Best Practices for Using SMS and Email in Enrollment Marketing

I talk a lot on here about email marketing but SMS is a key part of CRM too… Both have their strengths, but how do they compare? Open rates get thrown around a lot. 90%+ for SMS 20-25% for emails But to be honest, neither stat tells the full story. Email open rates are skewed by privacy updates, and SMS “opens” are really just delivery confirmations. If you want a fairer comparison, click-through rate is a better measure. SMS averages around 19%, while email sits at 2-3%. It’s tempting to see SMS as the clear winner, however it is more expensive to send. Email, on the other hand, is cheaper and easier to scale, but harder to cut through the noise. The truth is, it’s not about picking one. The real power comes from using them together, playing to each channel’s strengths: 📧 Emails builds trust, nurtures, and educates over time. 💬 SMS delivers when timing, urgency, or a personal touch matters. 🤝🏼Together, they create a journey that keeps customers engaged… email sets the stage, SMS drives the action. The best CRM strategies aren’t channel first. They’re customer-first and built around the right message, in the right place, at the right time.

Think blasting your entire SMS list is a smart strategy? Think again. One of my clients runs a major “birthday sale” in May. It rivals BFCM in terms of engagement, traffic, and revenue. When I looked at what their previous agency did last year, I was surprised to see they blasted the entire SMS list. No segmentation, no targeting, just a one-size-fits-all approach. This year, we did things differently. I focused on reaching people who were most likely to convert: ✅ New subscribers ✅ Anyone active in the past 6 months ✅ Shoppers who engaged or purchased during last year’s sale The outcome? 📉 Sent to 50% fewer people (keeping sending costs low) 📈 Revenue up 66% (from a single send!) 🔥 Click rate increased 142% 💸 Earnings per message up 212% 📊 Overall SMS revenue during the sale increased 87% YoY Even better? We saw similar results on the email side of things as well, proving this isn't a silo'd channel approach. The lesson? more messages ≠ more money. Segmentation isn’t just a best practice — it’s the difference between wasted spend and standout performance. Be smart (and thoughtful!) with your sends. Your customers (and your bottom line) will thank you.

Email and SMS are both messaging channels, but one has the real-time element for engagement that changes it's nature. Unifying Email and SMS isn't a single checkmark feature. It's addressing the nature of email and SMS engagement and how that impacts when/how you message. SMS vs. Email: Understanding the Impact SMS: If you send 5 SMS messages over 5 days, to drive engagement <- you risk hurting your brand. They did ask for an SMS to get offers (that's generally why people give you their number. They like you, they want the best offer because they generally are interested in buying) Email: Sending 5 emails over 5 days without engagement <-- isn't so weird. Part of why SMS works so well is that the customer actually sees the message! (for now) With email <- There is a high likelyhood they don't see it on that specific send. They log into their inbox, they go through the messages linearly. They choose to engage or not. Think about yourself. How often do you miss a message because it's just in a sea of messages, and you just move on. Close the tab. Leave all those emails unread - for now, you tell yourself. Why does it matter? Well the nature of real-time vs. Async. The nature of engagement with email vs text messages <- this should impact on how and when you send a message. With SMS I get <-- High engagement, high CTR, more chance of conversion. What I have to deal with is: Customer's getting fatigue from messaging. It's only going to be offers. With Email I get <-- good engagement, good CTR, More chance to educate. Lower pressure to engage. Higher volume send without impacting brand perception. What I have to deal with is: Lower CTR due to the nature of email engagement. These channels have to play to their strengths and if you marry them together in a way that does that - you get Integrated retention marketing that scales. Unifying in this business doesn't - err SHOULDN'T - mean that OH we have that tool too. It should mean that those tools work together in interesting ways that are true to the variables you deal with in those channels. They should compliment each other.

Stop buying more leads and wasting them. Are your student inquiries going cold? You're not alone. One of the most common opportunities is uncontacted leads. Leads you paid hundreds of dollars for and are sitting in your CRM. Here's a 4 step system we implement to transform neglected inquiries into new enrollments: 1. Create lead buckets in your CRM Example: We sorted leads by program interest, source, and inquiry date One specific bucket: "30+ day old healthcare program inquiries" 2. Audit your nurturing process We discovered leads with no follow up after day 7 (there was still interest in days 8-45, and even a spike after day 90) Their text messages had significantly higher response rates than emails but were rarely used. 3. Craft bucket specific messaging For the healthcare bucket, we created texts highlighting graduate success stories. Result: Response rates more than doubled almost immediately. 4. Track, learn, and optimize We identified specific days and times that dramatically improved engagement. We replicated these winning tactics across all campaigns. Simple but incredibly effective. Nurturing is just as important as marketing.