Emily Clarke

Pros and Cons of SMS vs Email Marketing

There are many ways to reach your audience. In the past, email marketing reigned supreme. However, newer consumer habits are forcing marketers to look into other strategies.

One marketing technique that's gaining popularity is SMS marketing. Thanks to smartphone adoption, it's a viable and cost-effective way to reach your target demo.

So, which marketing channel is better?

Email Marketing

Email marketing is nothing new, but it continues to be a powerful channel for companies big and small. It's more widespread than ever before. That's thanks, in large part, to the broad reach of email platforms compared to other communication channels.

Pros

Message analytics will tell you that email marketing has a very high ROI. It's relatively cheap to send out emails. Plus, advanced software makes the process incredibly simple.

There's endless automation potential and plenty of room for personalization.

Another significant benefit is that customers expect emails. This marketing strategy is so widespread that most people expect brands to communicate this way. As a result, it leads to more brand recognition and higher conversion rates.

Cons

The more notable disadvantage of email marketing is low open and click-through rates. This downside represents the other side of the coin concerning email marketing's widespread adoption. People's inboxes are saturated with marketing emails!

As a result, many ignore messages. Some view this type of marketing as spammy, resulting in filtering and blocking.

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing skips the email inbox entirely in favor of texts. Customers choose to opt-in and receive texts, eliminating much of the worries that come with other marketing channels. It's more direct and often puts messaging in front of customers much sooner.

Pros

The open and response rates for text marketing are through the roof. Message analytics show that most people read text messages within three minutes. But that's not all.

Responding to a text takes seconds. Recipients would rather send a quick text back rather than write a lengthy response email. As a result, SMS marketing provides much higher engagement rates.

Cons

The disadvantages of SMS marketing revolve around its relative newness. While it's growing in popularity, this form of marketing isn't as widespread as emails.

For this reason, people tend to be warier about texts. Their threshold of what they consider spam is much lower. Furthermore, poorly-structured texts and inappropriate timing can lead to trust issues.

Which Marketing Channel is Right for You?

All in all, both email marketing and text marketing have a lot to offer. The trick is to use these channels strategically to maximize ROI while reaching your audience in the most effective way you can.

Author Resource:-

Emily Clarke writes about customer messaging and engagement solutions including SMS services and mobile notifications tools. You can find her thoughts at push notification tool blog.