As data coverage improves and app-based messaging becomes second nature, WhatsApp is quietly carving out a bigger share of how Australians connect. 

For businesses, this creates an interesting crossroads.  

Should you stick with SMS (a.k.a. the “old faithful” that reaches everyone) or start exploring WhatsApp? 

In this article, we’ll break down WhatsApp vs SMS in Australia, exploring how each channel works, how Aussies are using them, and what’s best for different business use cases.  

What’s messaging like in Australia today? 

As of June 2025, there are 13 million active WhatsApp users in Australia.  

It’s harder to pin down a definitive percentage of Australians using SMS because SMS is baked into every mobile plan. That said, it’s still extremely relevant. 96% of Australians say they use their mobile phones to send messages (SMS or equivalent) on a daily basis. 

When it comes to who are the keenest messagers in Australia, younger adults come out on top. Those between 18-24 are the heaviest users of messaging apps (we’re talking 89%), but older groups are catching up. About 79% of 55-64 year-olds use apps for messaging and calls.  

It also makes sense that WhatsApp is much more common in metropolitan and urban areas. In fact, 76% of people use a messaging app in metro areas compared to around 70% inrural spots.  

WhatsApp vs SMS: What’s different between each channel? 

At first glance, both WhatsApp and SMS do the same thing, but under the hood, they work very differently.  

WhatsApp runs on internet data, while SMS relies on the mobile network.  

That means WhatsApp messages can be sent anywhere there’s Wi-Fi or mobile data, but SMS will deliver even when someone’s offline or in a no-signal area. 

Here’s a breakdown of the core differences between the two.  

Does SMS guarantee delivery more than WhatsApp? 

Not exactly, but SMS is more resilient in the face of weak data. WhatsApp message delivery and “read” status depend on internet access. SMS, being independent of data, often gets through when app messages don’t.  

Is WhatsApp always cheaper overall? 

In many conversational use cases, yes. Because WhatsApp’s pricing often allows free replies within a 24-hour service window, the back-and-forth costs can be lower than paying for multiple SMS exchanges. But for one-way blasts or simple notifications, SMS might still be competitive depending on volume and local pricing. 

What about sending attachments, images, or documents? 

WhatsApp easily handles media (images, videos, documents) in messages. SMS can’t do that natively. To send media you’d need MMS or a link, both of which come with their own constraints.  

Can I use both in a messaging strategy? 

Absolutely. Many businesses use a “waterfall” or fallback approach: try WhatsApp first (for its richer experience), and if that fails, send via SMS to make sure the message gets delivered. 

WhatsApp vs SMS for engaging customers in Australia 

If you’re trying to choose between SMS or WhatsApp for customer engagement, it helps to think of them not as rivals, but as different tools for different jobs.  

Here’s a breakdown of each channel’s strengths, as well as when one might be better than the other. 

WhatsApp advantages for business  

• Verified business accounts and trust signals. One of WhatsApp’s biggest perks is that businesses can use verified profiles. That much-coveted green tick or verified badge gives your messages instant credibility. 

• Rich multimedia and interactive experiences. WhatsApp supports everything SMS can’t (or struggles with), like high-res images, videos, audio, attachments, buttons, quick replies, and product catalogues. Want to send a mini brochure for a new product straight in the chat? It’s totally doable.  

• Conversational and two-way engagement. Customers can ask a question, click a button, get menus, move through a decision tree. It’s way more dynamic than one-way broadcasts. Under the WhatsApp Business API, you can also automate flows, integrate with CRM systems, route conversations between agents, and build more personalised journeys.  

• Scalability and automation at scale. Once you’re beyond the basic WhatsApp Business App, the API version lets you scale. You can trigger messages based on events (e.g. when an order has shipped), automate FAQs, and manage large volumes of inbound and outbound communication. 

SMS advantages for business 

• Universal reach (no app or data needed). Every mobile phone in Australia supports SMS, regardless of whether someone has a feature phone, no data plan, or spotty connectivity. 

• Sky-high open and response rates. Research shows Australian SMS messages get read in minutes, with one source putting it at a 97% read rate within 15 minutes. Take this with a pinch of salt, though, as sometimes people will simply open a message to clear the notification. 

• Simplicity and consistency. SMS only supports plain text, which means fewer variables (less chance of something breaking or not being supported).  

• Strong ROI and cost structure. Although you typically pay per message (or per segment), SMS tends to deliver strong returns. Many marketers say SMS is particularly cost-effective because of its high visibility and conversion potential. 

