SMS vs Email Marketing: Which Works Better in 2025?
A data-driven comparison of SMS and email marketing — open rates, click rates, cost per conversion, and when to use each channel.
SMSPM Team
3 February 2025
Both SMS and email are direct marketing channels — but they behave very differently in practice. Here’s how they compare on the metrics that matter.
Open Rates
SMS messages are opened within 3 minutes of delivery on average, with an overall open rate above 90%. Email averages 20-25% depending on industry. For time-sensitive messages, SMS wins decisively.
Click-Through Rates
SMS CTR typically runs 19-36%, versus 2-5% for email. Shorter, focused SMS messages make the CTA harder to ignore.
Cost Per Message
Email is cheaper per send, but cost-per-conversion often favors SMS when you account for engagement rates. At SMSPM’s carrier pricing (from 0.01-0.08 EUR/SMS depending on country), the math works for campaigns with even modest conversion rates.
When to Use SMS
- Time-sensitive promotions (flash sales, expiring offers)
- Transactional alerts (order confirmations, shipping updates)
- Appointment reminders
- OTP / 2FA authentication
- Re-engagement of lapsed customers
When to Use Email
- Long-form content and newsletters
- Campaigns with rich images or attachments
- Nurture sequences over weeks or months
- Situations where cost-per-send matters more than open rate
The Best Strategy: Use Both
The highest-performing campaigns use SMS and email together. Email warms leads over time; SMS triggers action at the right moment. Use SMSPM’s API to trigger SMS sends from your existing email platform when a contact matches specific conditions.
View our API documentation to see how to integrate SMS into your marketing stack.
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