Today's digital marketing landscape provides businesses with a wealth of tools to connect with their customers. Marketing is no longer about putting up a billboard and hoping your customers drive by.
Between social media platforms, digital advertising, email marketing, and SMS messaging, there are so many ways to engage customers and drive results. But this range of options presents its own unique challenge. How do you use each tool effectively to achieve your goals?
In this article, we'll focus on marketing tools that enable you to communicate with customers through targeted messages delivered directly to them via email and SMS marketing.
Read on to learn the ins and outs of each marketing tool, when to use SMS vs. email marketing, and ways to combine the two for powerful results.
What is email marketing?
Email marketing is a marketing tactic that utilizes email to engage with existing and potential customers to achieve business goals.
As long as a customer consents to joining your email list, you can send emails directly to their inbox. Use email marketing to promote products or services, build customer relationships, generate leads, re-engage lapsed customers, and more.
Is email marketing dead? No! There are several effective ways to incorporate email marketing into your overall strategy. Common types of email marketing campaigns include:
- Newsletters
- Product announcements
- Promotional emails
- Lead generation campaigns
- Abandoned cart emails
Pros of email marketing
There are several reasons to incorporate email marketing into your digital marketing strategy. Benefits of email marketing include:
- Ideal for storytelling and long-form content. In a world of 30-second video clips and 150-character headlines, email marketing presents a unique opportunity to tell customers engaging stories and interact with them via long-form content.
- Flexible layout options. This marketing channel enables extensive customization and flexibility, resulting in a final product that perfectly represents your brand. Well-designed emails can drive brand recognition, reinforce your business's identity, and delight your customers.
- Supports segmentation. Email marketing platforms enable the delivery of targeted messages using refined segmentation based on age, demographics, location, behavior, and other characteristics. Lead nurturing campaigns allow you to guide customers deeper into your marketing funnels based on their engagement, clicks, and other relevant signals.
- Easy to test. Constantly refine your email marketing strategies using A/B testing. Test and optimize subject lines, CTAs, modules, and more. These findings can inform your marketing strategy across various channels.
- Cost-effective. Email marketing is often considered a cost-effective marketing tool with a high return on investment (ROI).
Cons of email marketing
Email marketing does present a few limitations. Drawbacks of this marketing channel include:
- May end up in spam folders. Email service providers may mark your emails as spam. Marketers need to follow best practices to avoid spam filters and ensure deliverability.
- Easy to ignore or delete. Of course, the human element also plays a factor. In the daily barrage of emails most people receive, customers can easily delete, ignore, or even miss emails.
- Requires more design and setup time. When comparing email and SMS marketing, email puts a greater strain on your design and deployment resources.
What is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing enables marketers to send personalized messages to customers and leads via text messages. Like email marketing, SMS campaigns can be used to market products and services, confirm orders, promote time-sensitive promotions, and more.
Before launching an SMS marketing campaign, it's imperative to thoroughly understand its consent laws and opt-in requirements. Consumers must expressly agree to receive SMS messages from your business and have the option to cancel at any time.
Pros of SMS marketing
There are several reasons to explore SMS marketing for your business. This marketing channel has the following benefits:
- Fast delivery and immediate visibility. As soon as an SMS message is sent, your customers will receive a notification. Most consumers engage with text messages quite differently than they do with email messages. While they may allow emails to accumulate with no response, most people open and read text messages immediately.
- Concise messaging. SMS marketing enables marketers to make their point concisely and clearly—without the opportunity to bury the lead. Its character limitations can help businesses get to the point quickly.
- Doesn't require an internet connection. SMS messages rely on a cell signal to deliver rather than an internet connection. That ensures deliverability no matter where your customer is.
- Supports two-way communication. SMS messages enable a more natural conversation between businesses and customers, fostering greater engagement, especially with lapsed customers.
Cons of SMS marketing
Like email marketing, SMS marketing has its drawbacks. Limitations of this digital marketing platform include:
- Limited character count. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, including letters, spaces, and punctuation. It can be challenging to truncate messages to this length.
- Lack of visuals. SMS campaigns can only include characters and don't support images or other branding or visual elements.
- May be flagged as spam. Like emails, SMS messages can get trapped in spam filters if businesses don't follow best practices.
- Strict regulations: SMS marketing compliance is regulated by both the TCPA and CAN-SPAM acts, which place strict requirements on these marketing campaigns.
What are the differences between email and SMS marketing?
Understanding the differences between email vs. SMS marketing can help you figure out how and when to use each channel effectively.
While both are valuable tools for a comprehensive marketing strategy, they aren't interchangeable. Here are the key differences between the two marketing channels:
Use cases
Text message marketing campaigns are ideal for time-sensitive communications, such as time-limited promotions and recovering abandoned carts. Email, on the other hand, is better for long-form content and more complex messages, like newsletters, product launches, and educational content.
Engagement metrics
SMS marketing has significantly higher open rates and click-through rates. Most people check SMS marketing messages within minutes of receiving them, while emails may sit unread in an inbox for days or get deleted without being opened.
