Is email marketing dead?
And is SMS marketing going to take its place?
Let’s face it.
Email campaigns are a headache to put together.
I remember when I was an EDM specialist in retail sending out emails would require a shed-load of effort not just from myself, but also the team.
Here is a short list of what goes into preparing an email broadcast:
1. Select the product you want to promote or if it’s a newsletter, decide which subject matters to cover.
2. Write your first draft
3. Get those drafts proofed by the editorial team (this could go back and forth a few times)
4. Get designers and photographers involved to produce the right product shots or if it’s a newsletter go and find stock images that don’t look like stock images.5. Write the new version with everyone’s feedback
6. Check links and landing pages are working
7. Make sure your subject line is compelling
8. Send a test version out to select people in your company for a final green light
9. Once approved you can now select the segment of people to send the email to
10. Schedule and hot the go button
Here are some other issues with email:
Spam detectors – it’s like your email is travelling internationally and has to go through a border security check and if it gets flagged, your email is instantly jailed without a fair hearing.
Getting opened – if you email gets to the recipient will it even get opened after all of that work? People receive so many emails so you need to work harder to get it opened.
Platform friendly – Will your email stay together once it is opened on the other side? You have to check to make sure that you email looks great across all email clients.
Sender Reputation – your email performance is being closely monitored by your email service provider – earn a bad sender reputation and watch your emails go straight to spam and even get completely blocked by your ESP.
There are seemingly endless things to consider when constructing an email campaign including obstacles and hurdles to overcome.
And even if you manage to deal with all of this, you can expect to see results like these:
• 10% – 30% open rate (40% if you have a highly responsive list)
• 6%-7% click-through rate
What!?
Let’s take a quick look at SMS marketing.
Here’s the process:
1. Decide on an offer
2. Type out the offer
3. Select the list segment you want to send the offer to
4. Prepare landing page on website (if necessary)
5. Hit send.
No email border security checks to worry about.
No need to worry about open rates because people almost always click on their SMS messages AND there’s next to no competition in their SMS inbox.
No need to worry about your text message being ‘platform compliant’.
It’s beautifully simple.
And for this you can expect the following results:
• 98%+ open rates
• 36%+ click-through rate
• 83% opened within the first 3 minutes
SMS goes straight to its intended target like a guided missile; nothing stops it apart from the phone being off or the person being out of range.
A lot of us are ‘addicted’ to our mobile devices and always have them close by.
When people want information they turn to their mobile device.
When people are bored they pick up their device.
This presents a magical opportunity for businesses that are thinking about using SMS marketing.
I’ve found few strategies quite as effective as SMS when it comes to getting the phone to ring with customers or driving people to an offer.
It just works.
It’s cheap too, for pennies per SMS you’re getting maximum engagement.
Is email marketing dead?
No.
Email is still a strong channel and will not go anywhere soon but here’s how I like to think of email vs SMS:
Email is like general mail, it gets delivered to the customer’s home or office in amongst dozens of other envelopes.
Your customer (or their assistant) starts sorting through that pile of mail throwing out the ones that don’t immediately get their attention straight into the bin.
SMS is like a Priority Courier package.
When you get a courier package what is your first reaction?
Generally excitement and curiosity.
You want to see what’s inside.
It costs a few cents to deliver, but this buys you a first class ticket past all of the envelopes getting thrown into the bin and lands directly to the recipient where they feel compelled to tear the package open to see what’s inside.
When a person receives an SMS their attention shifts immediately to their phone.
Getting instant attention and getting your message opened and read is
what makes SMS marketing so powerful.
That maximum reach and engagement come with a caveat.
You can’t treat SMS like email – unfortunately, most people make this mistake.
A person’s mobile device is incredibly personal and for this reason, needs to be treated delicately.
SMS is not a brute force marketing channel (like email) where you can send out messages every day until your customers plead for mercy.
Use it intelligently.
Want a few tips on how to use SMS correctly?
16 Tips That’ll Set Your SMS Marketing On Fire
