In at present’s advanced world, e mail advertising and marketing alone isn’t sufficient. Corporations must develop a wealthy buyer engagement technique to get a leg up on their competitors and enhance buyer relations.
Top-of-the-line methods to do that is to marry SMS and e mail advertising and marketing, utilizing each platforms in a strategic method to talk seamlessly along with your prospects.
Though e mail and textual content advertising and marketing each have their locations, it’s solely if you merge the 2 into one content material advertising and marketing technique that you simply see their full advantages. In actual fact, prospects favor it when manufacturers use omnichannel engagement methods moderately than counting on anyone advertising and marketing technique alone.
What’s SMS advertising and marketing vs. e mail advertising and marketing?
Textual content and e mail advertising and marketing could seem comparable, however they’re two distinct advertising and marketing practices.
After all, the largest distinction between the 2 advertising and marketing methods is how they’re delivered to prospects. However there are different similarities and variations between SMS and e mail advertising and marketing which can be price figuring out. Being conscious of them will allow you to glean the best advantages from each methods.
SMS advertising and marketing
SMS advertising and marketing is commonly regarded as one other time period for textual content messaging, however in actuality, it’s a lot greater than that. SMS stands for “brief message service.” These messages are restricted to 160 characters and can’t include photographs, which signifies that utilizing SMS advertising and marketing requires intelligent, concise messages.
Among the issues that make SMS advertising and marketing so essential embrace its excessive open charges, timeliness, and supply to generally-receptive audiences. It’s a really highly effective technique — a lot in order that it’s anticipated to develop right into a $12.6 billion business by the yr 2025.
Electronic mail advertising and marketing
Electronic mail advertising and marketing refers to sending advertising and marketing messages on to your prospects’ e mail inboxes. This may increasingly seek advice from direct advertising and marketing messages about gross sales or occasions, however it could possibly additionally embrace issues like newsletters, buyer re-engagement emails, and deserted cart summaries.
Electronic mail advertising and marketing has been proven to boast severe advertising and marketing advantages, from constructing credibility and model recognition to growing visitors to your web site. In actual fact, e mail advertising and marketing has an ROI of $36 per greenback spent.
What’s frequent between SMS advertising and marketing and e mail advertising and marketing?
SMS advertising and marketing and e mail advertising and marketing are each permissions-based. To market to both of those channels, companies are legally required to have permission from recipients.
Whereas this may occasionally sound tough, a notable profit to opt-in advertising and marketing channels is that recipients have already proven an curiosity in listening to out of your model. Because of this, they could be extra receptive to the content material you share with them, which may give you a greater return in your funding.
What are the largest variations between SMS advertising and marketing and e mail advertising and marketing?
One of many largest variations between SMS advertising and marketing and e mail advertising and marketing is the dimensions of the messages you possibly can ship.
SMS advertising and marketing is nice for short-form content material to drive fast engagement. This may increasingly embrace appointment reminders, details about flash gross sales, and occasion reminders.
Electronic mail advertising and marketing, alternatively, is nice for long-form content material with advanced messages. Bulletins about new product choices, newsletters, and occasion invites are often greatest despatched by means of e mail.
Advantages of mixing e mail and textual content advertising and marketing
If you mix SMS and e mail advertising and marketing, you stroll away with a easy, but sturdy, advertising and marketing technique.
Electronic mail advertising and marketing with SMS is definitely scalable, well timed, and highly effective. It has the flexibility to ship the best messages to your prospects on the proper occasions, resulting in improved engagement and an enormous return in your funding.
Listed here are some noteworthy advantages that come from utilizing SMS and e mail advertising and marketing collectively.
Cross-compatible information units
Combining SMS and e mail advertising and marketing signifies that you need to use buyer information from one channel to bolster the success of one other channel. For instance, if one buyer exhibits an curiosity in baby-related textual content messages, you need to use that to replace their buyer profile in your e mail checklist to make sure they’re included in baby-related checklist segmentation.
Simpler outreach and segmentation
Utilizing a number of advertising and marketing channels to advertise the identical message can even allow you to attain extra prospects.
If you use each channels, you can even monitor open charges and engagement. Having that information will will let you section your customers in order that they obtain advertising and marketing messages by way of their most popular channel.
This improves buyer satisfaction along with your model’s advertising and marketing and reduces the probabilities you’ll get marked as spam or placed on a do-not-call checklist.
Higher engagement
Final however not least, utilizing each SMS and e mail advertising and marketing in the identical marketing campaign helps you enhance omnichannel buyer engagement.
