A combination of email and SMS marketing can empower your marketing campaign strategy, allowing you to personalize your messages and reach more subscribers.
Email marketing is a renowned digital marketing channel used by many brands globally to connect with leads and customers and improve revenue. Email marketing has a tremendous ROI, with many corporations consistently including it in their marketing strategies.
However, a new player demands the attention and limelight: SMS or text message marketing. Marketing teams from various established organizations wonder how to implement SMS marketing strategies and how to interweave them with email marketing strategies.
These two marketing strategies are not rivals; instead, they can complement each other to produce mega results for your business. Your business can use modern omnichannel marketing strategies to combine email and SMS marketing. The hybrid marketing strategy would result in better customer engagement, cross-promotion, and an improved conversion rate.
Before diving into practical ways to combine SMS and email marketing, let’s differentiate them for better understanding.
What is the difference between SMS and Email marketing?
Many companies are embracing the combination of SMS and email marking. SMS marketing has its advantages, such as bolstering the engagement rate over email, but email marketing is also greater in other ways. So, what are the differences?
Email – helps you send richer and longer messages with embedded attachments and images. You have higher conversion rates than SMS with emails since you can include links, stories, and CTAs. It is ideal for sending newsletters, testimonials, and tips as you focus on educating potential customers. Statistics show that emails have a 20% open rate and an average click rate of 2.5%, meaning for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can reap $42.
SMS– is ideal for businesses that want to convey concise and timely information. It creates better engagement than emails, with a 29% click rate. Though SMS is good for promotions, it is not suitable for nurturing or educating potential leads. Since SMS only accommodates 160 characters, it should be short and direct.
Here are some best SMS practices you should learn before combining it with email marketing:
- Get permission- Like emails, ensure that you have the contact’s consent to receive a message from you before sending them.
- The message should be time-sensitive- before sending a message to your contact, ensure you consider their time zone. Your text should annoy your target audience because you sent them at an inappropriate time.
- Ensure the text is short and direct- Your target customers do not want to read a paragraph-long marketing message.
- Use auto-responders- Autoresponders allow your customers to ask questions, seek clarification, and give feedback, thus creating a strong customer bond.
- Include actionable CTAs- You need to know what you want the SMS to do, such as drive traffic to the website or take advantage of a sales promotion. Include CTAs like “Buy now while stock last” or “subscribe to get more information.”
- Avoid abusing SMS- You can irritate and turn your customers away by spamming them with text messages.
- Choose the right provider- You need an SMS provider with a wider carrier network to reach customers from different areas.
Ways to combine SMS and email marketing strategies
Let’s dive into this topic and consider ways to combine these mega marketing strategies.
1. Complement both lists
Since both SMS and email lists require users’ consent, encourage your customers to subscribe to the two communication channels. You do not want to focus on a single channel and lose money on the remaining one.
If your customers are comfortable with both channels, you can encourage sales by giving them personalized experiences. You have the freedom to personalize your marketing messages since the recipient agreed to receive them.
For instance, you can provide incentives to your SMS subscribers to join your email list. One way to incentivize them with concrete and irresistible offers like discounts for individuals who subscribe to email lists. You can also create exclusive email offers and let your customers know that they can take advantage of these offers as early as they subscribe.
You can also complement email and SMS marketing by first sending emails to your clients and then segmenting the list into “opened, clicked links, and unopened emails.” You can follow up with a text to remind those who have not opened their emails to take action.
Alternatively, you can send different messages to your customers using the two channels. For instance, you can use emails to send long, comprehensive information to your subscribers and then follow up with an SMS to encourage them to take specific actions like buying discounts.
2. Use SMS for faster action.
Is there a sudden opportunity you want your customers to take advantage of? You can use SMS to see results when launching a flash sale immediately. Once you have launched a product or an offer, you can immediately alert your subscribers, and within three minutes, 95% of the text will be read.
As a marketer, you can do an A/B SMS testing instead of sending a generic message to all your customers. For instance, if you offer a flash sale, you could send a quick SMS saying, “Just for you, buy at 20% off the purchase price before 6 PM.” You can also enhance customer loyalty by sending thank you SMS with offers.
In this fast-paced world, customers want quick and direct information. You can meet this challenge using SMS marketing coupled with email marketing. Email and SMS marketing strategies help you understand consumers and what drives their purchasing decisions. Customers can make faster decisions when they are notified of a certain offer via an SMS than they would for other marketing strategies.
3. Gather reviews and feedback
Any serious digital marketing strategy involves collecting customer feedback to help you improve operations. If you do not have customer feedback, it won’t be easy to optimize the marketing process and enhance customer satisfaction. Reviews and feedback allow you to get emails that you can add to the list and inspire your customers to share their experiences and feedback via text message.
You can also remind them of reminders of emails you have sent that are yet to be opened. I know it can be challenging to manually draft and send emails to all your customers; however, with autoresponders such as Covertkit, Omnisend, and Moosend, you can set automation where subscribers haven’t opened their mails can receive an SMS notification.
For instance, you can create an automated workflow that sends an SMS reminder to users after 20 days of getting their review emails to complete a specific action. Once the automated workflow is set up, you will not need to think about it again.
Alternatively, you can send a personal SMS with the subscriber’s name for their reviews. This will go a long way in assuring your customers that their opinions matter to you. They will likely be loyal to your brand since they feel part of your business.
4. Use SMS to follow up on big email announcements.
If you have sent out elaborate email announcements about new product features, company milestones, or launched a new product, you have a 90% chance that the email will be opened. You can increase the odds of your email being opened by sending a concise SMS message notifying your customers to check out their emails.
The collaboration of email and SMS marketing can be a powerful tool for reaching your customers. You are confident that the offers you sent will be read and acted upon by the target audience. Customers will know what is going on in your company and spread the word to their friends, who may also subscribe to your SMS and email list.
4. Use short messages to build anticipation.
Assuming you have sent an email to your subscribers about an important event in a few months, you can use SMS messages to save the date. Using SMS reminders, help your customers mark the date on their calendars. They are also likely to discuss the upcoming event with their friends, giving you free advertising.
When you send them SMS showing them to check their emails for more detail, you will effectively combine these two communication channels for your business. SMs will make them curious, prompting them to check their emails due to anticipation.
Advantages of combining SMS and email marketing
Combining email and SMS marketing creates a more successful strategy and better results for your marketing campaigns. Here are some benefits of combining these channels
- It is effective in targeting subscribers.
A combination of email and SMS increases the chances of reaching, engaging, and converting your subscribers into regular customers. You can also leverage the unique advantage of each channel to deliver personalized experiences by conducting customer segmentation.
- It enables you to collect better data for sales.
If you want to grow your brand, you need to know your customers well since they are the blood and life of your business. Email and SMS marketing allows you to collect accurate data about your subscribers. The data will help meet your customers’ needs and keep them happy with your brand.
- It offers you an additional communication channel.
Combining SMS and email means you reach your subscribers with their preferred mode of communication. You can also reduce or even eliminate friction in their buying process. SMS allows you to send shipments status updates or confirmation messages, thus reducing buyer anxiety.
The Bottom Line
Email and SMS are ideal marketing tools that can complement each other for better results. If you have mastered email marketing and built an excellent email list, consider adding an SMS list by incentivizing your email subscriber to give you their phone numbers. However, remember to follow good SMS marketing practices; otherwise, your efforts could be counterproductive.
Do you have additional ways to combine email and SMS marketing for better results?
