In short: an SMS marketing platform is software that sends marketing and operational text messages to a customer list, schedules them and runs automations (abandoned cart, birthday, reminders). In Israel the choice between platforms is not decided by the advertised price per message but by three things: (1) how characters are counted - a Hebrew message is limited to 70 characters, and beyond that each part holds only 67, so a 140-character message costs three times as much; (2) whether you pay per message sent or per message delivered; (3) whether the platform manages consent and opt-outs under the Israeli spam law, which allows compensation of up to NIS 1,000 per message without proof of damage. Package prices in Israel sit at roughly 2-5 agorot (NIS 0.02-0.05) per message unit before VAT.
Written and reviewed by Shay Cohen, CEO and founder of SFB, who runs campaigns and retention automations for e-commerce stores and lead-generation businesses. Data, prices and legal sections were checked against the sources on 14.09.2026.
What an SMS marketing platform is and what it actually does
An SMS marketing platform (also called a bulk SMS system or business texting system) holds your contact list and sends text messages to it at scale, manually or automatically. Unlike an employee's phone, the platform can send to thousands of recipients at once, display a sender name instead of a number, split the list into audiences, track clicks and remove a recipient who asked to opt out.
Most platforms in Israel are already multichannel: the same interface sends SMS, email and often WhatsApp. So the question "which SMS platform is best" is really a question of fit: what you sell, where your contacts come from, and what you want to happen automatically.
| Component | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Contact management | List imports, fields (name, city, birthday), tags | Without segmentation every message goes to everyone and opt-outs rise |
| Sender name | Shows the business name in Latin letters instead of a phone number | A message from an unknown number looks like spam |
| Campaigns | One-off sends to a chosen audience, immediate or scheduled | Promotions, launches, holidays |
| Automations | A message sent automatically after an event (purchase, abandoned cart, birthday) | This is where most of the money is - see the data below |
| Consent and opt-out management | Records when and how a recipient agreed, removes them automatically on request | Your protection against spam-law lawsuits |
| Reports | Delivery, link clicks, opt-outs | Without measurement you cannot tell whether a campaign made money |
| Integrations (API and plugins) | Sync with the store, the CRM or site forms | Prevents manual imports and stale lists |
For which businesses can marketing via an SMS mailing system be suitable?
SMS suits almost any business with repeat customers or a process that needs a reminder, but not in the same way. An online store benefits mostly from automations, a clinic or salon from appointment reminders, and a lead-generation business from speed of response. The table summarizes the main use by business type:
| Business type | Main use | Example | What to measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-commerce store | Abandoned cart, holiday sales, collection launches | A discount code valid for 48 hours | Revenue per recipient |
| Restaurant, cafe | Loyalty club, birthday perk | A free dessert in the birthday month | Perk redemption |
| Clinic, salon | Appointment reminder and confirmation | "Reply 1 to confirm" | No-show rate |
| Service business (leads) | Instant reply to an inquiry, meeting reminder | A message within a minute of a form submit | Meeting-booked rate |
| Education, courses | Class reminders, new cohort opening | A reminder one hour before a webinar | Attendance rate |
| B2B | Secondary use only: event or meeting reminders | A reminder for an industry conference | Attendance |
Note the difference between an operational message (order confirmation, appointment reminder) and a marketing one. The spam law applies to advertising material, meaning a message meant to encourage a purchase. A clean appointment reminder is not advertising, but the moment you add "and 20% off an extra treatment" it becomes advertising.
70, 67, 201: why message length sets the price for Hebrew SMS
This is the number fewest businesses know, and it affects the bill more than the difference between providers. An SMS is encoded in one of two ways: GSM-7 for basic Latin characters, or UCS-2 for everything outside that table, including Hebrew and emoji. In UCS-2 a single message is capped at 70 characters. When a message is longer it is split into parts, and each part loses 3 characters to the concatenation header, leaving 67 characters per part.
The implication: a single Hebrew character, or a single emoji in an English message, drops the limit from 160 to 70 characters. It also explains the number 201 that some Israeli providers advertise: 201 is exactly three parts of 67 characters.
| Message length (Hebrew) | Parts | Message length (English only, no emoji) | Parts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 70 characters | 1 | Up to 160 characters | 1 |
| 71-134 characters | 2 | 161-306 characters | 2 |
| 135-201 characters | 3 | 307-459 characters | 3 |
| 202-268 characters | 4 | 460-612 characters | 4 |
Two things to check with a provider before comparing prices: whether billing is per part or per message (some providers bill a message of up to 201 characters as a single unit), and whether spaces, the link and the sender name are counted. A short link, the "advertisement" label and the opt-out instruction all count.
