Business owners have a lot of choices to make when it comes to marketing their products or services. Two of the best lead generation strategies are SMS marketing and email marketing. But which one is right for your business?
For effective email marketing, a marketing list is essential. You need a list of subscribers who have opted-in to receive your emails. It can be done through sign-up forms on your website or landing pages. Once you have a list of subscribers, you can send them regular updates about your products or services, promotional offers, and discounts.
Read more: How to Build an Email Marketing List?
Below, we will discuss the key factors you should consider before deciding on SMS marketing vs. email marketing for your business.
1. Deliverability
SMS messages have a near-100% delivery rate. At the same time, email deliverability can vary depending on factors like the quality of your list, the content of your message, and whether or not you’re using an email service provider.
Email also has a higher chance of being caught by spam filters, which could prevent your message from reaching its intended recipient. Overall, SMS has a better chance of getting your message in front of your audience.
2. Cost
The cost of SMS marketing is cheaper than email. The average cost per SMS is about $0.05, while the cost of email can be around $0.30. This difference in cost means that you can reach more people with your marketing budget using SMS than email.
Some factors that affect the cost include:
- The number of contacts you have
- The number of messages you send
- The frequency of your messages
- The cost of your SMS service provider
3. Opt-in Rates
When your business sends out an SMS marketing campaign, you can be sure that nearly everyone who receives it will read it. The average open rate for SMS marketing is 98%, meaning that nearly all your customers will see your message.
On the other hand, email open rates vary widely depending on the industry, but they hover around 20%. A combination of both email and SMS marketing can be a great way to reach the widest audience possible.
4. Engagement Levels
Some factors that affect the engagement levels of SMS marketing are the sender, the offer, and the call to action. The same goes for email marketing. If you have a high open-rate, but a low click-through rate, your subject line, and preview text weren’t compelling enough to get people to click through to your offer.
Other factors that affect engagement levels are the time and day of the week you send your message, how often you send messages, and the length of your message.
For effective SMS marketing, keep your messages short, sweet, and to the point. The average attention span of a human is shorter than that of a goldfish, so you have to make sure your message can be read and understood in a few seconds.
When you choose email marketing, you have more leeway with the length of your message. People are likelier to skim emails than read them from top to bottom. So, ensure a message can be understood even if someone only reads the first and last sentences.
5. Lack of Personalization
When you send an email, you can personalize the subject line and content to speak directly to the recipient. SMS messages are much more challenging to personalize because of their limited character count. This lack of personalization can make your SMS campaign feel like spam.
SEO Guru is a leading company for effective SEO in Atlanta. Our team will use a combination of SMS and email marketing to get your business seen by more people.
