Postscript announced a $65M Series C in June 2022 led by 01 Advisors, with participation from Twilio Ventures, Expanding Capital, m]x[v Capital, and existing investors Greylock, Accomplice, Elephant, and OpenView.

Earlier investors include Y Combinator.

Postscript is a SMS platform that helps Shopify stores connect with customers via text. Brands can segment lists, generate deep data flows, and manage subscriptions. Its standout feature is automations, personalized messages based on consumer behavior that are sent following a specific customer action, such as ‘fulfillment created’ and ‘order in transit’. Users have a long list of options to filter their triggers, resulting in more efficient workflows.

Prior to automations, users must build a list of compliant subscribers. There are four ways to do so on Postscript: keywords, pop-ups, opt-in links, and QR codes. For keywords, users are able to add custom fields, coupon codes, and discount links, but the process is slow. In terms of pop-ups, one unique feature is inclusion and exclusion of certain pages where the pop-up can be shown. QR codes are a tool that many SMS marketing tools lack. Postscript lets users export their QR code as a scalable SVG file.

Postscript connects Shopify shopping and order data to customer messaging, with integrations including Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Zendesk. Its visual flow builder includes templates for welcome messages, browse and cart abandonment, upsell, and shipping updates. Shopper adds AI-driven responses and personalized journeys using a brand’s product catalog, offers, and knowledge base; its Campaigns component is in alpha. Postscript also offers RCS messaging, while its Email product is presented with a waitlist.

Postscript combines platform subscriptions with messaging charges. Starter has no monthly platform fee but a $49 minimum spend; Growth costs $100 per month and Professional $500, with custom Enterprise pricing. US/Canada SMS rates range from $0.009 on Starter to $0.007 on Professional, with carrier fees passed through separately at cost.

Its AI plan adds a $699 monthly fee plus product-specific message charges for capabilities including Shopper and Infinity Testing. This creates another monetization layer above sending messages: merchants can pay for automated conversations and optimization while Postscript’s included customer data layer supports those workflows.

Installs for Postscript on Shopify have risen 26.5% YoY. Click through rates in messages sent by merchants on the platform range between 7.5% and 40%, much higher than the average email engagement rate of 2%. This partnership has helped Postscript corner a niche, but it’s seeking to expand into other markets to diversify revenue streams.

Postscript competes directly with Attentive and Klaviyo for Shopify merchants’ retention marketing budgets, and with Braze and Iterable for broader customer engagement. Shopify data integration, opt-in conversion, deliverability, and attributable incremental sales are central to competition. Postscript’s AI conversations and planned email offering expand the contest from SMS delivery into ownership of more of the merchant’s customer messaging workflow.

These companies, including Postscript, deliver marketing solutions, some of which are automated, through different kinds of digital channels, from email to mobile. They primarily sell to businesses seeking to personalize and scale outreach. Mailchimp is easy to use and its analytics are detailed, the ideal combination for non-technical members. 

These platforms focus on the user experience and tend to be more user-friendly and flexible. For example, Customer.io allows customers to set up and automate promotional emails, while running transactional emails at the same time. This is beneficial because customers can trigger a promotional email without interfering with system emails. 

These tools are designed for sales management. They help customers close more deals and streamline the sales process. Zendesk Sell is a CRM that requires minimal onboarding and is a unified place for salespeople to organize their contacts, deals, and calendar. 

Some companies are hybrids with Iterable and Braze being two examples. The former has a software that gathers consumer data and automatically sorts consumers into segments. It then sends customized messages based on the relevant information via email or text. The latter is similar in that it captures customers across the digital media spectrum and uses different sources to interact with users and send them targeted messages. Braze and Iterable provide broader customer engagement suites, while Postscript combines SMS, RCS, and AI messaging capabilities and is developing an email offering.

The global SMS marketing software market is forecasted to hit $24.7B by 2028 from $5.6B in 2021 at a CAGR of 20.4%. Surging popularity of social media and the rise of online shopping are driving growth. Additionally, email performance has plunged 45% over the past five years, spurring the emergence of text messaging as a key marketing medium. 

SMS marketing isn’t the norm yet, but it’s becoming more relevant. 83% of people received a text from a business in 2020. Furthermore, 61% of marketers planned on boosting SMS marketing budgets last year. Companies that help brands create personalized and behavior-targeted text messages, like Postscript, are poised for growth.  

Shopper extends Postscript from scheduled messages into product recommendations, purchase objections, and ongoing customer conversations over SMS and RCS. The opportunity is to capture spending on selling and personalization as well as campaign delivery. Its planned email product would also let it pursue email marketing budgets within the same merchant accounts, but the waitlist does not yet establish meaningful email revenue.

As of now, Postscript is compatible exclusively with Shopify stores. However, the plan is to create an API that enables deeper integrations into other Shopify plugins. The company wants to work with some of its best customers on other platforms, reaching a varied base of audiences and increasing network effects. 

Platform and AI execution: Postscript’s deep Shopify integration concentrates distribution and customer data access in one commerce ecosystem. Its expansion into automated customer conversations also makes accuracy and brand controls more important: inappropriate recommendations, unsupported claims, or poorly timed messages can damage merchant trust and increase unsubscribes. The company must demonstrate incremental sales sufficient to justify the added AI fees while preserving consent and deliverability.

SMS marketing is highly regulated. Businesses must get permission from customers before sending messages. Failure to do so can cost owners up to $1,500 per message. Thus, a lot of brands, in particular major ones, are hesitant to rely on this strategy, making it challenging for Postscript to move upmarket.