Which has a higher open rate, SMS or email?

SMS consistently reports substantially higher open rates than email, largely because texts are read within minutes while emails often sit unread for hours or longer in a crowded inbox.

Is SMS more expensive than email marketing?

Generally yes, on a per-message basis — SMS typically costs more to send than email due to carrier fees, though the higher engagement often offsets that cost for time-sensitive messages.

Can I use the same message for both SMS and email?

Not effectively — SMS needs to be short and immediate, while email supports longer content, images, and more detail. Repurposing the core offer while adapting the format to each channel works better than copying one into the other.

Should a small local business use both channels?

Most benefit from both eventually, using each for what it does best — SMS for urgent, time-sensitive messages and email for longer-form content and less time-critical updates — rather than picking one exclusively.

SMS vs. Email Marketing: Which Wins for Local Business?

Quick Answer: SMS wins on speed and open rates — most texts get read within minutes. Email wins on cost, content depth, and volume tolerance — you can send more, longer, more often without the same opt-out risk. Most local businesses get the best results using both, matched to what each message actually needs.

The Core Tradeoff

SMS marketing and email marketing solve overlapping but distinct problems: SMS is fast, high-attention, and low-tolerance for frequency, while email is slower, lower-attention per message, but tolerates more volume and content depth without the same opt-out risk.

Neither channel is universally “better” — the right choice depends on what a specific message needs. A same-day appointment opening needs SMS’s immediacy. A monthly newsletter with several updates fits email’s format far better than it would fit into a 160-character text. See the full SMS marketing guide for how SMS works on its own.

Open Rates and Response Speed

SMS open rates substantially outpace email open rates, and the gap is largest in the first few minutes after sending — most texts get read almost immediately, while emails often sit unread for hours.

[Insert verified stat + source] for exact current benchmark figures, but the directional pattern is consistent and well-documented across marketing platforms: if a message needs to be seen and acted on today, SMS reaches people faster and more reliably than email does.

Cost Comparison

Factor	SMS	Email
Per-message cost	Higher (carrier fees apply)	Very low, often near-zero at small scale
Setup complexity	Moderate (compliance, number setup)	Low to moderate
Content capacity	Limited (short messages)	High (long-form, images, formatting)
Sustainable send frequency	Low (1-2x/month for promotional)	Higher (weekly is common)

Email’s lower per-message cost and higher frequency tolerance make it better suited to regular, ongoing communication, while SMS’s higher cost is offset by dramatically higher attention for the specific messages that need it.

Content Depth: Where Email Pulls Ahead

Email supports images, longer explanations, multiple calls-to-action, and formatted layouts — none of which fit into SMS’s character-limited, plain-text format, making email the better channel for anything beyond a single, simple message.

A seasonal promotion with several service options, pricing details, and supporting photos works far better as an email than as a text, which would need to be stripped down to a single link and a short line. SMS can point to more detailed content (a landing page, a booking link) but shouldn’t try to contain it directly.

Frequency Tolerance: Where SMS Is Much Stricter

Subscribers tolerate far more frequent email than SMS before opting out, which is why a weekly email newsletter is common and sustainable while weekly promotional texts would likely drive fast unsubscribes.

This isn’t a minor detail — it’s one of the most important differences in how the two channels should be planned. A content calendar built around “we’ll send this in both formats at the same frequency” tends to underperform in SMS specifically, since the channel simply doesn’t tolerate the same cadence email does.

Which Message Types Fit Which Channel

Message Type	Better Fit
Same-day promotion or last-minute opening	SMS
Appointment reminder	SMS (highest urgency, expected)
Monthly newsletter or multiple updates	Email
Detailed seasonal promotion with several options	Email
Quick review request after a job	SMS
Educational or how-to content	Email
Event announcement with visual details	Email (SMS can supplement with a reminder closer to the date)

Matching the message to the channel it fits, rather than defaulting to one channel for everything, produces better results in both directions.

Using Both Channels Together

The strongest local business marketing programs typically use SMS and email as complementary channels rather than competing ones — email for regular, content-rich communication and SMS reserved for genuinely time-sensitive or high-priority messages.

A practical combination: a monthly or biweekly email newsletter covering updates, tips, and promotions, paired with SMS reserved specifically for appointment reminders, review requests, and occasional urgent, time-limited offers. This keeps SMS’s high engagement intact by not overusing it, while email carries the steady, ongoing communication load. See email marketing automation for local business for the email side of this pairing in full detail.

Getting Started With Both

A local business building out both channels doesn’t need to launch simultaneously — starting with whichever channel matches an immediate need (SMS for reminders, or email for a newsletter) and adding the second channel once the first is running smoothly tends to work better than launching both at once.

Building an SMS subscriber list properly from the start, with real opt-in consent, sets up the SMS side to scale safely as the program grows.

Ready to Build Out Both Channels?

Most local businesses eventually need both SMS and email working together, connected to the same CRM and customer data. At JREdmonson Solutions, this is part of our local business services — see the full SMS marketing guide for the complete picture.