How Does SMS Compare to Email Marketing?
In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, Method Marketing is featured as one of our Top Digital Marketing Agencies. Check out their profile here.
Any marketer can agree that getting the maximum ROI from each marketing campaign you run is imperative for success. While that may be stating the obvious, what’s not so clear-cut is deciphering between the available avenues. How do you know which medium will be the right choice for your next campaign?
Regardless of your niche, what works for some won’t work for others. As more traditional email marketing starts losing its popularity, SMS marketing is swooping in to take its place. Is SMS more effective than email? According to the stats, it’s a big yes.
Who’s Using SMS Marketing?
Hundreds of big-name brands are now choosing to include bulk SMS marketing into their overall strategy. Over 50% of the top 1,000 retailers utilize an SMS marketing strategy, which is a pretty good indicator of its benefit. Businesses are turning to SMS campaigns because they’re easy to create, ultra-affordable, and so far, the response rates are higher than other traditional marketing channels, like email marketing.
SMS Marketing According to the Numbers
The big question is, will people actually sign up to receive a text message from a business? And if so, how many messages per week or month will they deem appropriate and non-invasive? 82% of customers reported they would gladly receive 2 text messages per month from the brands and businesses they already know and love. According to 99firms.com, predictions show that 48.7 million consumers will opt-in to receive business SMS messaging by the end of 2020.
Studies have shown that it usually takes customers 90 seconds to respond to a text message, where they commonly take around 1.5 hours to respond to an email. Researchers have also noted that consumers prefer text messages over other types of mobile communication. This could mean more brand awareness, more traffic, and better overall customer experience.
SMS Vs. Email
It’s the ROI battle. Which channel will give you the best bang for your buck? Is email slowly being replaced by SMS? Stats have shown that email marketing performance has dropped by 47% in the last 5 years. The performance rate or open email rate is the percentage of people who clicked and opened an email campaign.
SMS marketing stats show that it drives 10x more revenue per message. This is likely due to our obsession with our mobile devices. Consumers are already most likely using their phones to scroll social media, catch up with friends, or even shop. As soon as they receive a new text, they’ll be immediately alerted. SMS marketing is much more attention-grabbing compared to email marketing. A whopping 269 billion emails are sent every day, and nearly 50% of them are spam. How many times have you received an email from a company that either went straight to your ‘junk’ mail folder? Maybe you thought to yourself, “I’ll open it later,” only later never came, and it got pushed into the abyss of other countless emails that come into your inbox daily? SMS messages command attention. If the receiver doesn’t open it, they’ll get another alert.
The open rate of SMS messages is 99%, with a clickthrough rate of 33%. The average open rate for email marketing campaigns is 20%. While this probably sounds like music to any marketer’s ears, there is a minor downside. Because SMS marking is continuing to boom in popularity, consumers are being greeted with more pesky spam messages. 60% of SMS users have reported they get spam text messages at least once a week. This could pose a problem for SMS marketing in the future if marketers are not savvy in their approach.
Why Do Users Prefer SMS Marketing?
Let’s face it; attention spans are dwindling. Most of us don’t have the time or desire to scroll through an email just to see if the brand sent a 15% off code at the end. Consumers like that an SMS is short, sweet, and to the point. There’s no fluff or pointless information. Just 160-characters telling you exactly what you need to know. Some markers may see this as a win, while others will argue that SMS simply isn’t engaging enough. However, smart SMS marketing will include short, attention-grabbing copy and additional links to things like surveys, vouchers, attachments, tickets, etc.
The future of e-commerce is mobile. We’re a generation of people confined to our phones – and that’s ok! It just means that marketers will have to adjust to ever-changing trends. Right now, it’s SMS marketing. Who knows what the future will hold?
About the author
Wes McMahon
Wes McMahon is the owner of Method Marketing, a digital marketing agency providing high-touch, hands-on SEM , SEO and paid social media support for eCommerce companies and consumer product brands. Wes is passionate about taking over status quo marketing campaigns and reengineering them into superstar, high ROI campaigns.
