must be exported as .csv files instead. Although you can apply unique tags to contacts, this feature does not make up for the lack of segment dimensions.

Automation

SMS marketing platforms can be used to automatically send subscriber opt-in confirmations and drip campaigns. Overall, SlickText is slightly stronger – it offers more complex drip campaigns and subscriber opt-in confirmations than Avochato.

Opt-in confirmations come with more features in SlickText than in Avochato. For example, you can shorten links, create unique coupon codes, and set dynamic expiration dates to your opt-in confirmations. None of these features are available in Avochato.

Integrations

Integrations are primarily handled through Zapier in both SlickText and Avochato. Here are some of the most popular native integrations both solutions offer:

Bottom Line

Overall, SlickText is the stronger application that is better for most small businesses. It has advanced features which can help you target your audience more effectively than Avochato. However, if you are not interested in targeted marketing and mainly leverage SMS marketing for two-way communication, we recommend Avochato for your business.

There are a few other SMS marketing solutions that you might want to consider:

If you’re interested, visit SlickText or Avochato today to get started.