In modern marketing, campaigns synchronization across different communication channels helps maximize impact and ensure a seamless customer experience. With the rise in multi-device usage, strategically combining email and SMS not only increases reach but also creates synergies, improves message consistency, enhances conversions, and optimizes ROI (Return on Investment).
By leveraging the power of both channels, companies can capture attention in different moments and contexts that complement one another. The numbers don’t lie: using two or more channels in any single campaign results in 166% higher engagement rates, including metrics such as clicks, conversions, and time spent on websites. This combination allows marketers to address varying audience preferences and connect more personally, efficiently, and adapted to each channel’s characteristics (greater brevity and immediacy of SMS, more depth and visual elements of email).
The key goal is for email and SMS messages to complement and reinforce each other, reaching the customer with the right content at the right time. However, synchronization requires a strategic approach, so we highlight some best practices below.
Best practices for campaign synchronization
To fully benefit from this multichannel strategy, integrated planning is the starting point. Before defining your messages, it is essential to analyze the complementarity of each channel, where email can serve as a richer, more detailed piece and SMS as a quick, direct reinforcement. A successful initiative is one that considers the particularities of each channel without losing coherence.
1. Joint planning
The key to effective communication is ensuring that email and SMS campaigns are planned together. Establish a calendar where frequency, timing, and content complement each other without overlapping, avoiding customer fatigue with excessive communication in a short time frame.
2. Clear objectives and segments
Both channels must align on objectives and segments. Define personas and clearly segment the audience to ensure email and SMS messages reinforce the same idea.
3. Consistency in message and tone
Despite differences in format and length, the message conveyed by email and SMS should remain consistent in tone and content to avoid confusing recipients. Email can provide richer details and visuals, while SMS emphasizes the call-to-action or offers reminders, avoiding redundancies.
4. Automation and synchronized flows
Leverage automation features to ensure customer actions trigger synchronized flows between email and SMS. Tools that integrate both channels enable smoother, more relevant communication, ensuring the right message is received at the optimal time.
5. Monitoring and continuous adjustments
Track performance metrics (open rates, clicks, responses) to adjust your strategy in real-time based on the results obtained. This will allow you to optimize campaigns synchronization and avoid conflicts or inefficiencies.
Speaking of conflicts, let’s now explore how to prevent them to create a narrative that effectively ensures alignment and increases communication efficiency over time.
Avoiding Conflicts Between Email and SMS
To avoid conflicts between the two channels, careful coordination is required. It’s common to think about repeating the same messages, but this is not the best approach. Instead, consider how they can work in a logical sequence. Synchronizing the timing of communications is a way to avoid information overload and increase the likelihood of customer response. So, consider the following recommendations:
- Avoid redundancies SMS should complement email, not simply replicate its content. Use SMS to create urgency or provide quick information, while email shares more detailed insights.
- Coordinated timing Set strategic intervals between sending email and SMS so that customers associate both and increase the likelihood of a reaction. For example, after sending an email in the morning, schedule an SMS for the afternoon.
- Mutually enriching messages Each channel serves its function: email can give details of an offer, while SMS can act as a reminder, highlighting a specific action such as a promotional code.
From theory to practice, how can we combine email and SMS? That’s what we’ll focus on next to inspire you.
Example of synchronization
Imagine an online store launching a new fashion collection, aiming to increase visibility, foster initial purchases, and maximize sales in the first weekend. Here’s a possible strategy for integrating email and SMS in 3 phases to ensure customers receive consistent and complementary messages at different times.
Phase 1: Pre-launch (1 week before launch) to generate anticipation and inform customers
- Email: Send a “Save the Date” with a preview of some collection pieces and an option for customers to sign up for an early release notice.
- SMS: Three days later, reinforce the launch date and invite customers to mark their calendars with a short, direct SMS message. Example: “The new summer collection arrives next Monday! Don’t miss the exclusive pre-sale. Stay tuned to your email.”
Phase 2: Launch Day to announce the collection’s availability and encourage early purchases
- Email: Send a morning email with the official launch, highlighting the main pieces of the collection, special offers for early buyers, and direct links to the online store. The email includes an exclusive discount code for the first 100 purchases.
- SMS: That same afternoon, reinforce the launch with an urgency tone: “The summer collection is now available! Use code SUMMER20 for an exclusive discount. Only for the first 100 purchases! [Link to store].”
Phase 3: Reminder and Last Chance (3 days after the launch) to reach those who haven’t yet purchased and create urgency before offers end
- Email: In the morning, send a reminder email highlighting the collection’s best-sellers and alerting that the discount code expires in 24 hours. Include a visual countdown and a strong call to action to complete the purchase.
- SMS: That same afternoon, send a short final reminder SMS: “Last chance! The exclusive discount ends tonight at midnight. Don’t miss the summer collection. [Link to store].”
With this campaigns synchronization, the expectation is that the approach will yield significantly better results, benefiting both the customer and the brand:
- Message consistency: Customers receive coherent communication across different channels, which increases trust and strengthens purchase intent as the message is effectively reinforced.
- Sense of urgency: The strategic use of SMS after emails creates urgency, encouraging faster responses with higher conversion rates.
- Customer experience: Combining email and SMS offers a richer and more engaging experience, keeping customers informed and motivated to engage.
Arpoone as a facilitator
With Arpoone’s multichannel editor, you can easily orchestrate email and SMS campaigns within a single platform. Through customizable templates and automation features, campaigns are managed intuitively, quickly, and efficiently, maximizing message impact. Additionally, with real-time SMS and Email reports and a dashboard offering an integrated view of all channels, you can analyze metrics and make timely adjustments.
If you’re not yet exploring the email and SMS campaigns synchronization, now is the time to try it and see the results for yourself.
