Traditional outbound calling and one-way text campaigns once defined lead engagement. But in 2025, these outdated methods often feel robotic and inefficient. Consumers aren't looking for generic responses and endless loops of trying to get the information they want and need. Instead, they expect real-time, human-like conversations that meet them where they are, which is on mobile devices.
That’s why businesses are turning to conversational AI for technology that doesn’t just send messages, but also engages in intelligent two-way dialogues that convert leads, qualify prospects, and schedule appointments automatically.
Among the early leaders in this space, Drips.com helped popularize automated SMS and voicemail outreach. However, as the industry evolves, many companies are searching for more agile, scalable, and transparent solutions that move beyond what Drips can offer.
Enter Mav, our next-generation platform that's redefining conversational marketing through true AI engagement. Here's why businesses are seeking Drips alternatives and how Mav stands out as the superior choice for modern, AI-powered communication.
Drips.com positions itself as a “Conversations as a Service (CaaS)” platform, offering automated outreach through SMS, voicemail, and call scheduling using legacy SMS marketing software. The idea is to nurture leads over time through consistent messaging that encourages those leads to become loyal customers with structured drip campaigns.
While Drips has established itself in the enterprise space, many growing businesses find it lacks the flexibility, transparency, and innovation needed for 2025’s conversational marketing demands. In short, it provides too much of a robotic feel and doesn't offer the level of engagement that potential customers are seeking. if your leads feel like they're "talking to a robot" they generally don't feel like your organization cares about them as people.
While Drips still remains popular, there are some specific pain points users find with it. These include:
Complexity and rigidity: Configuring campaigns and AI responses often requires external support or specialized expertise.
Enterprise-focused design: Smaller teams may find the platform overbuilt for their needs, with limited customization or responsiveness.
Opaque management and performance visibility: Users report difficulty in monitoring conversations and adjusting workflows in real time.
Limited conversational adaptability: While Drips automates messages, it’s not always capable of true dialogue, such as understanding context or intent in a natural way.
If your organization wants more conversational intelligence, faster implementation, and better alignment with modern workflows, exploring Drips alternatives like Mav is the logical next step for more effective marketing campaigns powered by two-way text messaging.
When you're evaluating alternatives to Drips, it’s important to focus on the core functionality that actually impacts engagement and conversion. A modern conversational AI platform should go beyond scripted automation to deliver contextual, compliant, and integrated experiences at scale, so you can move leads into the customer category through smooth transitions that help them feel valued while you sync customer data across systems and align with your social media marketing and other marketing campaigns.
True conversational AI does more than trigger responses. It also understands intent. Platforms like Mav use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to interpret human input, respond intelligently, and adapt across the customer journey, so the experience is like interacting with a real person. Among the main key elements of advanced conversational AI include:
Natural language understanding (NLU): Enables the AI to grasp meaning, not just keywords.
Response generation: Delivers context-aware, human-like replies that feel natural and relevant.
Context retention: Remembers prior interactions, enabling continuous conversations over days or weeks.
Lead qualification and scheduling: Guides prospects to the next best step, including booking an appointment, confirming an interest, or routing to an agent.
These capabilities make the difference between a basic messaging tool and a high-performance conversion engine. When you're serious about moving your organization forward, you need to ensure your leads don't feel like they're talking to a robot that doesn't care about their business by meeting them with natural text messaging inside your SMS marketing platform.
Seamless integration ensures conversational data flows across your ecosystem from marketing automation to CRM. Mav’s integration suite supports real-time syncing and customizable APIs, making it ideal for scaling without friction. Top evaluation criteria include CRM and marketing automation compatibility (Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, etc.), API flexibility for custom workflows, unlimited concurrent conversations without throttling, and enterprise-grade uptime and delivery reliability.
Modern marketing teams like yours can’t afford fragmentation. The best Drips alternatives unify communication, data, and decision-making across every customer touchpoint, for a cohesive feel that works for your leads and your potential customers at the same time. This extends to mobile app marketing and web push notifications.
Mav represents the next evolution in conversational engagement. We're built for SMS-first communication and powered by AI that feels genuinely human. While Drips focuses heavily on automated outbound calling, Mav flips the model. We're a text-first conversational AI platform designed to meet modern customers where they actually respond, via SMS and mobile messaging. With Mav, businesses see:
50% faster lead response times
Significant increases in operational efficiency across marketing and sales
Our unique Party Lines feature even bridges the gap between digital and human interaction, enabling seamless SMS-to-live call transfers when a lead is ready to talk.
