Text Messaging Is The New Email
The modern smartphone has enabled marketers to reach customers with both email and SMS messaging campaigns on the same device. With both email and text campaigns falling into the category of mobile marketing, which one is better? Better is a subjective term, but SMS campaigns reach more people, they are cheaper and have higher click-through rates. These factors are the driving force behind the fact that text marketing seems to be overtaking email marketing as the dominant force in mobile.
An Open Rate of Nearly 100 Percent
As discussed in the article “3 Reasons Mass Texting Beats Email Marketing,” texting campaigns achieve higher open rates. Marketing emails are opened about 22 percent of the time. More than one out of five is not bad at all – until you look at the open rate of text messages. A staggering 98 percent of texts are opened by recipients – most within just a few moments. On top of that, 98 percent is a conservative estimate. Both email and SMS campaigns require your customers to opt in. One of those options reaches just over 20 percent of your opt-in audience. The other reaches nearly 100 percent. You do the math.
The Highest CTR in the Business
Emails linger in inboxes for a long time before being opened, if they are opened at all. Text messages, on the other hand, are opened right away. But what does it mean to be opened if no action is taken? No other medium trumps SMS marketing when it comes to click-through rates. Around 36 percent of mobile users take action after receiving an SMS message from a business. Just over one-third may not seem like a big number until you put it next to the click-through rate for emails. Around 3.2 percent of email recipients take action after receiving a business email.
A Higher Level of Engagement
According to Mashable, more than 70 percent of email is spam. Only a tiny portion of text messages, on the other hand, are considered spam. The reason for this is simple – people are much more selective about who they give their phone number to than their email address. People will type their email addresses in to a subscription box to get a free ebook or something else of value. But they won’t give up their phone number and give permission to text unless it’s really something they’re interested in. When people subscribe to your text list, you must have something they really want.
Drive Awareness and Spur Conversation
You can’t respond to a marketing email. But SMS messages can be a two-way street, in which recipients engage the sender. This can make customers feel like their voices are being heard and their concerns are being addressed. These exchanges can also give the business that sent the message an avenue to get a feel for what customers are thinking, what they need and what is standing in the way of making a purchase. With email, this two-way street is simply not possible. SMS marketing can also work not only to spur online sales, but to drive awareness of in-store promotions, sales, or anything else.
Email marketing is far more entrenched into the psyches and strategies of mobile marketers than text marketing. Because old habits die hard, many marketers are reluctant to adopt SMS, even as a complementary campaign that works in conjunction with their established email efforts. But they are missing out on a few undeniable facts. Text campaigns are cheaper, text campaigns reach more people who are already engaged with your brand or product and people who open text messages are more likely to click. But more importantly, text messages are intimate and personal, and if someone asked to receive them, you’ve already done the heavy lifting.
About Author: Andrew Lisa is a freelance business writer who covers mobile marketing and advertising.
