Why SMS Marketing is Better than Email Marketing

October 25th, 2011 | 31 comments

sms vs email If I think back to when I started in the Internet Marketing space, the one thing that I heard more than anything else was “the money is in the list.” And that phrase has proven to be true, at least in my case.

A good majority of the money that I have used to support my Family over the years has come, in one way or another, from my email list. So for me to say that email marketing is valuable would be an understatement!

But, let me show you a few stats that one of my business partners came up with:

- The average email open rate is approximately 6.5 hours.
- The average SMS text message open rate is approximately 4 minutes.
- The delivery rate for email is approximately 26%.
- The deliver rate for SMS text messages is approximately 98%.

And to add to that, although I don’t know the exact numbers, I would say 99% of everyone 16 years old to … probably 65 or so own a cell phone.

Now let me ask you this: Which one sounds better to you? I know my answer is a resounding SMS.

But, don’t’ get me wrong, there will always be a place for email marketing. There will always be people who prefer email over text and there will always be situations where email is just the better option, so I don’t think SMS marketing is necessarily replacing Email marketing, but if your business DOES currently benefit from email marketing, then I BET it will benefit even more from SMS marketing!

These stats along with the incredible increase in SMS marketing over the past couple years got me and a couple business partners very interested in getting into this market…and we are…but I’ll save that for another day.

Today, I want to ask you, are you currently using some form of SMS marketing in your business? If not why? If I can generate enough revenue to drive a 6-figure business with email, then how much revenue can I generate with a different communication method that has PROVEN to be more efficient. That’s my line of thinking… hopefully it gives you something to think about as well.

31 comments

Angela Wills
25th October, 2011 at 11:22 pm

Hey Josh hope you are doing well.

This definitely gives me something to think about.

You asked why we’re not using SMS yet. I’d say for me it’s probably because I’m still working on building the email list and it’s income. Also I would say it’s because I have no idea how to set it up.

Ideas on how to use it for me would be:
- webinar reminders
- course messages

I think you would have to be careful with the marketing element since text messages are so personal. I think one of the reasons people are so fast to use them is they are NOT usually getting pounded with spam and advertising.

Anyway good topic.
Juicing With Rika Susan (20 comments.)
26th October, 2011 at 1:08 pm

Attention-grabbing stats, Josh! Looks like something we all need to take notice of. Thanks for a good post.
Tim Shirley (5 comments.)
26th October, 2011 at 1:14 pm

This is really cool Josh I am going to have to give it a try.

Thanks for the great info!
Paul
26th October, 2011 at 1:20 pm

I am not currently using SMS…but after reading this post I am busily researching it. So, Josh do you have something for us in the near future?
Pauil
Eliot Proud (2 comments.)
26th October, 2011 at 1:21 pm

Hi josh

I’m busy trying to revive my interest in horse racing statistics and ratings and I know that sms is going to have to come into use somewhere along the road.

I’m certain that the stats your partner came up with are true as virtually everyone opens a text, but the majority of texts are personal not business.

Thanks for jogging my memory and getting me thinking about sms again
Josh Spaulding
26th October, 2011 at 1:25 pm

Paul – Yep, something very cool! I’ll be releasing more info in the coming months.

Eliot – Yep, most texts are personal, not business. Which makes it even more appealing from a business standpoint.
Ola
26th October, 2011 at 1:25 pm

Hi Josh,
I`v seen similar figures about the SMS text messaging, no doubt it`s more effective than email marketing. The only problem as I see it is to find a broadcasting service which is not too expansive. I live in Sweden (Stockholm) and this type of service is very expansive unless you have your own software which will do it for you. I don`t know if such a software exists, so far I haven`t seen any.
Twicat.com
26th October, 2011 at 1:25 pm

Great info Josh,
know that there is a movement in SMS marketing but didn’t follow it
thnx
Josh Spaulding
26th October, 2011 at 1:30 pm

Ola – We’re developing our own software/service that will provide SMS services for a price that will be very hard to beat. Unfortunately, for the time being, it will only be for U.S. companies though.
Stu Sensei (5 comments.)
26th October, 2011 at 1:35 pm

I’ve been hearing about SMS marketing for a while.. and love the idea of 65% open rates.

but where do you start? where or how do you build a list of phone numbers? buy them? rent them? what kind of offers are going to work best for someone on a mobile phone? ringtones? free/paid apps? I guess the answers are there if I search for them. ah well.. maybe one day.

Stu Sensei
Josh Spaulding
26th October, 2011 at 1:39 pm

Stu – I’ll be providing many of these answers in the coming months… just putting pieces together right now. Just wanted to give everyone something to think about for now.
Kean
26th October, 2011 at 1:44 pm

Stats of open rates and delivery rates is all well and good, but the more important stat is ROI.

Do people buy from their phones? Or do people remember the message so that they get home and buy the offer?

This is the stat that is most important.

SMS might be a good addition to email, but it’s still about whether the cost of doing SMS marketing outweighs it’s benefits. And the most important benefit is ROI.

