SMS & Email Marketing have roles to play in your overall marketing strategy. Each holds unique benefits in the way they deliver information to your current and future audiences.
But it can be confusing to know which one will give you the highest return on investment for each campaign you’re running – so right now we’re going to compare the advantages and disadvantages of using both SMS and email marketing.
There are five key variables marketers weigh when making a change to their delivery campaign, and they are:
- Open Rate
- Deliverability
- Click-Through Rate
- Cost
- Customization
We’re going to go over each category.
1. Open Rate
Consumers today are more distracted than ever. I mean think about it, have you ever been watching TV while scrolling through your phone, or reading work emails while listening to a podcast?
As a marketer, you’re constantly facing the challenge of trying to grab the attention of your audience and making sure that only you have it. Text message marketing HAS people’s attention.
The average OPEN RATE for a text message campaign is 98% compared to just a 20% open rate from email marketing campaigns.
Not to mention, the average person REPLIES to a text message within 90 SECONDS compared to 90 minutes for an email.
— 𝘾 𝙃 𝙄 𝙀 𝙁 (@realchasecurtis) April 2, 2020
The average open rate for a text message campaign is 98% compared to just a 20% open rate from email marketing campaigns. Not to mention, the average person replies to a text message within 90 seconds compared to 90 minutes for an email. Even though the world is distracting, text message marketing is a direct route to the attention of your audience.
2. Deliverability
Since SMS marketing requires the customer to either opt-in or out, your list is made up of only engaged customers. On the other hand, marketing emails typically have larger lists with more frequent sends.
Even if you’re not doing it intentionally, emails have a higher chance of being sent to the spam folder – damaging your reputation and breaking trust with your customers.
With statistics like, “49% of all emails being marked as spam,” you’re already having to work much harder to get your messages into your audience’s inbox.
On top of that, someone working in an office receives over 120 emails a day. Where the average millennial only receives about 67 texts each day.
Because there are fewer texts being received the likelihood of seeing these messages is higher. Overall, using text message marketing means there’s a higher chance of your message being delivered to your audience.
3. Click-Through Rate
For both SMS and email marketing, your click-through rate has the potential to be high, but it depends on how well you craft your call-to-action.
The average CTR of an email hovers around 4%, however, a good call to action could multiply your average CTR by four to five times.
With text message marketing, it’s more challenging to craft a compelling call to action because you’re limited to a hundred and sixty characters.
The whole point of your marketing effort is to motivate your audience to act on an offer, the most powerful asset you have is the link. When you use a branded link the customer immediately understands what the CTA is and is more likely to follow through.
4. Cost
The cost to send an SMS varies by country, but overall SMS does cost more than an email marketing campaign.
Email marketing is the most cost-effective way to send non-time-sensitive messages to a large audience.
Since the customization and email marketing varies from business to business and send to send, the direct cost of each campaign can vary – but it’s generally still lower than SMS. And category number five is:
5. Customization
Which email was the clear winner because of its ability for personalization. Whether you’re using HTML or text-only sends, email lets you add attachments, hyperlinks, images, and videos.
Email marketing gives you more freedom to customize messages to fully connect with your audience as a brand. From the colors you use to the type of copy to the use of images gifs or videos.
Conclusion
Email and text marketing should both play a role in your overall marketing strategy… if you can afford them. The biggest takeaway is to weigh the costs and benefits of each.
Both of these programs are time and money Investments that should be done with care and precision. Use email marketing as a slow burn effect to build relationships and communicate complex information, and keep text message marketing for quick updates and reminders that require action.
