Text message marketing is often compared to email marketing, with email being the more established form of communication between shops and their customers. But with 269 billion emails sent & received per day, those inboxes are becoming increasingly cluttered. And with nearly 50% of promotional emails landing in spam folders, simply reaching your customers through email is tougher than ever. 

This is where text message marketing outperforms email every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Studies show open rates for text messages are as high as 98%, proving texts are a powerful tool to promote your store. 

Both email and text messages certainly have their own distinct advantages. So, how do you choose the winning strategy for your store? We’ve provided all the information you need to decide which channel will deliver your desired results down below.

Table of Contents:

• What You Should Know About Text Message and Email Marketing?
• Pros and Cons of Text vs. Email
• Why SMS Marketing Will Surpass Email Marketing For Your eCommerce Store?
• 5 SMS Marketing Strategies You Can Implement Today
• Adopt The Most Efficient SMS Marketing Tool and Increase Your Profit

When Should You Use SMS Marketing?

Soak in this fact: Over 50% of consumers would like to receive store promotions via text message, but only a fraction of businesses actually send them out. What does this tell you? If you have sales, promotions, or discounts to offer — now’s the time to integrate text messaging into your sales strategy.

Text message marketing is the perfect approach to:

• Reach customers in an uncomplicated way
• Alert customers of promotions or upcoming events
• Increase sales by driving customers back into your shop with personalized messages
• Support and promote your other marketing channels (like social media)
• Reach out to new prospects to establish trust & strengthen customer loyalty by striking up a conversation

SMS marketing enables you to quickly and easily engage with your customers. From sending interactive content to crafting personal one-to-one messages, there are plenty of creative ways  to use SMS marketing to help grow your business.

Pros and Cons of Text vs. Email

When deciding which channel to use, it’s important to make an informed decision. No doubt, email marketing has been around for decades, and since its inception, it has become more sophisticated. On the other hand, text message marketing, still in the earlier stages of development, already shows tremendous potential to grab your customer’s attention and create an authentic, personal connection. Not to mention, more and more customers prefer to be contacted through text over email.

Pros of Email Marketing

• Low-cost
• Your emails can reach a large, global audience
• Easy to track & measure open and response rates
• Ability to send out targeted messages & offers

Cons of Email Marketing

• Emails lack a personal touch
• Emails face a high risk of being undeliverable
• Excessive emails can result in a high unsubscribe rate
• Emails are more likely to land in your customers’ spam box and languish there unseen
• Email requires more a creative approach to keep your customers engaged

Pros of SMS Marketing

• Texts don’t end up in a person’s spam folder
• Text messages are deemed more personal than emails by consumers
• Texts can be used to support and grow your other marketing channels
• Your customers are more likely to respond to text messages, with click-through rates 10-15% higher than email marketing
• It’s an inexpensive, direct route to communicate with customers. 60% of the customers who subscribe to your messages read them within 5 minutes. 5 minutes!

Cons of SMS Marketing

• Your messages must be short due to limited screen space
• The restricted screen size means your visuals must be kept to a minimum
• Consumers are more likely to enter their email address vs. phone number when submitting a subscription form

Why SMS Marketing Will Surpass Email Marketing For Your eCommerce Store

Email and text message marketing are two different communication methods with relatively similar objectives — to increase sales and build customer relationships. With that in mind, if you’re in eCommerce and want customer engagement rates as high as 36%, utilizing SMS marketing over email marketing is the way to make that happen.

In pursuing the goal of high engagement, luxury watchmaker, Parmigiani Fleurier leverages social media and personalized SMS marketing to drive positive customer engagement. After completing their data capture form, potential customers are matched with an associate based on their needs and preferences. By combining social media and text messages, Parmigiani has created a luxury showroom experience for their customers across the globe to enjoy right from home.

When it comes to direct marketing, text messaging is the most directly connected method to your customer. And connection results in engagement. 86% of small businesses report higher engagement rates with SMS marketing compared to email marketing.

5 SMS Marketing Strategies You Can Implement Today

Ready to launch your SMS marketing strategy to grow your customer base, build personal customer relationships, and boost your store’s profits? These 5 strategies will get you off and running:

1. Create an SMS Loyalty Program to Build a Bond with Customers

Offer a loyalty program enrollment to customers who sign up for your SMS list. You could allow them to acquire points from purchases, which they can use toward discounts or promotions on their next purchase!

2. Use National Holidays to Create & Promote ‘Special’ Deals

Planning a campaign around national holidays is an excellent way to boost customer engagement. Offer your customers special, limited-time offers only available during the holiday season. This marketing strategy creates year-round opportunities to reach out to your SMS list.

We all know Black Friday is the Super Bowl of the brick and mortar retail game. And Caribou Coffee Company is a business that truly understands harnessing mobile marketing to promote seasonal deals. They use text messages to keep their Black Friday customers up-to-date on upcoming promotions.

3. Use Time-Sensitive Promotions to Develop Additional Sales

If you want to entice customers to try your products, create the urgency for them to make a mad dash for their wallet with time-sensitive offers. These include promotions only valid for a certain amount of time. Text a creative, “Get it before it’s gone” message to your list. Additionally, you can make it easy for customers to purchase with the tap of a finger by including a CTA button in your message.

4. Don’t Give Up on Abandoned Carts — Use Them Re-Engage Customers

If you aren’t sending SMS messages to your customers after they abandon their carts, there’s only a slim chance they’ll come back and complete their purchase on their own. Send abandoned cart text messages to increase the odds of purchase before potential buyers forget or lose interest.

Abandoned carts aren’t only a problem for stores, but also an opportunity. Grunt Style found out that with abandoned cart SMS campaigns they could generate up to $4 in profit from every text sent while seeing 25% click-through and 45% customer recovery rates on all texts opened due to the campaign!

5. Showcase Your Social Media Content & Increase Brand Loyalty

Motivate your customers to share your store with friends and followers by sending out relevant, engaging social media content. You’ll increase brand awareness and grow a more significant following for future marketing purposes.

Adopt The Most Efficient SMS Marketing Tool and Increase Your Profit

Both email and text message marketing bring value to the table, but there are solid reasons for prioritizing text message marketing. Though email marketing has been successful in past years in helping build customer connections, text messages are more personal, more relevant to today’s consumers, and hands down more effective towards growing sales.

SuperPhone is your best option to send out personalized texts to your customers while promoting your store. SuperPhone offers the ability for one-to-one conversations or automated messages that keep customers engaged at every turn. You can track success rates and learn from any past campaigns, all while growing your store’s revenue!

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