Message length and format
SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, which means you need to get straight to the point. Email allows for longer, more detailed marketing messages with room for storytelling, product descriptions, and multiple calls to action.
Design and branding
Email has much greater design capabilities, enabling consistent branding with images, colors, and custom layouts. That said, design needs can put a much greater strain on resources. SMS relies purely on text, which limits branding opportunities but makes creation faster.
Cost and ROI
SMS marketing typically comes with a higher price tag than email. Most SMS campaigns charge per message sent, which can add up quickly with a large subscriber list.
Email marketing platforms usually offer unlimited sends at a flat monthly rate, making them more budget-friendly for frequent campaigns. While SMS often delivers strong engagement, email tends to provide better overall ROI due to its lower costs and scalability.
Delivery speed
SMS messages arrive instantly on mobile devices and don't require an internet connection. Email delivery can vary depending on server processing times and whether messages end up in spam folders.
Audience reach
Email requires an internet connection and an email address, which most consumers have. SMS only requires a phone number and cellular service, making it accessible to customers who may not regularly check email but always have their phones nearby.
Message frequency
Customers generally expect and tolerate more frequent emails than text messages. An SMS program should be used sparingly for appointment reminders, urgent promotions, and customer service messages to avoid overwhelming subscribers. Email can support daily or weekly sends without causing the same level of message fatigue.
Should you use SMS, email, or both?
Email and SMS are integral to a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, but it's essential to know when to utilize each.
The key is matching the right channel to your specific marketing goals and message type. Some campaigns work best with a single channel, while others benefit from combining both for maximum impact. Here's when to use email vs. SMS marketing:
When to use SMS marketing
SMS marketing is all about sending concise and timely messages. Its immediacy and high open rates make it perfect for situations where speed and urgency matter most. Consider using SMS for:
- Flash sales and limited-time promotions that need immediate attention
- Appointment reminders to reduce no-shows
- Order confirmations and shipping updates that customers want to see right away
- Time-sensitive alerts like back-in-stock notifications or event reminders
- Abandoned cart reminders that encourage quick action
- Two-factor authentication codes and account security alerts
- Last-chance reminders for expiring offers or upcoming deadlines
When to use email marketing
Email marketing is ideal for conveying complex messages in a long-form format. This channel can be used to onboard new customers, nurture existing leads, grow your audience, or provide detailed content about multi-tiered sales.
Email works best for:
- Welcome series to onboard new customers and introduce your brand
- Weekly or monthly newsletters with company updates, tips, and content
- Product launches that require detailed explanations and multiple images
- Educational content, like how-to guides, tutorials, and best practices
- Lead nurturing campaigns that move prospects through your sales funnel
- Customer re-engagement campaigns targeting inactive subscribers
- Multi-tiered sales promotions with various product options and pricing
- Post-purchase follow-ups with care instructions, tips, and cross-sell opportunities
When to combine SMS and email marketing
In some cases, it may be advantageous to combine both SMS and email marketing in multi-channel marketing campaigns. Consider the following to seamlessly use both channels together:
- Leverage email to drive SMS subscribers. Create an SMS subscriber-only promotion and promote it via email. Encourage customers to sign up for SMS messaging to get the discount code. Doing so can help you turn email subscribers into SMS subscribers.
- Introduce via email and follow-up via SMS. Introduce a promotional campaign via email marketing, with complete details about the promotion and strong CTAs. Then, use SMS marketing on the final day of the sale to encourage last-minute purchases.
Compliance, consent, and customer expectations
Both email and SMS marketing require explicit opt-in consent before you can send messages to customers. This is the law under the CAN-SPAM Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Customers must actively agree to receive messages from your business, and you need to make it easy for them to opt out at any time.
Privacy and data protection are legal requirements, not just good business practices. Customers trust you with their contact information, and mishandling that data can result in serious legal consequences and fines. Store customer data securely, only collect what you actually need, and be transparent about how you'll use it.
GDPR applies if you have any EU subscribers, regardless of where your business is located. Always respect customer preferences about how and when they want to hear from you.
Finding the right message frequency is also essential to avoid overwhelming your subscribers. Send too many emails or texts, and you'll see unsubscribe rates spike. Send too few, and customers might forget about your brand.
SMS messages should be used sparingly since they feel more intrusive than email — most customers tolerate weekly or monthly texts but will quickly opt out if you message them daily. Email allows for more flexibility, but even there, you need to find a balance.
Pay attention to engagement metrics like open rates and unsubscribe rates to find what works for your audience without causing message fatigue.
Strengthen your marketing with SMS and email marketing
Email and SMS marketing can help you create an effective marketing strategy, but it's important to thoroughly understand when to use SMS marketing vs. email.
For the best possible outcome, use a tool that offers both email and SMS marketing. Mailchimp offers a comprehensive, easy-to-use platform that enables brands to engage with customers across multiple channels, fostering a seamless and comprehensive marketing strategy.