How much does an SMS marketing platform cost
Most platforms in Israel charge no subscription for a basic SMS plan; you prepay for a message package. For example, in the published price list of one provider (TextMe, checked 14.09.2026) the price ranges from 5 agorot per message in a 1,500-message package to 2 agorot per message in packages of 30,000 messages and up, before VAT, billed only for delivered messages. Multichannel platforms that include email, landing pages and automations usually price by list size per month, with messages bought separately.
The calculation to make is not "how much is a message" but how much a campaign costs, including message length and VAT:
| Campaign to 10,000 recipients | Parts per message | Cost before VAT (NIS 0.025 per part) | Cost incl. 18% VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short message, up to 70 characters | 1 | NIS 250 | NIS 295 |
| Message of 71-134 characters | 2 | NIS 500 | NIS 590 |
| Message of 135-201 characters | 3 | NIS 750 | NIS 885 |
An Israeli VAT-registered business (osek murshe) reclaims VAT, so its real cost is the pre-VAT column. An exempt business (osek patur) pays the full price.
How many orders an SMS campaign needs to pay for itself
The formula is simple: break-even orders = campaign cost ÷ (average order value × gross margin). It shows why SMS is a very cheap channel when the list is yours, and why there is no point sending to a list that never asked to hear from you.
| Average order | Gross margin | Profit per order | Break-even orders (NIS 500 campaign) | As % of 10,000 recipients |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NIS 120 | 50% | NIS 60 | 9 | 0.09% |
| NIS 200 | 40% | NIS 80 | 7 | 0.07% |
| NIS 400 | 30% | NIS 120 | 5 | 0.05% |
To calculate your store's real gross margin after product cost, shipping and payment fees, use the e-commerce profitability calculator.
How to choose an SMS marketing platform: 10 questions to ask the provider
Almost every platform that shows up in search sends SMS with the same technical reliability. The differences are in billing, integrations and consent management. These are the questions to ask before signing up:
| # | Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Do I pay per message sent or per message delivered? | An old list has inactive numbers, and per-send billing charges for them |
| 2 | How are Hebrew parts counted, and up to how many characters is a message billed as one unit? | The gap between 70 and 201 characters per unit is up to 3x in price |
| 3 | Does the package expire? | A big cheap package that expires after a year can end up more expensive |
| 4 | Can I set a sender name, and what is the approval process? | A recognized business name builds trust and lowers opt-outs |
| 5 | How does opt-out work, and is it automatic across all channels? | A recipient removed from SMS who still gets WhatsApp is a legal risk |
| 6 | Is the date and source of consent recorded? | In a lawsuit, the burden of proving consent is on you |
| 7 | Is there a native integration with the store (Shopify, WooCommerce) or the CRM? | Without it there are no abandoned-cart or post-purchase automations |
| 8 | Which automations are built in, and can I add conditions? | Automations generate most SMS revenue |
| 9 | Are links tracked, and can I add UTM parameters? | So revenue shows up in Google Analytics, not just "clicks" |
| 10 | Is there an API and Hebrew-speaking support? | For form integrations and for the campaign that gets stuck on a holiday eve |
A practical tip: before committing to a large package, send a test campaign to 500 recipients and check the report for how many messages were marked delivered, how many parts were actually counted and how many opt-outs came in.
SMS, WhatsApp or email: which fits what
For most businesses the answer is a combination, but each channel has a different job. SMS reaches any phone without an app or an internet connection, WhatsApp allows rich content and conversation, and email is the cheapest channel for long content.
| Comparison point | SMS | WhatsApp Business (API) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per part or per message, prepaid packages | Since 1 July 2025 Meta bills per delivered template message, by category and recipient country | Usually by list size per month |
| Length and content | Text and a link, 70 characters per part in Hebrew | Long text, image, video, buttons | No practical limit, full design |
| What the recipient needs | Nothing, any phone | The app installed | An active inbox |
| Two-way conversation | Limited, provider-dependent | Full. Service messages are free, and utility templates are free inside a 24-hour window | Possible, less immediate |
| Consent under the spam law | Required for advertising | Required for advertising | Required for advertising |
| Best use | Urgency: reminders, discount codes, abandoned cart | Service and conversational selling, catalog | Newsletter, content, launches with images |
For a direct chat from the site without any platform, you can create a link with a prefilled message using the WhatsApp link generator.
