7 minutes to read

What Is Better — Email or SMS Marketing? Text vs SMS

Today, brands are reaching us out via emails and SMS inboxes more frequently than our friends and family. Marketers know how important it is to communicate with customers including prospective ones timely with a proper message. And also using the proper tool. What can be a good email might not be an efficient SMS and vice versa. Both-way communication with customized messaging is now considered the best approach.

It might surprise you that there is quite no difference between text vs SMS (Short Message Service) — they’re the same thing. SMS is more often referred in the EU countries to all text messages in a non-technical context. Originally a part of the GSM standards since 1985, as the use of cell phones was growing, SMS was becoming a great means to deploy captivating and focused digital communications. From then, the service has extended to support other mobile standards (ANSI CDMA, AMPS, satellite networks etc).

However, people still receive exclusive discounts, special sales and appointment reminders, time-sensitive updates and more both via email or sms. Texting tends towards being more concise, rapid and prioritized, while email tends towards being more personalized and long-form, e. g. for focused professional environments. Taking a deeper look at both tools helps us to figure out how to integrate the text message marketing into your market strategy to the great advantage.

SMS vs Email: Opening and Responding Probability

SMS messages are terse, but carry only relevant information. Letters carry long information, so, unless they are looked forward to, may seem tiring. On the other hand, SMS is more annoying due to the phone beeping. The limitation to 160 alphanumeric characters simplifies creatives — neither formal greeting nor signature are needed. Due to its conversational nature, SMS open rates are around 83% within 90 seconds (according to EZTexting) and 90% within three minutes from arrival. The cherished goal in the digital frontline is interaction. Text vs email campaigns offer immediate connectivity. Letters may end in a recipient’s spam folder even without being seen! While SMS ensure that all texts come to the inbox, hence, rest assured that interaction occurs.

Finally, the availability of texting service without Internet connection is crucial for the time-sensitive messages or those requiring urgent action.

Today most of the mobile subscribers have some kind or several instant messengers installed, which at the first gaze seems to pit Viber messaging vs texting. The first obviously has a range of benefits such as content formatting options. However, Viber works properly only on up-to-date devices. But with BSG omnichannel marketing provider, you do not have to choose between two. We can automatically resend your Viber messages via SMS if undelivered, seamlessly and without interfering.

Economic Feasibility

In fact, consumers still want the emails with beautiful images from their favourite brands, or invitations to the niche events, especially when they are bored. Experts saying the mailing is a thing of the past are wrong. With new technologies and patterns emerging, it is rather transforming to be more focused. Audiences seek for balance. The price to send bulk SMS online varies geographically, in terms of text length and messages quantity. However, it is indeed more expensive, due to the opt-in prices, the charges paid to the telecom carriers for the “consent” to communicate with their subscribers. Meanwhile, telling a visual story in an email needs mark-up, coding and genuine brand design. 

If privacy is crucial for your correspondence, you might put a question which is more secure text or email — with tasks like forwarding one-time passwords, a failure can cost a bundle. Cybercriminals use everything to steal login details, money and personal data. Malwares and viruses swiftly diffuse on the e-mails. On the contrary, bulk SMS-providers like BSG put scrupulous control in place to rule out leakages and network technology misuse. They encrypt each message end-to-end extending protection throughout the line. 

To assist in your contemplation, below are some prompt examples, which delivery method suits better for commonly used campaigns.

SMS campaignEmail campaign
Special discounts and product offer
Information requiring two-way conversation
Appointment and similar reminders
Surveys
Purchase confirmations
B2C messaging
Urgent updates and alerts
Special discounts and product offer
Press/publicity updates
B2B messaging
Newsletters
Long form educating content
Rich visual announcements
Publicity updates and press releases

How to Start Bulk SMS Texting

A bulk SMS campaign basically consists of the address list, an offer itself, and a concise advertisement. Marketers/enterprises often control plenty of opt-in data to re-use, in order to create a quite new revenue source for business.

Essential workflow of the platform should include:

  1. The contact database uploading and cleaning.

Use your mobile phone address book or create a list of recipients from scratch. In BSG, we believe it is necessary to have permission to send anything to customers. We request them to opt-in via an online form or by responding with a key phrase. Filters, personalization and adjustable segmentation help to create a campaign in minutes without missing a thing. An efficient way to clean your destination list is looking up for mobile number portability status. It provides data on your contacts’ portability and roaming, thereby cutting down the unreasonable costs for sending texts to incorrect operators and/or invalid numbers.

  1. Launching the first campaign to receive a benchmark

A database is created just once, and, as you go forward, you manage it effortlessly. Here are some tips.

  • Use the unique issuer names.

This allows customers to immediately identify you. Thus, your message will less likely be overlooked, people will happily read it and become interested in the further ones.

  • Configure timing

Schedule your dispatch for a certain moment, so that SMS would not arrive at the dead of night or in the early hours. Pre-set lists for different times — up to several months in advance. Remember, SMS comes in less than no time, irrespective of your customer database size. Consider also the frequency — over-sending on such a sensitive channel may be perceived as intrusive and irritating.

  • Personalize

Enhance a mailing list by complementing it with the recipients’ names and other individual data. This manifests customer care and gives people the sense of exclusiveness. With customized mailing lists, group the loyal clients who will not forget your company’s attention. The catchy short codes, keywords and bright calls-to-action will also add value. All those things will result in an increased conversion rate and contribute to a positive brand identity. 

Keeping the above-stated advice in mind, write a message in a dedicated field and click “Send” — easier than ever.

  1. Look at the outcome and repeat

Studying the CTR, ROI and other outputs, figure out what works, and scale it up, and get rid of what doesn’t. The list is often a bottleneck: scrutinize on distribution patterns in terms of age, sex, occupation, family status, hobbies and market interactions. Analysing the initial campaign, you’ll get a better insight into what marketing efforts suit for you. If something is down, find which part of flow is broken (lack of clicks? few subscriptions? poor sales?) Each stage might mean its certain part of the funnel to focus efforts on.

To conclude, bulk SMS messaging is a new fast-growing and powerful tool, and BSG marketing services provider will successfully integrate it into your strategy to achieve the best business outcome.