Email and SMS



The recent rise of social media may create a false impression that email and SMS are no longer on the list of the most powerful marketing tools. It does seem social networks are progressing by leaps and bounds, capturing everyone around and overshadowing all traditional customer engagement strategies. It is difficult to deny it. However, experts believe that email and SMS still retain the ability to target the audience than Twitter and Facebookmore effectively.

While social media provides immediacy and spontaneity, it is still more focused on social interaction. At the same time, email and SMS marketing campaigns are more comprehensive and capable of supporting buyer’s journey. With over 300 billion emails sent daily, it is obvious that this channel can bring excellent results if supported by a tailored marketing strategy. Besides, you can further boost these if you integrate SMS.

Why email and SMS are a powerful duo?

Both email and SMS marketing tools have their unique advantages. But when you blend these, their respective strengths complement one another, resulting in an omnichannel customer engagement strategy. What benefits does this approach bring to a brand?

  • Cost-effectiveness. Email and SMS marketing do not need burdening investments while engaging a broad subscriber base and allowing you to reach customers across multiple channels.

  • Mobile accessibility. SMS marketing method allows you to reach your customers on the go, allowing them to choose when to interact with your business or product.

  • Enhanced audience insights. Feedback and analytics from both SMS and email marketing give you a more comprehensive understanding of your audience. This perspective enables you to discern trends within the data, better suiting your customers.

How to use email and SMS in one strategy?

Here are some tips you may experiment with when expanding your reach to customers through email and SMS simultaneously.

Grow your SMS and email lists.

This is the initial step – to have an extensive client base to contact with. You can use small tricks to attract more potential customers. Incorporate SMS opt-in opportunities on your website – add these to key areas such as homepage, pop-ups, PPC and product pages. Let your subscribers choose between SMS and email options when they sign up. Consider offering something enticing for new sign-ups – a bonus, a discount.

A great example is adding a pop-up with a spin-to-win interactive element in response to registration to get a new visitor excited and interested in your brand. Provide incentives for SMS subscribers to join your email list and vice versa, such as discounts, early-bird access to event tickets, or samples

Use SMS to speed up actions.

Even if most people now access and review their emails on their smartphones, even a flash sale will hardly bring the desired results if you promote it through email only. Therefore, it is crucial to combine email and SMS. These two channels will easily create a FOMO effect among your customers through a short SMS notification about a limited-time offer. 95% of text messages are typically opened within three minutes of receipt.

The swiftness of SMS makes them exclusively valuable for conveying information that demands a higher level of urgency compared to email. For instance, you could inform your audience of a one-day-only coupon code or promptly alert customers about a new product or service, accompanied by a concise link redirecting them to email. You can use samples of texts online to help you get started with SMS if you’ve never dived into it much before.

Optimize time for sending SMS and emails.

No matter how primitive it may sound, it is crucial to contact your customers at the right time to get more sign-ups and drive sales. It is important to follow some compliance rules and, at the same time, let your information catch the customers when they are the most responsive. For SMS, the start of the working day or lunch break is optimal. For emails, you should analyze when your customers respond best to your emails.

Do not forget about so-called quiet hours. These refer to early mornings and late evenings. Timezone-based targeting tools will help you avoid inconvenient times for different groups of customers. Violation of this rule is not only annoying, but the customers may add you to the spam list, blocking all further messages. Delivering your SMS or email at the right moment is a confident step to win your addressee’s interest.

Opt for interactive content.

Everyone will agree that plain texts look boring and are seldom read to the end. Therefore, finding a balance between HMTL and plain text is crucial. HTML messages employ text formatting, images, brand-specific colors, and are mobile-friendly. They can be packed with visuals that will surely attract attention. HMTL texts are perfect for both email and SMS marketing.

If you cannot decide between HMTL and plain texts, consider hybrid messages. One of the benefits of this approach is the possibility to integrate analytical tools and track clicks, opens and other vital metrics for success evaluation. 

Test your marketing campaign.

Similar to other marketing methods, continuous testing and analysis are essential for both email and SMS marketing. These practices allow you to capitalize on your achievements and gain insights from your errors. Utilizing A/B testing, you can experiment with diverse content and subject lines within a single email to identify which elements yield the best results.

It's crucial to realize that without assessing the effectiveness of your messaging, you won't ascertain whether you're maximizing your return on investment. Split testing doesn't have to be intricate. Starting with small-scale tests, testing one variable at a time and gradually expanding based on your experience is entirely acceptable. This is the only way to find out what does work for your brand.

Wrapping up

SMS represents an efficient customer engagement tool that operates via clear-cut and well-timed messages. Alternatively, multilingual email marketing possesses more power to connect with customers through precisely tailored content and foster brand recognition. Despite distinct differences, these two communication channels ideally complement each other, allowing a brand to create a multi-tier strategy in its marketing realm and harness the strengths of each channel to stay afloat in today’s highly competitive world.Digital marketing course from digital vidya can also help you to learn these strategies