“SMS Marketing” vs. “Email Marketing” | Advantages & Disadvantages

As you know, SMS and email marketing are among the most used tools for businesses. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages, so it is better to know in what situations you can get the most out of each of them. Years ago, email marketing was the best way to send mass advertising messages, but these days it has been replaced by a powerful opponent. SMS marketing is a fast, affordable, and reliable way to send customers advertisements, reminders, and information. In fact, Email Marketing and SMS Marketing together can create a unique communication experience for customers. While sending short messages via mass SMS will get more feedback, sometimes you may want to send longer content with images to your subscribers, so email is a better way to communicate.

Comparing SMS marketing and email marketing, as two popular and common methods among digital marketing techniques, helps different businesses to choose the best option depending on the needs and goals of the organization and company.

In the following article of Night Agency, we first define each method so you can learn more about its pros and cons.

What is Email Marketing?

 Email marketing is a type of direct marketing in which different brands communicate with users through email. Regarding this digital marketing method, it is very important to mention a few points so that it is distinct from other similar methods, such as promotional email.

The first important point in email marketing is that customers’ emails are collected completely by their will. The purpose of email marketing is not only to send promotional emails but educational emails, reminders, and so on, which are also sent according to the type of business. For this reason, if the emails are written professionally and conscientiously, and each email is sent based on the persona of the contacts, they will not only not be annoying but will also lead to the profitability of the companies. Knowing different digital marketing methods, such as email marketing and their features, will help you choose the best method. In the following, we have discussed this issue in detail.

Some advantages of email marketing

1. The costs spent on this method are much lower than other forms of advertising, such as print and television ads, billboards, etc.
2. Emails are collected with the full consent and authority of the contacts, so all those on the company’s email list are interested in the product or service of the target brand. Therefore, this method has a high success rate.
3. The implementation of this method has a wide variety. Companies can send their emails in the form of plain text, with graphics or with files. These types of designs even help to brand.

Disadvantages of email marketing

1. In email marketing, if designed emails are not sent to the right contacts, or in other words, a model email is sent to all contacts, users may be spamming or unsubscribing.
2. All emails sent by companies do not necessarily reach the recipients. Usually, emails that are only advertising and words related to buying and selling are often used in them are filtered by the Gmail system or the Internet service provider.
3. Increasing site visits and persuading contacts to register their emails is a process that requires a lot of time. Therefore, every business must refrain from using this method at the beginning of its activity.

What is SMS Marketing

It is a form of marketing in which different businesses send promotional SMS to their contacts. Usually, in these text messages, the general topics are about car discounts, buying goods, special offers, business-related updates, reminding customers of some topics, etc. In addition, it is okay to know that because this method is based on mobile phones and tablets and most users are involved with their phones, it is easier to communicate.

Pros and cons of it

1. Since most users prefer mobile devices and tablets to computers, SMS marketing is a powerful tool and method with great potential in digital marketing.
2. People always read text messages even if they know that the text message sent is only advertising. Therefore, the rate of opening the short message (Open Rate) is high.
3. The text of the short message should be concise and useful. For this reason, it is unsuitable for business purposes requiring long text writing. For example, educational topics cannot be sent this way, and most are advertisements.
4. Due to the many scams that are done, most of the contacts are hesitant and afraid to answer the SMS text or do the things asked of them.

Differences between Email marketing and SMS marketing

After examining the advantages and disadvantages of Email Marketing and SMS Marketing, it is time to compare these two digital marketing methods. In the following, we will mention these differences so that you can better choose the most suitable option between these two campaigns:

• Open Rate

The message opening rate in SMS marketing is much higher than in email marketing. It is okay to know that this difference is 98 to 2% for a better comparison.

• Deliverability

About 269 billion emails are sent daily worldwide, of which about 50% end up in the spam folder. In other words, each person receives an average of 120 emails daily. On the other hand, about 22 billion advertising SMS are sent daily, which averages about 67 short messages per person. On the other hand, text messages are easily visible when delivered to the recipient, but emails are not, and they may need to be made aware of their presence.

• Click Rate

The click rate of SMS marketing is about 29%, while it is about 3% for email marketing, so SMS will likely be more successful.

• Cost

The cost of the SMS marketing system varies depending on the content length, the number of messages, the type of service provider and the location of the contacts. On the other hand, email marketing is cheaper and varies according to the type of business, the type of campaign and the service provider. Therefore, you should pay attention to the difference between email marketing and SMS marketing.

• Customization

The next important thing is that it is possible to customize and implement graphic designs specific to each user in email but not SMS. In addition, relatively large files can be sent by email.

• Simplicity in competition

Today, the number of companies that use SMS marketing is less, so it will be easier to compete with other brands.

• Response Rate

The response rate of the contacts to the received SMS is about 90 seconds, but in the case of email, this time reaches 90 minutes.

• A/B testing

In relation to A/B testing, emails are more changeable, and you are exposed to more variables. On the one hand, this email marketing feature makes the A/B test process more complicated, but on the other hand, it will give more accurate and reliable results.

• Attractiveness

Emails are more attractive due to the possibility of high customization and are even specific to each persona, graphic design, etc.

Last words

Comparing SMS marketing and email marketing as two popular methods in the world of digital marketing helps us to know more and better about them and choose the most suitable method. These two methods have advantages and disadvantages; each business must decide according to the outlined goals. However, as you have read, despite stating the weaknesses and strengths, it is beneficial to decide to combine these two methods. By using a combination of SMS Marketing – Email Marketing in digital advertising, you will have a higher success rate, as we mentioned how to use them correctly and effectively.