SMS and Email Marketing Trends to Generate Sales

Digital marketers would benefit from knowing the SMS and email marketing trends of 2024. For, email and SMS are the two most predominantly used digital marketing channels today. Statistics say that more than 293.6 billion emails are sent and received every day (2019).

And there are currently 3.9 billion active email users, which is expected to increase to 4.3 billion by 2024. So, the 40+ years old email marketing is expected to stay even in the upcoming years. 

SMS marketing also shows astonishing numbers. The response rate of SMS is 45%, which is 7.5 times higher than that of email (6%). So, by combining email and SMS marketing, brands and businesses can reap double-fold benefits. 

Here are the current marketing trends in email and SMS marketing. Marketers should remember these while coming up with their digital marketing campaigns this year. This will help them compete efficiently in an ever-expanding and increasingly competitive field. 

Top Email Marketing Trends for 2024

Let’s first discuss email marketing trends before moving to the trends in SMS marketing. 

1. Mobile-Friendly Email Designs

Studies have found that people read over 60% of their emails on smart devices. Further, nearly 80% of mobile users have made online purchases using their phones. Optimizing your emails for mobile screens is crucial, especially considering the growing use of cell phone services for browsing and purchasing.

With the tools required for doing this being readily available, it is not rocket science. So, do not overlook the need for optimizing your emails for mobile screens.

2. Email Designs for Dark Mode

Dark mode consideration goes together with mobile optimization. At times, this can be done by simply going for a darker palette or a black background for your promotional emails’ layouts. You can get rid of unwanted white elements by swapping JPGs with PNGs. You can ensure the legibility of your text by formatting dark text with a white stroke. 

3. Email Accessibility

Email accessibility refers to designing your emails so that everyone, including those with disabilities (particularly visual and hearing) or assistive devices, can easily comprehend your message. You can ensure this with minimalistic layouts.

That is layouts with smart, clean, spare, and simple looks. Go for solid hues, single columns, concise copy, and polished use of negative space. This will help you reach your message to a diverse audience. 

4. User-Generated Social Media Content Insertion 

Another email marketing trend is to merge your email marketing with your social media strategy. In the past social media integration simply meant including social media links and icons in your promotional emails. But today, it has become trendy to include user-generated social media content.

This will bring in more sales through social proofing, a psychological phenomenon where people follow the mass’s actions. 

5. Customer Reviews, Ratings, and Feedback Inclusion

Studies say that over 90% of all people read online customer reviews, and more than 80% take those like personal peer suggestions. The power of customer feedback is intense. By including your customer reviews, ratings, and feedback in your emails, you can increase your customer base and brand loyalty and improve sales.

You can source reviews by simply asking for those through emails and your website. 

6. Video and Animation Inclusion

Stats say that simply by adding the word “video” to an email title, you can increase your open rate by some 20%. And when you include a video to your promotional email, the click-through rate goes up by nearly 65%.

Further, the inclusion of videos, animations, and sounds also makes your promotional emails more accessible. If file embedding issues worry you, you can use GIFs or animated PNGs instead of videos. Static images are also good. 

To enhance your email marketing campaigns with captivating visuals, you can leverage an animation maker to create eye-catching animations and GIFs that effectively convey your message and capture the attention of your audience.

7. Brand Storytelling

It is predicted that this year, consumers would exhibit an absolute need for authenticity and genuine connections. You need to communicate with your consumers through brand storytelling. Even if your brand is faceless, you still have a mission and history, which you can weave together and share narratively.

Brand storytelling works by helping people remember your marketing campaigns’ details and reinforce the emotional bonds you have created with your consumers. 95% of cognition occurs in the subconscious mind, and storytelling stimulates the brain areas that are associated with sensations like taste, sight, sound, and emotion.

Top SMS Marketing Trends for 2024

Now that we’ve got to know the email marketing trends of 2024, let’s explore the trends in SMS marketing.

1. Offer Customer Service Through SMS

Customer service has a supplementary role to play in your marketing department. Firms largely rely on phone calls to deliver their customer service. However, studies show that more than half (52%) of the consumers prefer texting rather than phone calls for availing of customer support.

And almost 60% of them do not like to wait on hold for more than a minute. Further, texting also allows the quick resolution of issues due to eliminating long hold times and transfers. So, the system of texting instead of calling is becoming more accepted nowadays.

2. Use SMS as a Promotional Channel

SMS generates higher response rates than email, Facebook, or phone calls. It also has a conversion rate of almost 14%. And nearly 49 million consumers agree to receive SMS from brands through subscription. It is increasingly becoming a renowned marketing channel for revenue generation via sales and promotions.