What is important to pay attention to when using a mailing system legally?
The "spam law" is the common name for section 30A of Israel's Communications Law (Telecommunications and Broadcasting), in force since 1 December 2008. It prohibits sending advertising material by SMS, email, fax or automated dialing to anyone who has not agreed to it in advance. The table lays out the practical requirements:
| Requirement | What it means in practice | The common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Prior consent | Explicit consent, in writing, by electronic message or recorded call, before the first message | A pre-ticked checkbox, or assuming that leaving details means agreeing to marketing |
| Existing-customer exception | Sending without separate consent is allowed only if the customer gave details during a purchase, was told they would be used for advertising, was offered a chance to refuse and did not, and the message is about similar products | Promoting a completely different product, or messaging someone who only inquired and never bought |
| "Advertisement" label | The Hebrew word for advertisement ("pirsomet") appears at the start of the message (in email, in the subject line) | Hiding the label at the end of the message to save characters |
| Advertiser details | The business name and a way to make contact | A sender name that does not identify the business |
| A way to refuse | A simple opt-out, for SMS for example by reply message or phone, at no cost beyond the transmission cost | An opt-out link that does not work, or opt-outs not synced across channels |
| Honoring the refusal | Anyone who asked to be removed receives no more advertising | Re-importing an old list that includes removed recipients |
The financial risk: a court may award compensation of up to NIS 1,000 per message sent in breach of the law, without the recipient proving damage, and the compensation accumulates. A breach is also a criminal offense, with a fine of up to NIS 226,000 (as of 2026). A 10,000-message campaign to a list bought from a third party is therefore a theoretical risk of millions of shekels, while it costs a few hundred to send.
And privacy: a mailing list is a database of personal information. Amendment 13 to Israel's Privacy Protection Law, in force since 14 August 2025, expanded the enforcement powers of the Privacy Protection Authority. In practice that means storing the list only in a secured system, giving access only to those who need it, and not handing it to vendors without an agreement. This is a marketing overview, not legal advice; for the wording of a consent form, consult a lawyer.
Automations: where SMS really makes money
The most interesting number in the field comes from Klaviyo's 2026 benchmark report, based on more than 183,000 of the company's customers: SMS flows account for only 7.6% of messages sent, yet drive 45.2% of SMS revenue, with click rates nearing 10% on average, almost double campaign performance. These are global e-commerce figures, not Israeli market data, but the direction matches what we see in the accounts we manage: a message sent at the right moment beats a message sent to everyone.
| Automation | When it sends | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| Abandoned cart | One to four hours after abandonment | A reminder with a direct link to the cart. A discount, if at all, only in a second message |
| Welcome | Right after signup | The perk promised on the form, with an expiry |
| Post-purchase | After the delivery arrives | A review request or a complementary product |
| Birthday | At the start of the month or on the day | A personal perk valid for a few days |
| Replenishment | By the product's usage cycle (e.g. 30 days for a supplement) | "Running low?" with a reorder link |
| Win-back | After 90-180 days without a purchase | A meaningful perk, and if there is no response - removal from the active list |
Building such a system end to end, including segmentation and revenue measurement, is exactly what we do in e-commerce retention marketing. A companion article on improving site conversions with a mailing system is the mailing system conversion guide.
How to write an SMS that sells
A good message answers three questions in its first line: who is sending, what the offer is and until when. Everything else is a link and an opt-out. A few rules that work:
- Business name as the sender, the offer at the start of the text. The phone preview shows only the beginning.
- A real deadline. "Until midnight" works only if it is true.
- One link only, shortened and with UTM. Two links confuse and add a part.
- No emoji in English messages. One emoji drops the limit from 160 to 70 characters.
- Send time. Not at night, not on Shabbat or holidays, and not at the hour every competitor sends before a holiday.
- Count before sending. The advertisement label, the business name, the link and the opt-out instruction all count.
