The Open and Reading Rates of SMS Marketing vs. Email Marketing

Open Rates

The open rate is the percentage of users who open the message that was sent. It’s a very important metric to determine the success or failure of a marketing campaign.

SMS messages get an average open rate close to 98%, which is a very high number. This is due to several reasons:

• Users have their phones with them practically all the time, which allows them to read their messages on the spot.
• Phones display notifications for every SMS message they receive on the spot, and they stay on the screen until the user reads them or deletes them.
• Because of the short length of these texts, users can read the content in a few seconds.
• The receiver can know instantly who sends the message, and if it’s a company of which they are customers.

On the other hand, the open rate of emails in Email Marketing is much lower, sometimes even below 50%. In this case, this is due to the following:

• Many times emails are not designed or programmed to be read on a mobile device.
• Email notifications tend to be disabled.
• Most people don’t check their inbox every day. Some time may go by, sometimes even a week or more, until the user sees the message. By that time, the campaign may have finished and that open doesn’t count.
• There’s always the risk that your message may go to the SPAM folder and get lost.
• Lastly, there are cutting-edge security measures, as in the case of Apple, that open emails automatically without needing the user to do this. These opens are not counted in platforms like LabsMobile.

Reading Rate

There is another important metric, known as reading rate, that allows us to get a representation closer to reality. Many times, people open emails and ignore them quickly. With this measurement, they can know how much time people spend reading the content.

• For SMS, this is not so important. The content is short and it doesn’t require more than a few seconds to be read in its entirety. This is one of its major perks.
• In Email Marketing, the reading rate allows determining three types of users. In the first place, there are those who have no interest in the content and dismiss the emails they receive in less than two seconds. Then, there are those who stay beyond that time but don’t stay longer than eight seconds, also known as interested users. In the last place, there are the committed users, who read beyond the 8 seconds.

The Open and Reading Rates of SMS Marketing vs. Email Marketing

If you’re looking to carry out a marketing campaign, text messages will be your greatest allies. Their open rates, together with other perks, make them superior to other channels, such as Email Marketing. The same will happen with the reading rate, since they are very short and concise, and stay in your readers’ minds.

LabsMobile gives you all the tools and comforts that you need to implement your SMS Marketing campaign without any problems.