When it comes to digital communication, email and text messages have been fighting for the top spot. Depending on what you’re particularly looking for, you’re going to need to evaluate each of these mediums of communication in order to figure out what’s right for your business. You may even decide that there’s room for both.
Communication plays many different roles when it comes to effectively running your business. Some of the few things that it helps facilitate are better relationships, maintaining innovation, ensuring transparency. But, at the end of the day, it helps the company be more efficient as a whole. Choosing whether to take part in text messaging or email can help you do all these things and more.
Text Messaging
As we grow deeper into the technological age, texting and bulk sms is growing more and more popular. It’s even on the rise worldwide. Pew Research Center surveyed 21 countries around the globe and found that 75% of those countries (including poorer nations like Indonesia and Kenya) said that they used text messaging.
Text messaging often delivers information faster than email and ensures that more people are going to absorb that information. They’re also harder to ignore, where it’s very easy to leave a lowly email sitting in your mailbox, like the physical mail that you receive in real life.
In the battle of email vs. text, Quora conducted a survey of 500 consumers that revealed many different benefits surrounding text messaging including these statements:
“Email marketing only has a 2.95% click-through rate for retailers. The average retail SMS marketing click-through rate is 36%.”
“91% of adults have their mobile phones within reach 24/7. While 84% of all email traffic remains in spam.”
“90% of text messages are read within 3 minutes.”
For the past two decades, email has held its ground as a reliable form of digital communication. Most professionals spend about six hours a day sending and receiving emails. It’s also reachable on many different devices such as tablets, laptops, and phones.
But as other communication methods are skyrocketing in popularity (social media, forums, group texting, etc.) email is starting to be thought of as less reliable. As the next generation of millennials and Gen X’ers become the majority of the workforce, texting is bound to become the most prevalent form of communication. It’s only a matter of time, but that doesn’t mean that email is going to become obsolete.
Can There Be Room for Both?
Within the realms of business, both forms of communication have their place. Business text messaging can be used for alerts, reminders, and as a form of direct communication. On the other hand, emails can be used for detailed information that you need to relay. It all depends on what you need people to know.
When evaluating your communication plan, think about involving both of these forms of digital communication. They do vastly different things and can be utilized in various different ways. Using them both opens up a world of opportunities and makes sure that your business doesn’t get left behind when it comes to the ever-changing world of digital communication.
