Email vs Text Marketing: Which Channel Should You Choose?

Email vs Text Marketing: Which Channel Should You Choose?

Any marketing campaign aims to get maximum return on investment (ROI). However, there are so many marketing channels available which often makes it challenging to figure out which medium fits your use case perfectly. Plus, some channels might not work for you the way they work for others even if you’re both in the same industry. Email vs Text marketing is the ongoing battle at the moment with social media and instant messaging apps slowly trying to catch up. Since these two channels are dominating the market today, we’ll explore the advantages and disadvantages of both along with which one you should choose in different situations.

The Facts and Statistics of Email vs Text Marketing

First of all, the point of this article is not to suggest which channel is better than the other but to help businesses figure out when each channel is most effective and how you can use them effectively. Here are some interesting comparisons;Text message open rates are up to 98% whereas email open rates are just 20%

1. Email usage is still growing with up to 4.3 billion users in 2020 and beyond
2. 75% of people prefer to receive instant offers via text messaging
3. Nearly 50% of emails sent every day are spam
4. 90% of marketers use email marketing regularly
5. More people have access to text messages than emails

When is Text Marketing Beneficial?

There are many use cases where text marketing will improve your ROI. Here are just some of the leading use cases;

1. Coupons and deals
2. Seasonal sales and event promotions
3. Notifications and personal alerts
4. Digital receipts
5. 2-Factor Authentication e.g. one-time passwords
6. Information to recipients who cannot access apps or websites

When is Email Marketing Beneficial?

In contrast, email marketing suits similar and different purposes to text messages and usually, emails are used for longer information with no time restraints. Here are a few use cases;

1. Extended deals and coupons
2. New product or service promotions
3. Detailed information
4. Feedback or call-to-action
5. Monthly or yearly updates
6. Staff communication

Using Email and Text Marketing Together

Email vs text marketing is an ongoing battle but in many cases, these two channels can be used together. New marketers feel that email marketing may be more effective and relatively safer in many instances. However, successful marketers know that with the aid of text marketing, they can kill two birds with one stone. For example, businesses now send emails to customers with a simple follow up text asking if they’ve read the email yet. This can increase their email open rates by as much as 30%. Furthermore, marketers need to look at the demographics of their audience before choosing any channel or both. According to Statista, only about 34% of Americans check their emails regularly. In contrast, about 81% of American adults use text messaging daily. While most of your customers may be among the 34% Americans who check their email, this does not mean that they would read or respond to your email. In fact, chances are your email may end up in spam so you need to ensure that recipients access the information you send them. So, to sum up, we have made a little questionnaire to help you decide which channel you should use;

1. How time-sensitive is the information?
2. Does the message require a response?
3. Will the information contain long or rich media?
4. Will recipients have to access this message later on?

In simple words, if your message requires instant action or is time-sensitive like an appoint reminder or countdown sales promotion, text marketing is the way to go. If your message is long, includes multimedia and not time-sensitive, email might be the best way to go.