Apart from promotions, SMS marketing trends will also start leveraging the platform by including VIP programs, anniversary or birthday specials, cart abandonment offers, etc. to promote brand loyalty. 

3. Transactional SMS Updates

Studies say that a vast majority (77%) of consumers have a good impression of brands and businesses that keep them informed via SMS. They are increasingly opting to receive order updates through texts.

Companies should take advantage of this opportunity to provide instant value through status updates like delivery shipping notifications, order confirmation, etc. This also allows firms to cross-sell to their already engaged customers.

4. AI-Enhanced Chatbots

A prominent SMS marketing trend that has begun gaining a lot of attention this year is SMS chatbots. These automate several areas of the customer experience and provide instant replies to common customer queries. This enables personalization and saves a lot of time and effort on both ends.

Advancements in AI have expanded the technology further in mainstream dominant products. And these breakthroughs will continue to spread into SMS software. AI-powered chatbots will be employed for replying to customer queries, complete tasks, and quicken orders without human assistance. 

5. Trigger-Based Texting

Trigger-based messages can allow SMS marketers to radically scale up communications, just the way email automation has. Marketers can place triggers to request feedback, remind abandoned carts, and celebrate milestones. Since SMS adds a more personal touch to automation, your recipients are more likely to take favorable actions.

 6. Review Requesting

Customer reviews have an immense influence on a customer’s buying decisions. 72% of consumers agree that positive reviews about a local business build their trust in it. So, brands should focus on gathering customer reviews. This can be achieved through the high engagement provided by SMS. 

Combining Email and SMS marketing Trends

By looking at the SMS and email marketing trends, you can understand that today’s two most powerful digital marketing tools are here to stay for a while longer.

So, it would be wise for brands to merge these two. By doing so, you will ensure that your message gets read, you provide great customer service and updates, your customers are engaged with your brand, and you make more sales. 

Capitalizing on an Email and SMS Marketing Software

You can observe from the above-given discussion about the current SMS and email marketing trends that you need email and SMS marketing to flourish your brand. Stats say that 88% of customers buy from a brand that employs cross-channel strategies, and sends personalized, cross-channel messages. These also say that such brands enjoy 23x higher customer satisfaction rates. 

SMS and email combination is powerful for cross-channel marketing. These can work together in a complementary manner to engage your customers with your brand and generate sales. An email SMS marketing software can help you seamlessly combine your email and SMS marketing.  

You can send cross-channel marketing messages about offers and discounts to a large targeted consumer base by sending a crisp and direct SMS and a more detailed email message with a CTA directing them to the targeted landing page. There are many examples of firms that have succeeded through a blend of SMS and email marketing. 

For instance, Lyft, a renowned rideshare firm in the U.S., uses integrated email and SMS marketing efficiently. It uses email to engage customers, extend its ambassador program, announce special promotions, send automated ride receipts, and reward loyal customers.

It employs SMS to bring about a real-time conversation between passengers and drivers. This has eliminated 100% of the support costs spent by this firm. 

Another instance is that of Uber, a global provider of car rides. It markets itself in India by employing both email and SMS marketing successfully. It updates customers with real-time ETA (Estimated Time of Travel) alerts using SMS and employs emails for other communications. 

NotifyVisitors’ Email and SMS Marketing Software

NotifyVisitors’ email and SMS marketing software has many features and tools for merging email and SMS marketing and sales automation. You can use it to nurture leads, run campaigns, and carry out marketing analytics. 

You can segment your contacts, create catchy and responsive emails, manage campaigns, and perform an in-depth analysis using its email marketing feature. Also, you can integrate your email and sales automation and organize all customer data at its CRM platform. You can segment your customers and track their engagement through its SMS marketing tool.

All these would facilitate you to promote your brand, engage your customers, and render flawless customer service, which would, in turn, expand your boundaries. 

Rounding it all up, looking at the current SMS and email marketing trends, you can sense that brands and businesses can reap unmatchable benefits by combining SMS and email marketing. Further, since these are predicted to stay for a long time, you cannot afford to miss out on them.

Many firms from around the world have witnessed benefits from merging these. Software like from NotifyVisitors can help you easily combine your email and SMS marketing efforts and enjoy the results from that place.

Also Read:

• What is Email Marketing? Definition, Type, and Benefits
• Everything You Need to Know About Personalized Emails
• 5 Creative SMS & Email Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business
• Email Marketing Vs SMS Marketing – Where To Invest?
• Email & SMS Marketing Software for Greater Marketing Strategies