How do you best make email and SMS work together in Klaviyo?

In Klaviyo, you can conveniently have your email and SMS flows and campaigns work together to reach your customers more effectively. In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of SMS and email, strategies for using both channels in a flow or campaign, and tips on how to implement these strategies.

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Pros and Cons of Email and SMS

Email and SMS each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and they complement each other when used together. Below, we explore the strengths and weaknesses of both channels.
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Advantages of EmailUsing email over SMS has three key benefits:
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1. Wider Signup Rates: Many people are willing to sign up for email marketing. They are generally more comfortable sharing their email address, especially with brands they are interested in. This allows you to reach a larger segment of your audience directly.
2. Increased Sending Frequency: You can send emails more often than SMS messages. This enables you to provide regular updates and information to subscribers through a channel you fully control. You can quickly iterate based on what works well with your audience.
3. Ease of Use: Email has been around for a long time, and most people are familiar with best practices for sending emails (e.g., avoiding spam). There are also fewer regulations concerning email compared to SMS, allowing you to send a wider range of content and reach more people. Overall, it’s easier to get started with email, as there are fewer concerns to manage.
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You can reach more people and send emails more frequently than with SMS. Many people do not hesitate to provide their email addresses, especially when it comes to a brand they are interested in. Emails help you directly reach a large portion of your target audience.

Since you can email more often than sending SMS, this allows you to regularly send updates and information to subscribers through a channel that you fully own. This way, you can quickly iterate based on what works well with your subscribers.

Email has been around for a long time, and most people are familiar with best practices for sending emails (e.g., don’t send spam). There are also fewer regulations regarding email. This enables you to send a broader range of content and reach more people than with SMS. Overall, it’s easier to get started with email, as there is less to worry about.
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Disadvantages of Email

The disadvantages of emails are:

• Not all recipients read an email.
• It takes longer for people to open the message.
• Not everyone you send an email to sees your message. A good open rate for an email is usually 20%, which means the majority of recipients may not even see your message.
• Of those who open the email, one in five does so within 1 hour, and half open it within 6 hours. So it may take some time for results to come in.

Advantages of SMS

The advantages of SMS are:

• Almost all recipients read SMS messages.
• People who opt in for SMS are usually more engaged with your brand.
• People check their SMS messages almost immediately after receiving them. So if you want to send an urgent message, SMS is the way to do it.
• Additionally, those who sign up for your company's SMS marketing are generally more invested in your brand than the average email subscriber. They are like VIPs with whom you can build long-term relationships.

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Collecting Subscribers

Email and SMS permissions are officially considered separate, so you need to collect consent for both individually.
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Use a Multi-Step Form
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The best approach to gather email and SMS consent is through a multi-step form.

• Typically, you collect the email address first, as more people are willing to provide this information.
• Then, add a second step for SMS consent. If a visitor only completes step one, you can still reach out to them via email and encourage them to subscribe to other channels in the future.

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How to Proceed with These Two Channels

Before you start sending messages, you should have (at the very least) the following prepared:

• A list of all subscribers (email and SMS)
• A segment of SMS subscribers
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As each channel expands, you'll build more segments for both email and SMS. However, you don’t want to segment your subscribers too much if you only have a few for one channel. The only exception to this is engagement; you don’t want to send messages too often to those who haven’t shown interest in your brand recently.

Segments for SMS and email can be almost identical. In both cases, you can group subscribers based on profile properties, location, behavior, etc. This allows you to be as targeted as possible in your messaging.

Here are some examples of segments you can create for both email and SMS:

• VIP
• Gender
• Age
• Location
• Preferences, interests, or hobbies

Messaging Your Subscribers

Whether you’re sending a campaign or setting up a flow, prioritize SMS subscribers when sending messages through both channels. While email subscribers are important and shouldn’t be neglected, sharing a phone number is more personal than an email. Therefore, it’s generally better to treat SMS subscribers with more care and preference.

If all your subscribers need to receive a specific message, consider making the deal more attractive for SMS subscribers (and, if applicable, VIPs for email). For example, offer a better discount, free shipping, early access, etc.

Campaigns

With campaigns, there are additional ways to provide value to SMS subscribers. For instance, you can send the SMS campaign a few hours or days before the email, so SMS subscribers receive the information first. Another option is to provide your SMS subscribers exclusive information that email subscribers, site visitors, and social media followers do not have access to.

Here’s how to send your SMS campaigns:

1. Go to Campaigns > Create Campaign > SMS.
2. Add the SMS-only segment.

Although you could send messages to your entire list, those who haven’t opted in for SMS will be automatically skipped. This can distort future reports, while sending to only the SMS segment gives you a clear picture of how many people actually received the SMS message.

E-mailcampagne Aanmaken

Vervolgens maak je een e-mailcampagne aan:

1. Navigeer naar Campagnes > Campagne maken > E-mail.
2. Selecteer je belangrijkste lijst van abonnees of het segment dat je wilt bereiken.
3. Sluit je SMS-abonnees segment uit.

Als je deze groep niet uitsluit, krijgen degenen die toestemming hebben gegeven voor zowel SMS als e-mail de boodschap twee keer. Bovendien, omdat SMS-abonnees zijn uitgesloten, krijg je nog steeds een nauwkeurig beeld van wie deze campagne zal ontvangen.

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Flows

When you have a flow that includes both emails and SMS, it’s (once again) important to remember that someone may have opted in to both channels.

If you set up the flow so that SMS and email are sent side by side (as shown in the image below), a person may receive both messages at the same time. This can be confusing for your customers, especially if one channel offers a better deal than the other.

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The above example shows what a setup without separation looks like. Instead, you can add a conditional split. This allows subscribers who have opted in for SMS to follow a different path than those who have only signed up for email. The example below illustrates how this will appear on the backend.

By not building an SMS option for every email you send, you prevent sending too many SMS messages. We recommend using email as a follow-up after SMS messages.

Keep track of what you've offered in the SMS and email messages, so your reminders are genuinely meaningful. Space out the email and SMS with a time delay (e.g., two days) and then check if they have already taken the desired action (e.g., placed an order).

Next Steps

We recommend testing how your subscribers prefer to communicate so that you can offer different content to various audiences. Keep in mind that SMS and email subscribers may differ; for example, SMS subscribers might appreciate a more informal tone and the use of emojis compared to email subscribers. Continue to test, analyze, and optimize how you communicate through each channel. This way, you can find what works best for your brand and audience.
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If you have any questions after reading this article about how to work best with email and SMS in Klaviyo, reach out to Polaris Growth for assistance.
Find the original article here.