Choosing Mav is easy when you see how we outperform legacy messaging systems by combining intelligence, speed, and transparency in one cohesive platform. You'll get industry-vetted playbooks with proven conversational flows tailored to verticals like healthcare, insurance, and home services, along with custom training data. You can upload your own scripts, FAQs, or manuals so the AI reflects your brand’s voice and expertise.
When instant lead response is needed we help you engage prospects immediately after form submission, to ensure no opportunity goes cold. Our simple implementation also means you can go live quickly with guided onboarding and pre-configured templates, and you'll enjoy transparent performance insights to monitor your campaign metrics in real time for optimization and accountability with advanced analytics dashboards.
Mav is not just a Drips alternative. We're a complete modernization of how conversational marketing should work, for all your mobile customer interaction needs and a more user friendly interface than legacy tools.
Different industries require different conversational strategies, and at Mav, our architecture and playbooks are built to meet the unique challenges of property and casualty insurance. Whether you focus on home, auto, or bundled policies, we can deliver the tailored interaction and actionable insight agents need to stay competitive.
P&C insurance is fast-paced and detail-driven, with consumers expecting quick answers and smooth communication. We support this reality by automating the essential conversations that turn leads into customers. Here are just a few of the ways our P&C-specific approach makes an impact:
Quote qualification: Let us streamline the front end of the quoting process by gathering key details, such as vehicle information, property attributes, coverage needs, timelines, and more. Once a lead is qualified, we'll seamlessly route it to the appropriate licensed agent so your team receives clean, ready-to-quote opportunities.
Quote follow-up: When prospects request a quote but go silent, we step in with timely, conversational follow-ups. These personalized nudges revive stalled opportunities and help capture business that could otherwise slip through the cracks.
By adapting to the workflows, compliance requirements, and data needs of each insurance vertical, we're here to empower your business to deliver personal, compliant, and effective engagement at scale. The result is more conversions, stronger retention, and happier policyholders, all with a fraction of the manual effort.
Switching platforms can feel daunting, but we simplify the process with guided onboarding and dedicated support. Our migration support ensures existing contacts, scripts, and campaign logic transition smoothly from Drips or other platforms, and our team works alongside all our clients to map workflows, replicate automations, and test conversational journeys before going live using familiar drag and drop builders and a dedicated account manager for white glove assistance.
Onboarding timelines vary depending on complexity, but most teams can launch fully functional campaigns within weeks, not months. Once it's deployed, Mav’s training and support resources ensure continuous optimization so your teams can easily update conversations, analyze engagement data, and fine-tune AI behavior for evolving business goals.
Choosing the right conversational AI platform isn’t about comparing feature checklists. Instead, it’s about finding the system that aligns with your operational goals, compliance needs, and customer expectations.
Drips remains a capable solution for large enterprises with complex outbound structures, but for most modern organizations seeking flexibility, ease of use, and genuine conversational intelligence, Mav is the clear choice. Here's why:
For lean marketing teams: Mav’s automation accelerates response times and reduces manual follow-ups while replacing an affordable email marketing platform for certain use cases.
For compliance-sensitive industries: Built-in TCPA and HIPAA safeguards maintain regulatory adherence.
For growth-focused organizations: Integration-ready APIs and no ceiling on conversation volume ensure scalability.
Conversational AI is no longer a “nice-to-have.” It’s a competitive necessity for delivering human-level engagement at digital scale and keeping your organization moving in the right direction with a modern SMS marketing service that your team actually enjoys using.
When you're ready to get started you can learn more by requesting a personalized demo. We're here to help you find the solution that most fully meets your needs.
The future of engagement is conversational, and Mav is leading the way. Businesses using Mav experience an 89% lift in lead-to-contact rate, proving that intelligent, personalized communication drives results. Whether you’re replacing Drips or starting fresh, we offer the expertise, technology, and support to help your organization thrive. Ready to modernize your outreach? Get started today, or contact us with all your questions. We'll help you build smarter, faster, and more human conversations that convert.
Drips focuses on automated messaging sequences, while Mav delivers true conversational engagement through natural language understanding and adaptive dialogue.
Most Mav clients migrate within a few weeks thanks to guided onboarding and data import support.
Yes. Mav is built with TCPA, HIPAA, and industry-specific compliance in mind, ensuring every message meets regulatory standards.
Absolutely. Mav connects with major systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, and custom CRMs through flexible APIs.
Businesses typically see higher lead engagement, faster response times, and more efficient conversions, all of which contribute to measurable growth in sales performance.
Party Lines enables instant SMS-to-live call transfers, eliminating delays between lead qualification and human interaction.
Mav’s modular platform supports both small teams and large enterprises, scaling seamlessly with your organization’s needs.
Mav offers hands-on onboarding, best-practice guidance, and ongoing success management to ensure your conversational strategy thrives.