Choosing the right channel (or a combo) 

Let’s be clear here, this isn’t a case of “this or that”.  

You don’t always have to pick one. In fact, a hybrid or fallback approach often makes the most sense. The key is knowing when each channel is most appropriate.  

Use SMS when:  

• You’re sending time-sensitive notifications (such as OTPs, appointment reminders, emergency alerts). 

• Your audience is rural or low connectivity (since SMS works without data). 

• You want a guaranteed fallback when WhatsApp fails (e.g. if the user doesn’t have WhatsApp or is offline). 

Use WhatsApp when: 

• You want interactive, engaging communication (such as product demos, conversational WhatsApp marketing, support flows). 

• You have rich content or media to share, like catalogues, images, videos, documents. 

• You’re building customer support or conversational journeys, with automations, routing, and context. 

• You’re targeting urban or data-connected users who are likely to respond via app. 

Many businesses take what’s called a “waterfall” approach. 

This is basically when they try to reach people via WhatsApp first (because it provides a better experience), and if that fails, they fallback to SMS to make sure the message gets delivered. This is kind of a “best of both worlds” model that works well if you want to balance engagement with also getting your message across.  

Privacy, security, and compliance with WhatsApp vs. SMS 

Yes, features and cost are important, but as a business, staying compliant is equally as critical.  

Both WhatsApp and SMS take very different approaches to privacy and security, which has its pros and cons under Aussie law.  

WhatsApp privacy & security

WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, which means only the two people involved in the message can see the content (not even Meta can get a peek). This means it’s more secure for sensitive conversations than SMS which has no encryption at all.  

That said, WhatsApp does collect metadata (like who you message, when, and how often), which isn’t encrypted. There’s also a bit of a back-and-forth in Australia at the moment about how encrypted platforms actually fit with national data-retention and lawful access rules under the Telecommunications Act.  

So, while WhatsApp’s content security is strong, businesses should still be aware of how data is stored and accessed. 

SMS, on the other hand, is reliable but less secure.  

SMS privacy & security

Messages are sent (unencrypted) via mobile networks, so they’re at risk of being intercepted or spoofed. Spam texts and phishing (or “smishing”, as it’s been dubbed) are on the rise, which has prompted the ACMA to tighten up regulations. There’s a new rule coming into play this Dec off the back of this that will mark any messages sent from unregistered sender IDs as unverified.  

Finally, any businesses using SMS for marketing must comply with the Spam Act 2003 and Privacy Act 1988, which means you need to get clear consent, identify yourself, and make it easy to opt-out.  

Choosing the right WhatsApp & SMS integration and provider 

Most businesses either use a messaging API or gateway that supports both WhatsApp and SMS, or they integrate the relevant APIs into a CRM or customer engagement platform. That way, your team can manage conversations (and campaigns) all from the same place. 

But not all providers are created equal.  

Here’s what to consider: 

• Delivery rates and reach. Some providers have more direct connections to carriers or better routing logic, which is useful if you’re trying to reach regional, remote, and metro areas. 

• Local support and compliance. It’s a flex having a WhatsApp business provider that knows Australian laws and has a local team on the ground.  

• Pricing and cost structure. WhatsApp APIs often use conversation- or template-based pricing, whereas SMS tends to be per message (or per segment). 

• Integrations. Does the provider plug into tools you already use (CRM, e-commerce, support desk)?  

• Scalability and reliability. Look for providers that can grow with you and have SLA, redundancy, monitoring, fallback channels, and the ability to handle spikes. 

• Reporting and insights. You’ll want analytics around open/delivery rates, read receipts, bounce profiles, engagement.  

• Branding and trust features. Make sure the provider you choose has things like verified business badges, custom sender IDs, and message templates. 

This is where Sinch MessageMedia comes into play.  

You get a single platform that supports SMS, WhatsApp, and more, so you can manage both channels in one place. As well as being Australian through-and-through (we know all about Aussie messaging laws and regulations), you can run WhatsApp campaigns, deliver transactional alerts via SMS, and handle support convos through the same inbox. 

Grow your business with MessageMedia, a leading platform for both WhatsApp & SMS    

With Sinch MessageMedia, you don’t have to choose between the reliability and universal access of SMS and the engagement power of WhatsApp. You can have both.   

