Email is usually one of the first channels companies adopt to communicate with customers. It’s a reliable, effective, and secure way to share both transactional and marketing messages. But, the average individual only checks their personal email about two hours a day, which means they might miss out on time-sensitive offers and messages from your brand. When it comes to communicating these updates in real time, you might want to consider an alternative: SMS.
In fact, 90% of all text messages are read within 3 seconds, allowing your brand to bypass crowded email inboxes and provide real-time communications to your customers that they actually read. That’s not to say your email and SMS campaigns can’t work together to drive user engagement. We believe there’s a time and a place for email, SMS, and both channels to work in tandem!
Building off last year’s guide, we’ve included helpful email and SMS best practices, common mistakes to avoid, and examples of how top brands use these two channels to engage customers. Wondering what’s new in this year’s edition? It contains detailed information regarding:
What A2P 10DLC is, and what it means for businesses sending text messages
New email and SMS use cases
Best practices and common mistakes your company should avoid
How to use email and SMS together to engage your users
And more!
The report also shares real-life examples of how top brands use email and SMS together to engage customers. One such brand is the vacation rental company Airbnb.
When hosts receive a reservation request through Airbnb, they only have 32 hours to accept or decline the request. While Airbnb shoots the host an email immediately after a guest submits a rental request, the company missed out on potential reservations every time the host failed to see an email in time, causing the request to time out.
The company quickly realized its hosts were on the go. They aren’t always at their computers and are able to respond quickly to email. To facilitate a better user experience, Airbnb turned to text messaging. Now, if a host doesn’t respond to a booking request right away, they also receive an automated SMS message with the guest’s information, dates requested, and booking price. Hosts can then easily accept or decline the reservation with a short text response.
Since introducing SMS reservation notifications, Airbnb has seen an increase in the number of successful bookings and helped improve the experience for potential guests, who now don't have to wait as long to hear back on a reservation.
Whether you want to send alerts, notifications, or re-engagement communications to your audience, two channels can often be better than one. While there’s a time and a place for both email and SMS, these two channels don’t have to operate in silos. In fact, they shouldn’t.
Our updated guide, Using SMS and Email to Engage Your Customers in 2021, shares everything you need to get started with SMS for the first time or ensure you get the most out of your existing SMS strategy. Grab your copy of the report now and start building email and SMS strategies that work together!
