Every comparison of SMS marketing vs email marketing opens the same way. Texts get opened 98% of the time. Emails get opened about 20%. So texting wins.
Both numbers are wrong, and the advice built on them is wrong too.
Here's what each channel actually does well, what each one costs, and a simple rule for picking between them.
The comparison everyone shows you is broken
Start with texting. A standard text sends nothing back when someone reads it. There's no read receipt. Once the carrier delivers it, the trail stops. So any SMS open rate you've been quoted is a guess built from surveys, not a measurement of your campaign.
Email used to be better. It worked by loading a tiny invisible image when someone opened the message.
Apple broke that. Mail Privacy Protection loads those images automatically when mail arrives, whether or not anyone looks. Close to half of all recorded email opens now come from Apple Mail. So a large part of your open rate is a machine, not a person.
So the famous comparison puts a guess next to a broken measurement and calls it a result.
Worth remembering: most email vs SMS marketing articles are written by companies that sell texting. We sell both, and you should read this one with the same care.
Important
If any of your email automations trigger on "opened", they're now firing for people who never read the message. Switch those triggers to clicks or replies. Our guide to the numbers worth tracking covers what to use instead.
What each channel is good at
Forget open rates. Look at what each one physically does.
A text arrives on the lock screen within seconds. It's short. It sits in the same place as messages from friends and family. That's why it feels personal, and why it's easy to get wrong.
An email waits in an inbox. It can be long. It can carry pictures, links, a price list, a full explanation. Nobody expects it to be read right away.
That single difference does most of the work.
SMS vs email marketing: a simple rule
Ask two questions about the message.
Does it need to be read today? If yes, text.
Is it longer than three sentences? If yes, email.
If the answer to both is yes, send a short text pointing to the email.
Most owners already know this. They just don't apply it. Everything goes out through whichever tool happens to be open.
What each one really costs
Per message, email is cheaper. A text costs around a cent or two to send in the US. An email costs a fraction of that. On raw price, email wins easily.
But price per message is the wrong thing to compare. What matters is whether the message got read and acted on. An email that sits unread in the promotions tab costs you exactly the same as one that gets opened. That's where SMS marketing ROI really comes from.
There are also costs people forget. Before you can text US customers at all, you have to register your business with the carriers. That's a one-time fee of a few dollars plus a small monthly charge per campaign. On the email side, the cost is usually your time: setting up your domain so your mail actually gets delivered.
So here's the real answer on SMS marketing cost vs email. Email is cheaper to send. Texting is more likely to be seen. Which one gives you better value depends on what the message is for.
You can't just start sending on either one
Both have rules you have to meet before your first message goes out.
To text, US carriers need you to register your business and say what you'll use it for. Since early 2025 they don't slow unregistered traffic down. They block it. Your messages simply don't arrive, and often nothing tells you. If you run the business on your own, you'll need an EIN — the tax ID number the IRS gives a business. There are also daily limits on how much you can send. If messages are going missing, this guide covers the usual causes.
To email, Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook tightened their rules for anyone sending more than 5,000 messages a day. You need your domain set up properly, a working one-click unsubscribe, and spam complaints kept below 0.1%. Google publishes the full requirements.
Most local businesses send far fewer than 5,000 emails a day. Those rules won't apply to you. Set your domain up anyway. The same signals decide whether your mail reaches the inbox at any volume.
When texting is the wrong choice
Texting is stronger for urgent, short messages. That doesn't make it right by default.
Don't text anything long. If it needs scrolling, it belongs in an email.
Don't text outside business hours. A promotion at 9pm lands next to a message from someone's mother. That's how you earn an opt-out.
Don't text often. Email tolerates weekly. Texting doesn't. Two to four texts a month suits most local businesses.
Don't text anyone who didn't clearly agree to it. Email has an unsubscribe link and a spam folder. Texting has carrier complaints, and those cost you far more.
Pro Tip
Not sure which to use? Imagine the message landing while your customer is eating dinner. If that feels wrong, send an email.
Use SMS and email marketing together, not instead of each other
They do different jobs.
Email builds the relationship over time. Your newsletter, seasonal offers, longer explanations — the things people read when they have a minute.
Texting handles the moment. Reminders, confirmations, a cancellation, an opening this afternoon.
A pattern that works for most service businesses:
- Welcome — email with the details, text to check the number works
- Appointments — text only
- Monthly news or offers — email
- A slot opening today — text
- Winning someone back — text first, email if there's no reply
Running both from one place matters more than it sounds, because the contact and what they agreed to need to live in the same record. Smart Segments group contacts by what they've done, and one scheduled sequence can send a text on Monday and an email on Thursday.
Start with what you already send
You don't need a channel strategy. You need to look at what leaves your business this month.
Take the last ten messages you sent customers. For each one, ask the two questions: did this need reading today, and was it longer than three sentences?
Most lists sort themselves in about five minutes. And usually one or two are going the wrong way. A reminder buried in an email nobody opened in time. Or a long explanation squeezed into a text nobody finished reading.
