Today, when you are looking to build a marketing strategy, it is important to know about the differences between the different forms of marketing so that you can get a good understanding of what works for your business marketing strategy. In this article we will be giving you all the differences that you need to know as a marketer for Email vs text marketing. So, keep reading the article till the end!
What is Email Marketing?
Before we give you a detailed account of all the differences between Email vs text marketing, let me give you a brief account of each of these two marketing forms. Email marketing is a form of digital marketing where commercial messages are sent via email to the people who have subscribed to those emails. You can easily see that there are different emails in your mailbox from brands that come with different offers, newsletters, and many more. The primary purpose of building email marketing is to build relationships with customers or prospects, generate leads, and increase sales.
Head to the next section to learn about text marketing
What is Text Marketing?
Text marketing is another form of digital marketing where promotional content is sent over in the form of text messages to the ones who have subscribed to it. It is just like email marketing; here, businesses will send text messages to their contacts, which include time-sensitive promotions, customer service messages and many more. This is one of the quickest forms of digital marketing, and it can easily reach customers on their mobile devices.
Now that you have got a basic understanding of the Email vs text marketing forms of digital marketing. Head to the next section of the article to learn about the pros and cons of each of these digital marketing forms
Pros
Every marketing channel has its own drawbacks and advantages. Here are some of the most profitable benefits of email marketing:
Easy Tracking and Analysis
This is one of the most striking advantages of email marketing. With email marketing you can easily track the metrics by tracking the KPIs along with the performance of your campaign. You can also view critical metrics such as open rate, bounce rate, conversion rate as well as unsubscribe rate. These metrics give you a good understanding of the performance of your email campaign. When you measure these metrics, you will get to know your audience better.
Large Reach
This is another important advantage of email marketing. There are 4 billion people using email worldwide and your businesses will be getting access to a vast pool of potential customers. Additionally, email marketing campaigns are also sent to many people simultaneously, which makes it an efficient way to send messages.
Cost-Effective
This is one of the most useful advantages of email marketing. As compared to other marketing methods like paid ads or direct mail, with email marketing, there is a low-cost tool for reaching customers. This channel helps businesses to send bulk emails at low cost
Cons
Here are some of the Cons of email marketing that you cannot miss:
Spam Filters
Email providers such as Yahoo, Outlook, and Gmail will have spam filters to protect users from unsolicited messages, and this can sometimes block your email marketing form. Sometimes, your marketing email can be blocked by spam filters and can never be seen.
Over-Saturation
This is another one of the cons that comes with email marketing. As customers get more than 100 promotional emails, it can cause email fatigue, which can cause a task for the brand to get the attention of the customers.
Lower Open Rates
This is another one of the prime cons of email marketing. Despite your effort to personalize and target email messages, the average email open rate is just 21 percent, and this makes it challenging to capture the attention of recipeints
Pros
In the basic differences between Email vs text marketing, it is important to know the advantages and disadvantages of both these channels of marketing. Here are the pros of text messaging that you cannot miss:
Short and Concise Messaging
This is one of the most advantageous benefits that comes with the distinction between Email vs text marketing. Text messaging is primarily built for audiences who are looking for a quick and informative read. So, with short and concise messaging, the brand can convey important details in an engaging manner.
High Open Rates
There is a high open rate for text messaging and it is almost five times higher than email. Moreover, the text messages can be read within minutes of receiving them.
Instant Delivery
The text messages are sent and read in real-time. Text messages can be read in seconds, and as per a report, an average person can read the text in five minutes. So, with text messaging, a brand can convey the brand message within minutes without saying much.
More Engagement Potential
This is another prime advantage of text messaging. With text messages, there is an increased potential for more engagement with customers. This is primarily because the text messages are read, and the businesses can collect explicit opt-in from customers before they are planning to send a promotional text.
Cons
Before moving to decide which is the best channel for marketing for your business in Email vs text marketing, here are some of the cons of text messaging:
Limited Visual Options
This is one of the cons that can be quite problematic, especially when looking to send messages that include attaching images. With text messaging, you can only attach an image of up to 500KB and use only one image at a time. This may be imposing limits on the creativity of your campaign.
Restricted Character Count
There is a limit for sending text messages, which is 160 characters. MMS messages only allow for up to 1,600 characters, which makes it quite a bit difficult to access complex or detailed information.
Can Annoy Customers
This is another one of the disadvantages of text messaging. Since text messaging is seen as a more personal way to connect with customers, it can become annoying for customers when you are looking to send them with too many brand messages.
Which is Better?
In the comparison between Email vs text marketing, you might be confused as to which is better. To understand this, you can consider the following factors:
Know your Marketing Goals
One of the prime factors that you need to consider is to know your marketing goals. Make sure to define your marketing goals before you set out to decide which marketing channel works for you.
Understand your Audience
Another factor that you need to keep in mind is to understand your audience, make sure to know which communication channel your buyer prefers for communication and accordingly, you can decide between Email vs text marketing. Also, make sure to understand what devices your buyers use to make purchases.
Evaluate the Budget and Resources
Evaluate your existing tools, budget, and available personnel, which will help you decide what marketing channel works for you. Since email is cheaper than text messaging, you can consider that.
Conclusion
In the difference between Email vs text marketing, both channels have their own pros and cons, and you can easily consider the factors before you finalize the channel for marketing. That’s all, folks. I hope the article will help you to get all the information you need.
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