For most e-commerce and B2B businesses, email marketing is more or less a critical part of sales and growth. It is easy to implement and provides both longer CLV and better sales. However, many miss the incredible value of SMS marketing in symbiosis with emails. Many e-commerce businesses see between three to ten times higher revenue when they use SMS in their marketing strategy. Today we’re going to take a closer look at what KPIs exist for SMS and how you, who are used to email marketing, can build your success with this high-converting marketing channel.
Email and SMS, what's the difference?
Those of you who are used to email marketing can sigh relief. Email and SMS marketing share many similarities. With email marketing, open rate, CTR, and conversion are the most critical metrics. With SMS marketing, you have no overview of the open rate other than that it is almost always over 90%.
Click rate and conversion can be tracked via the links you use. The zero-party data that the customer provides themselves and the first-party data you collect are captured in email and SMS. But since SMS stands out as a more personal channel between the customer and the brand, collecting zero-party data becomes much more effective.
SMS is an effective attention grabber
During promotional periods like Black Friday, SMS has proven an excellent channel for making initial contact. An American survey found that the click-through rate for SMS is 20-35% during campaign periods, i.e. up to 600% higher than the annual average of e-mails. When you have sales or new product launches, it is always a good idea to use SMS as a first point of contact and as a reminder before the sale is over.
SMS is your VIP list
The world over is seeing the same trend regarding SMS marketing – customers are less likely to sign up to the list than email, but the customers who shop more often and for more considerable sums.
If you have signed up for SMS according to GDPR and are not under ”duress, ” everyone on your SMS list trusts you enough to let you into their personal space – the phone. Although it varies quite a bit, a subscriber to your SMS list is about three times more valuable than a subscriber to your email list.
Email is for branding and volume, and SMS is for conversion and retargeting.
No one likes to be spammed with either SMS or emails, but with email, you can get away with a little more. Email is not limited by how many words you can put in your message; it is easier to ignore if you are uninterested. That’s why we often say that you should treat your SMS list with more respect because it is almost guaranteed that the recipient will read your mailing.
As we learned with one of our clients, Lace Laboratory, they primarily use SMS to retarget the email list that doesn’t engage with the email. This is an effective way to reach the entire list instead of 20-30%.
So what have we learned?
All your KPIs are measured in the same way with email as with SMS, and with an intelligent platform like Bogio, you can easily integrate your CRM and segment, automate and retarget with SMS marketing.
SMS is also a more practical approach to conversion, but it should always be treated with respect and less frequently than emails. That’s why it’s essential to set up a strategy to process your email and SMS lists in symbiosis and not send blinds to either of them.
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