Constant Contact has launched SMS marketing for Australian small businesses, its first time taking the product outside the US, on a flat monthly fee rather than per-message credits. SMS still gets opened, and that's the point.
Constant Contact has launched an SMS marketing tool for Australian small businesses, the first time it has taken the product outside the US. It folds text messaging into the email and social platform Australian customers already use, and it covers flash sales, appointment and booking reminders, loyalty messages, re-engagement and trading-peak pushes like EOFY.
The pricing is the interesting part. Constant Contact is charging a flat monthly fee rather than the per-message credit model most SMS tools use, which it says removes the budgeting headaches of credits, currency conversion and surprise charges for smaller firms.
Why it matters
SMS is the channel marketers underrate because it feels old. It is not. A text gets opened, fast, in a way email increasingly does not, and as inboxes fill with AI-generated noise and deliverability rules tighten, the direct line to a customer's pocket is getting more valuable, not less.
The pricing move matters for small business specifically. Per-message credit models punish you for sending, which makes owners hesitant and the channel underused. A flat fee changes the maths. You can plan, you can send with confidence and you stop treating every message as a cost to ration. For a small Australian business heading into a tight trading year, a cheap, direct, high-open channel is worth a serious look.
A flat monthly fee replacing per-message credits, removing the budgeting friction that holds small businesses back from SMS
What to do about it
The channel in everyone's pocket still gets read. For a small business watching its costs, a flat-fee, high-open line to the customer is worth testing now.