In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, Method Marketing is featured as one of our Top Digital Marketing Agencies. Check out their profile here.
Any marketer can agree that getting the maximum ROI from each marketing campaign you run is imperative for success. While that may be stating the obvious, what’s not so clear-cut is deciphering between the available avenues. How do you know which medium will be the right choice for your next campaign?
Regardless of your niche, what works for some won’t work for others. As more traditional email marketing starts losing its popularity, SMS marketing is swooping in to take its place. Is SMS more effective than email? According to the stats, it’s a big yes.
Who’s Using SMS Marketing?
Hundreds of big-name brands are now choosing to include bulk SMS marketing into their overall strategy. Over 50% of the top 1,000 retailers utilize an SMS marketing strategy, which is a pretty good indicator of its benefit. Businesses are turning to SMS campaigns because they’re easy to create, ultra-affordable, and so far, the response rates are higher than other traditional marketing channels, like email marketing.
SMS Marketing According to the Numbers
The big question is, will people actually sign up to receive a text message from a business? And if so, how many messages per week or month will they deem appropriate and non-invasive? 82% of customers reported they would gladly receive 2 text messages per month from the brands and businesses they already know and love. According to 99firms.com, predictions show that 48.7 million consumers will opt-in to receive business SMS messaging by the end of 2020.
Studies have shown that it usually takes customers 90 seconds to respond to a text message, where they commonly take around 1.5 hours to respond to an email. Researchers have also noted that consumers prefer text messages over other types of mobile communication. This could mean more brand awareness, more traffic, and better overall customer experience.
SMS Vs. Email
It’s the ROI battle. Which channel will give you the best bang for your buck? Is email slowly being replaced by SMS? Stats have shown that email marketing performance has dropped by 47% in the last 5 years. The performance rate or open email rate is the percentage of people who clicked and opened an email campaign.
SMS marketing stats show that it drives 10x more revenue per message. This is likely due to our obsession with our mobile devices. Consumers are already most likely using their phones to scroll social media, catch up with friends, or even shop. As soon as they receive a new text, they’ll be immediately alerted. SMS marketing is much more attention-grabbing compared to email marketing. A whopping 269 billion emails are sent every day, and nearly 50% of them are spam. How many times have you received an email from a company that either went straight to your ‘junk’ mail folder? Maybe you thought to yourself, “I’ll open it later,” only later never came, and it got pushed into the abyss of other countless emails that come into your inbox daily? SMS messages command attention. If the receiver doesn’t open it, they’ll get another alert.
The open rate of SMS messages is 99%, with a clickthrough rate of 33%. The average open rate for email marketing campaigns is 20%. While this probably sounds like music to any marketer’s ears, there is a minor downside. Because SMS marking is continuing to boom in popularity, consumers are being greeted with more pesky spam messages. 60% of SMS users have reported they get spam text messages at least once a week. This could pose a problem for SMS marketing in the future if marketers are not savvy in their approach.
Why Do Users Prefer SMS Marketing?
Let’s face it; attention spans are dwindling. Most of us don’t have the time or desire to scroll through an email just to see if the brand sent a 15% off code at the end. Consumers like that an SMS is short, sweet, and to the point. There’s no fluff or pointless information. Just 160-characters telling you exactly what you need to know. Some markers may see this as a win, while others will argue that SMS simply isn’t engaging enough. However, smart SMS marketing will include short, attention-grabbing copy and additional links to things like surveys, vouchers, attachments, tickets, etc.
The future of e-commerce is mobile. We’re a generation of people confined to our phones – and that’s ok! It just means that marketers will have to adjust to ever-changing trends. Right now, it’s SMS marketing. Who knows what the future will hold?
About the author
Wes McMahon
Wes McMahon is the owner of Method Marketing, a digital marketing agency providing high-touch, hands-on SEM , SEO and paid social media support for eCommerce companies and consumer product brands. Wes is passionate about taking over status quo marketing campaigns and reengineering them into superstar, high ROI campaigns.
