How do you know what kind of communication requires an email as opposed to a text? Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish the differences between the two communication channels, but it’s important to understand. What might be an effective text might not be a good email and vice versa. Texting tends to be high-priority, concise, fast and conversational whereas email tends to be low-priority and long-form.

Here are some of the key differences between texting and email.

Texting Pros and Cons

Benefits of Texting

It’s fast and high-priority

What’s quicker than sending a text? Your customers can quickly respond to texts. Unlike email, texting doesn’t require a formal greeting or signature – a simple “yes” or “no” will suffice. 74 percent of consumers reported having zero unread text messages at a given time, whereas only 17 percent said the same for email.

It gets read

Unlike emails, texts aren’t buried underneath spam. While email open rates are roughly 20 percent, text messages have an open rate of 98 percent. These statistics speak for themselves. Our email inboxes inundated with messages – we simply don’t have the time to read each one and sift through for important information.

It’s concise

Texting requires you to make your point with fewer characters. Contrary to what you might believe, being forced to communicate with limitations can actually make your messages clearer and more efficient. The best writers are often told to cut characters because important messages are best not diluted with fluff.

It’s timeless

We already know that most adults prefer texting over any other communication channel. But now we know that younger and younger generations are showing a preference for texting over any other communication channel.

It’s conversational

Texting feels more human and personal than email because of its conversational nature. You can quickly and easily exchange texts just like you talk. This format also opens the doors for humor, Emojis and other fun elements that don’t always arise in email.

It’s not associated with spam

Along with mass email marketing comes the negative connotation of spam. Although certain regulations are in place to protect consumers from an inundation of spam, not all senders adhere. Most consumers are used to tuning out emails from brands or people they don’t know because they’ve been conditioned to assume they’re advertisements or junk. Given this, email has a much lower open rate than text messages.

It’s not formal like email

We often feel compelled to insert a formal greeting or signature when writing an email. Email, by nature, isn’t conducive to quick conversations like texting. It’s often used to convey information rather than create dialogue. It also doesn’t foster back-and-forth banter the same way texting or phone calls do because it’s not as immediate. Unfortunately, this means you often lose that personal touch.

It often requires extra resources

When companies send emails – especially as marketing tools – they usually need to be branded and designed, which requires resources like designers and/or HTML coders. Although it provides an opportunity to tell a visual story, it also means it will take longer and cost more to get your message out. Texting is quick and simple and can get your message in front of your audience in a simple and convenient way unlike any other communication medium.

Cons

It’s not meant for long-form communication

Texting never will replace email entirely as long as users continue to treat it as a conversational messaging channel. One of the things we’re proud of here at EmojiOut is protecting the integrity of the medium of texting. In other words, we want texting to remain conversational and convenient. Texting will never be what emails are intended to be. Nobody wants to read a multi-paragraph text message – their eyes will glaze over, and they’ll move on to the next.