Not saying that SMS doesn’t work, but maybe people should think thoroughly before jumping into what’s hot.
Mike
26th October, 2011 at 1:44 pm

SMS sounds good, but while I would give my email address out no problem for things, you’d have to pry my mobile number out of my cold, dead hands, there is no way I am giving that on a squeeze page! Also, if I ever do get a business text then you are invading what is a wholly personal area (my SMS inbox) so I would be disgusted and just delete it straight away. Finally you can click a link in an email to see if you are remotely curious, even if I was curious about a text then I am not going to bother to go to a computer and type out the link… unless of course the link turns into a clickable one on a smart phone, but then you can get emails on a smartphone so I don’t see the point of using SMS… also SMS costs a ton money to send and email is free…? All in all I think SMS marketing messages would be an awful idea!
Charles R (5 comments.)
26th October, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Hey Josh,

Great post, really looking forward to the upcoming sms service. Hopefully you will also provide some insight and training into that market. Would love to learn more about how that works and how we can leverage that. Is that for both affiliate marketing and selling your own products?
Frank Edens (2 comments.)
26th October, 2011 at 1:55 pm

Yes, i’m allready using SMS marketing for a company i made a webdesign for. It’s a huge bowling center, and they are BLOWN away from the results they have….

They use it for marketing the offdays in the bowling center. Busy days like friday/saturday, they don’t use anything. But the rest of the week, they use sms marketing to let the customer also come on tuesday or wednesday great tactic.

Frank
Billy
26th October, 2011 at 2:20 pm

Love those stats — they’re significant.

But every time I get a text message from someone who is not my personal friend I immediately think spam. Am I the only one? I’m guessing that marketing with sms is a lot trickier. Would like to hear thoughts on this.
Rhonda Morin
26th October, 2011 at 2:45 pm

If I get a text message from someone who isn’t a close close close personal friend or family I mark it as spam and let my carrier know there is spam and I don’t want it. They then block that number.

I can’t imagine how that is working over tweeting and tweet advertising.

What method are your using for those stats and what product are you promoting to teach this??

I am not sold on this. I would read your email over a text and I read your emails over your tweets or Facebook posts.

Rhonda
Marilyn
26th October, 2011 at 2:45 pm

I agree with Mike and Billy. I don’t like receiving ads on my phone. I never give my phone number on a sign up page. I wouldn’t mind someone I knew and trusted and had done business with having it to update me and let me know new stuff (not every day) but I definitely don’t want to receive a 100 text messages per day that are ads. Will have to think about this one.
Josh Spaulding
26th October, 2011 at 3:29 pm

Just like legitimate email marketing campaigns, people can’t just be added… they have to confirm. And you can’t adapt SMS marketing in the same way as Email Marketing. It works, very, very well. It just has to be done correctly. I’ll tell you all more in the near future.
Cliff Pasta
26th October, 2011 at 3:57 pm

Hi Josh,

A lot of good points concerning the pros and cons for SMS have been made here so far. My biggest question is on the bottom line – can or will a reader be likely to respond to a “call to action”?

Will purchases be made in response to the SMS? Can purchases be made?

My initial guess would be sending coupons offering healthy discounts for products and services with a time limit. Then they would be motivated to go their laptops and desktops to follow through.

I’m sure people are opening them now, but are they really buying as a result, if so, then how?

Great Article

Cliff
Stef (68 comments.)
26th October, 2011 at 5:05 pm

Hi Josh,

Very curious to hear who is buying what thanks to sms marketing, you have any info there?

Meanwhile the sms ads I receive come from a special number, easy not to open nor read them. Of course opting in to receive sms is a whole other perspective than the smsmsgs I just mentioned.

Cheers,

Stef
Mark
26th October, 2011 at 5:14 pm

Josh,

While I have been casually reading about SMS, I didn’t know the stats were that in favor of SMS over email.

Thank You for the insight.

Looking forward to more insight into your project.

Mark
Sean Breslin
26th October, 2011 at 8:31 pm

Josh, I’ve always thought of sms messages I recieve as spam, and truth be told I thought that was the universal response?
Josh Spaulding
26th October, 2011 at 8:32 pm

It’s all in how you do it. More details later.
Leonard Aberts (4 comments.)
26th October, 2011 at 9:57 pm

Since this is still ‘young’ (so to speak) it would be a good time to get in and do it right. This will be before someone causes problems by doing it wrong and ruining it for the rest of us like has happened to so many other things in the past.
Angie Berg (52 comments.)
27th October, 2011 at 7:29 am

I’m another one who hates unsolicited sms messages. It would be fine and effective, I suppose, if people willingly signed up and expressed their interest in an sms offer, but otherwise, I think it’s just plain rude. I’m probably an old fuddy-duddy.
Josh Spaulding
27th October, 2011 at 12:35 pm

Of course they would willingly opt-in. I don’t condone spam…
Franck Silvestre (4 comments.)
9th November, 2011 at 7:53 pm

I’d like to use sms marketing as a complement of my email efforts, but I really don’t have a clue about how to get in?
Gary (12 comments.)
11th November, 2011 at 3:24 pm

Hi Josh,
Very interesting stats, and certainly food for thought. I read another survey somewhere recently that confirmed sms was far more popular than email among the under 25s – in fact, many ‘kids’ never use email at all. Let’s face it, they are the future, so it’s undoubtedly a massive and growing market. I don’t use sms marketing yet, but certainly feel it’s something I should learn more about – Keep me posted!
Keith Ivey (1 comments.)
28th January, 2012 at 7:12 pm

Well said, Josh! One of the questions I ask my clients is this: “Knowing what you know about email, when would have been a good day to start collecting email addresses?”

The answer is, of course, on Email Day 1. Two years from now any business without a text marketing strategy is going to be asking themselves, “What where we thinking?”

Thanks for the article!

Keith
Paul (6 comments.)
2nd February, 2012 at 2:50 am

SMS. Short media service. I get tons of emails….yes emails from numerous marketers asking me to purchase the latest SMS service.

I get lots of text message but most are from close friends and relatives. A few…very few are from folks who are in the IM niche.

The younger generation do text a lot but are they doing it for profit, marketing or for future monetizing purposes?

I would like to know how this form of media will benefit us right now?
Paul