Why SMS and Email Are Better Together: A Winning Strategy for Your Business

Today's consumers are deeply connected to their mobile devices, providing fitness and wellness businesses with numerous opportunities to engage with both current and potential clients. Roughly 11% of Americans check their email as soon as they wake up, and text messages have a remarkable 97% read rate within 15 minutes of delivery. These statistics highlight the significant potential of email and SMS marketing to reach your audience wherever they are, whenever you need to. 

With two powerful marketing methods at your disposal, you might think you have to choose just one. However, that's not the case. From consumer preferences to the unique benefits each method provides, here are the reasons why you should combine SMS and email to maximize your reach. 

What is marketing orchestration?

Before we explore the art of combining email and SMS marketing, let’s first understand the concept of marketing orchestration. At its core, marketing orchestration is about aligning your marketing efforts to work together seamlessly, much like developing the perfect workout routine or curating an ideal skincare or hair care regimen. 

Just as these routines combine different elements to achieve optimal results, marketing orchestration ensures your efforts across channels, such as email, SMS, and social media, work collaboratively to create a smooth, consistent, and personalized experience for your audience.  

By orchestrating these channels effectively, you can deliver the right message at the right time, build stronger connections, increase engagement, improve deliverability, and ultimately create a more impactful and tailored experience for everyone.  

SMS marketing, email marketing, or both?

Consumers have distinct preferences for how businesses communicate with them, often wanting control over the frequency and type of communication they receive. While younger generations may lean toward text messages and older generations favor emails, it’s not an either/or situation. In fact, 85% of consumers subscribe to both SMS and email communications when engaging with a brand.  

Data from the SMS and email marketing platform Attentive shows that subscribers who receive both text messages and emails are 2.4x more likely to make a purchase compared to those who only receive text messages. This highlights the power of a multi-channel marketing strategy. Utilizing both channels is essential for reaching your target audience effectively.

Send concise and timely messages with SMS marketing

SMS messages are concise and to the point, which makes them perfect for delivering urgent updates or driving immediate action. Additionally, with a 97% open rate, text messages are almost guaranteed to be seen by your audience. For fitness and wellness businesses, this is invaluable for sharing time-sensitive information such as: 

• Class cancellations or schedule updates
• Special promotions or flash sales
• Appointment reminders
• Personalized offers for loyal customers
• Event invites and community updates 

Deliver longer, more detailed messages with email marketing

Email marketing offers depth and versatility. You can craft visually appealing messages that include images, links, and videos, while also delivering longer-form content to your audience. Emails tend to be less time-sensitive, allowing you to incorporate multiple updates and helpful information into a single message. Emails allow you to: 

• Share detailed information, such as newsletters or blog updates
• Highlight testimonials or success stories
• Promote seasonal offers or membership packages
• Nurture long-term relationships with clients
• Reach a broader audience

The benefits of combining SMS and email marketing

Combining email and SMS allows you to leverage the unique strengths of each channel. This approach creates a seamless, cohesive client experience that drives engagement and conversions. Here are four key benefits of orchestrating SMS and email marketing: 

Unified data and insights across channels

Integrating SMS and email marketing goes beyond simply using two channels—it’s about creating a unified database for your business. 

Successful orchestration involves linking email addresses and phone numbers to the same individual and tying that data to their device or browser. Tools like Attentive simplify this process, capturing both SMS and email subscribers and maintaining a clear connection between their contact details and online behavior for precise targeting. 

This seamless integration enables smarter orchestration, leveraging cross-channel insights to craft highly personalized campaigns, refine audience segments, and optimize customer journeys across both channels. 

Better targeting and personalization

Consumers engage with email and SMS differently, making it essential to tailor your marketing efforts to each channel’s strengths and your audience’s preferences. By combining these channels and unifying your data, your fitness or wellness business can create highly personalized touchpoints that resonate with clients. 

For instance, a yoga studio can send detailed class schedules via email to clients who prefer long-form updates, while using SMS for real-time reminders about upcoming sessions. This approach ensures current and prospective clients receive the right message on the platform they’re most likely to engage with, boosting satisfaction and driving better results. You can also maximize your conversations with platforms like Attentive, which allows you to retarget people with relevant follow-up messages built into your marketing campaign to increase engagement. 

Broader reach and multi-channel engagement

Orchestration shines by re-engaging inactive customers on one channel or encouraging engagement across multiple channels. To maximize engagement, focus on upselling your additional channel to single-channel subscribers and make the opt-in process seamless.  

For multi-channel subscribers, send campaigns and triggered messages across both channels, starting with SMS. If a subscriber is active on one channel but disengaged on the other, prioritize communication on the engaged channel while using the second channel sparingly. 

By creating meaningful touchpoints across email and SMS, you increase the likelihood of actions like clicks or purchases while ensuring a consistent, unified customer experience. 

Improved efficiency and ROI

You can drive higher engagement and conversion rates by sending content to your audience via their preferred channels, including SMS, email, or both. Integrating email and SMS marketing also streamlines your efforts, enhancing efficiency and boosting ROI. 

A unified strategy lets you target customers on the channels they’re most likely to engage with while avoiding redundant messages for those who have already converted. This ensures your campaigns are both impactful and resource efficient. 

Drive results with email and SMS marketing through Attentive

Your fitness or wellness business can achieve incredible results by combining the power of email and SMS marketing into a cohesive strategy. Mindbody's partnership with Attentive simplifies this process by enabling users to seamlessly integrate their client data into Attentive. This integration unlocks advanced opportunities for personalization and segmentation.  

Whether you aim to re-engage past clients with tailored campaigns or promote new services to targeted segments, the possibilities for meaningful engagement are limitless. Custom templates are also available specifically tailored for fitness and wellness businesses, making the process easier. This ensures that your marketing campaigns will effectively connect with your audience. With this strong partnership, your business can streamline operations, strengthen client relationships, and drive unprecedented revenue growth.