How to measure whether an SMS campaign made money
The 98% open rate on every provider's landing page is a number that cannot be measured: SMS has no tracking pixel, so an "open" is usually an estimate based on delivery, not reading. The metrics that do predict success are click rate, opt-out rate and revenue per recipient.
| Metric | How to calculate | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery rate | Delivered ÷ sent | List quality. A drop = old numbers |
| Click rate | Unique clicks ÷ delivered | Whether the offer and copy are relevant |
| Opt-out rate | Opt-outs ÷ delivered | Frequency or relevance. A sharp rise = stop and segment |
| Revenue per recipient | Campaign revenue ÷ delivered | The only metric that compares campaigns and channels |
| Net campaign profit | Revenue × gross margin - sending cost | Whether to send again |
For revenue to appear in Google Analytics 4 and not only in the platform report, add parameters such as utm_source=sms and utm_medium=sms with the campaign name to every link, and make sure the purchase event is tracked properly on the site. If you need help setting up measurement, it is part of our Google Analytics specialist services.
The platform we use in e-commerce stores
In some of the e-commerce stores we manage we work with Flashy, an Israeli marketing automation platform that connects to Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix and combines SMS, email and lead-capture popups. Disclosure: this is an affiliate link, and if you sign up through it we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It is not necessarily the right platform for every business: a lead-generation business that mainly needs reminders, or one that sends SMS only, can do with a simpler and cheaper system. Use the 10 questions above to compare.
Frequently asked questions about SMS marketing platforms
What is the difference between an SMS platform and a regular mailing system?
A "regular" mailing system is usually an email platform. An SMS platform sends text messages to phones, with a length limit and per-message billing. Today most platforms in Israel combine both channels, and often WhatsApp, in one interface with a single contact list and shared opt-out management.
How much does a business SMS cost in Israel?
In prepaid packages the price is roughly 2 to 5 agorot per message unit before VAT, and the larger the package the lower the unit price. More important than the per-message price: how many parts your message actually takes, whether you pay only for delivered messages, and whether the package expires.
How many characters are in a Hebrew SMS?
70 characters in a single message. A longer message is split into parts of 67 characters each, so 134 characters is two parts and 201 characters is three. An English-only message without emoji allows 160 characters, then 153 per part.
Can I send marketing SMS to existing customers without consent?
Only under the existing-customer exception: the customer gave their details during a purchase, was told they would be used for advertising, was offered a chance to refuse and did not, and the message concerns similar products or services. If any condition is missing, explicit consent is required.
Do I have to label every message as an advertisement?
Yes, every message that is advertising material. The label must appear at the start of the message, together with the advertiser's details and a way to refuse. A clean operational message, such as an order confirmation or an appointment reminder with no marketing offer, is not advertising material.
Which is better for a business, SMS or WhatsApp?
It depends on the goal. SMS is better for short, urgent messages that must reach any phone, such as reminders and discount codes. WhatsApp is better when you want an image, buttons or a conversation with the customer. On cost, since July 2025 Meta bills WhatsApp per delivered template message at a rate that depends on the message category and the recipient's country, so compare per campaign, not per message.
How often should I send marketing SMS?
There is no single right number, and the opt-out rate is the metric that decides. In the accounts we manage, most stores send one to four campaigns a month, alongside automations that go only to people who took an action. If the opt-out rate jumps after a campaign, that is a sign to lower frequency or segment the list.
How do I know whether an SMS campaign was profitable?
Calculate the gross profit from the revenue the campaign generated and subtract the sending cost. To see that revenue in Google Analytics, add UTM parameters to the link. A break-even rule of thumb: campaign cost divided by the gross profit of an average order gives the number of orders needed not to lose money.
Sources and review date
The data on this page was checked on 14.09.2026: section 30A of Israel's Communications Law (Telecommunications and Broadcasting), 1982, via the Kol Zchut rights guide (updated 17.02.2026) and the Hebrew Wikipedia entry on the spam law; the WhatsApp Business Platform pricing documentation on Meta for Developers; Klaviyo's 2026 SMS benchmarks; TextMe's published price list; and Twilio's documentation on SMS encoding (GSM-7 and UCS-2). Prices and rates change; in case of conflict, the provider's current price list and the official text of the law prevail.