For instance, you would possibly ship out details about an occasion by way of e mail, however on the day of the occasion, you’ll then ship a textual content reminder. On this approach, the 2 channels can work collectively to spice up engagement along with your model.
Getting began with SMS and e mail advertising and marketing
Should you’ve by no means used e mail advertising and marketing with SMS, getting began might really feel intimidating. Fortunately, each SMS advertising and marketing and e mail advertising and marketing are comparatively straightforward channels to get off the bottom.
Begin by discovering an SMS and e mail platform that may will let you schedule each e mail advertising and marketing and SMS messages from the identical handy location. Ideally, your platform will embrace easy-to-adjust templates on your e mail advertising and marketing campaigns, in addition to a database to retailer e mail and SMS contact data.
Getting began with SMS advertising and marketing
Everytime you ship an SMS message, there are particular greatest practices price figuring out. For instance, whereas your prospects might have their telephones on them 24 hours a day, they doubtless don’t wish to hear from you in any respect hours of day and evening. It’s courteous to restrict SMS advertising and marketing messages to regular 9-5 workplace hours so that you don’t wake your prospects up or interrupt their dinners.
It’s additionally essential that your SMS messages at all times embrace an opt-out choice. This retains your messaging from feeling spammy and ensures that solely your most receptive prospects are receiving your SMS advertising and marketing messages.
Getting began with e mail advertising and marketing
If you’re first getting began with e mail advertising and marketing, a very powerful factor is to seek out an e mail template that you simply like and may use over and over. Electronic mail templates guarantee your emails look skilled and that your prospects can establish emails out of your model at a look.
Subsequent, arrange a number of automated drip campaigns. This may increasingly embrace:
- Welcome e mail sequences, which go to prospects after they first signal as much as be in your e mail checklist
- Deserted cart e mail sequences, which go to prospects who positioned gadgets of their buying carts however by no means made a purchase order
- Re-engagement sequences, which go to prospects after they haven’t engaged along with your model shortly
Identical to with SMS advertising and marketing, your emails ought to at all times embrace data on how prospects can decide out of your campaigns. This may cut back your bounce price and enhance engagement down the highway by making certain that prospects who don’t care to obtain emails out of your model gained’t obtain them.
Lastly, don’t neglect e mail advertising and marketing greatest practices, which embrace retaining a tidy e mail checklist, designing mobile-friendly emails, and personalizing your content material.
Methods to mix SMS and e mail advertising and marketing to spice up your campaigns
If you’re working a brand new advertising and marketing marketing campaign, pondering of the way to make use of e mail advertising and marketing and SMS advertising and marketing collectively may help you drive buyer engagement.
The thought isn’t to ship textual content messages and emails at the very same time. As an alternative, you must stagger your messages, permitting every channel to do what it does greatest whereas bolstering your total message.
For instance, think about a enterprise that desires to have a advertising and marketing marketing campaign to get extra prospects to return to a charity 5K stroll. That is how they may use SMS and e mail advertising and marketing collectively:
- Beginning with an e mail drip marketing campaign: Within the e mail marketing campaign, they may clarify the charity they’re supporting and why it issues to their model. Then, they may have one other e mail telling concerning the location of the stroll, the best way to contribute to the occasion, and the best way to buy tickets.
- Supplementing the drip marketing campaign with SMS advertising and marketing: This e mail drip marketing campaign may then be supplemented with SMS advertising and marketing within the days main as much as the occasion that reminds prospects concerning the occasion and builds hype.
- Sustaining engagement with well-timed SMS and e mail outreach: After sending out SMS messages, they could ship a follow-up e mail that talks about parking choices and has a map to the 5K’s location. Lastly, on the day of the occasion, they may ship out a “Can’t wait to see you there!” textual content to remind prospects that the large day has arrived.
This technique of going backwards and forwards between e mail advertising and marketing and SMS advertising and marketing permits every channel to shine and do what it does greatest whereas speaking an total message between the 2 channels that advantages your prospects.
Use SMS and e mail advertising and marketing collectively to enhance engagement
SMS and e mail advertising and marketing are two rising engagement methods. However as a substitute of seeing them as completely separate, corporations can profit by understanding how their variations can be utilized strategically to create an omnichannel engagement technique that each builds hype and informs prospects about upcoming occasions or campaigns.
Get began at present by discovering an SMS and e mail advertising and marketing platform that you simply like. Then, start watching tutorials and designing your e mail templates so you possibly can ship out professional-quality messages that signify your model.