Sinch MessageMedia’s messaging platform includes: 

• Access to the WhatsApp Business API with simple setup and local support 

• Enterprise-grade SMS gateway built for speed, deliverability, and reliability 

• Easy integrations with tools like HubSpot, Shopify, and Salesforce 

• Transparent, local pricing designed for Australian businesses 

• Analytics, automation, and omnichannel tools that scale as you grow 

Book a demo to see how it works or start a free trial and start connecting with your customers today. 

The post WhatsApp vs SMS: Which channel Is best for Australian businesses?  appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

Digital marketing is a fast-moving space, with technology and customer expectations changing all the time. The minute you think you’ve got your head around a marketing approach or piece of tech, it changes and you start the process all over again. Of course, that’s also what makes digital communications so exciting – you need to be adaptable and agile to keep up.

While Australia can feel a bit removed from the wider world of digital communications, it’s still important to keep up with global trends. And that’s where Sinch comes in. As a global organisation that powers an insane 800 billion customer interactions every year, we get a bird’s eye view of worldwide trends and changing customer preferences.

We turn all this insider info into a trend report every year – and the 2025 version is out. We looked for patterns in all that customer data, talked to our in-house experts, got advice from industry leaders, and identified seven key trends that will impact digital marketing this year.

We know that Australian businesses are particularly concerned with trust and positive customer experiences – and it turns out the rest of the world agrees.

Here’s what you need to know:   

Trust matters more than ever

Building trust with your customers has always been important. Now, with scams and cybercrime rising sharply, it’s a top priority. One report found that 47% of Australians reported receiving fake or deceptive texts messages in 2023, and the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) found that Australians lost $2.7 billion to scams and cybercrime in 2024. No wonder consumers are wary.

What can your business do to reassure your customers? Right now, you can use a dedicated number for SMS or choose an alphanumeric sender ID to let customers know who’s messaging. You can also educate your customers about the signs of a scam so they know you’re taking security seriously. 

Down the line, RCS (Rich Communication Services) for Business will offer even more trust-building features. These upgraded message formats include verified sender information, in-message logos and branding, and enhanced security for safer information sharing. With RCS coming to Australia in 2025 you’ll have more options for trust-building comms in the medium term.

Experience is everything

In a world where consumers are slammed with constant messages and deal with multiple businesses every day, brands that can create positive, cohesive experiences stand out from the crowd. As our report shows, connected experiences are key – customers don’t want to go back and forth between your customer service team and website or get conflicting messages at different touchpoints. A frustrating or slow-moving experience can turn customers off and push them to another brand. Brands are more and more aware of this, which is why 70% of Fortune 500 companies are looking into integrated Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) to manage communications.

In Australia, which has high digital adoption and increasing mobile dominance, experience can be even more important. Can’t invest in new tech right now? It’s still worth taking a good look at your overall customer experience and finding the weak points. 

Consider the channel

In the past, choosing a communications channel was about cost as well as effectiveness. Now, as our report shows, brands are taking a nuanced approach to channel selection. Instead of using SMS or email because it’s cheap and relatively effective, businesses are using sophisticated tech to assess urgency, customer preference, time, previous interactions and cost to find the best channel for each message.

In Australia, which has high digital adoption but a relatively high number of older people who struggle with messaging and online communication, this approach may be particularly impactful.

Want the full story?

Read the 2025 Sinch Predictions Report now.

Read the report

The post Digital trend-spotting for 2025 appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

The good news? We’ve done our homework and found the answer for you. The best combo (drumroll, please) is SMS and email. We recently surveyed 500 people about their preferences and expectations for brand communication, and these two channels came out on top.

Here’s why these everyday communication staples are so popular – and how you can use them to smash BFCM this year.

Why SMS and email win

Our research showed a pretty clear trend – customers prefer to get business comms through email and SMS. In one example, 39% of respondents said they preferred email for promo messages, while 21% picked SMS. That’s a solid chunk of your customer base covered if you stick to those channels.

Businesses also prefer email and SMS – our results found that 92% use email to contact customers, while 73% use SMS.

Why are these our favourites? It comes down to three factors: comfort, convenience and timeliness.

Comfortable, familiar, well-used

Both email and SMS have been around for decades – which feels like an eternity in the digital world. Because they’re well-established, they’re familiar and comfortable for people. On top of that, the vast majority of people have an email address and mobile number, making them a great way to reach even the least tech-savvy members of your audience.

Another email/SMS benefit? They’re a familiar way to deliver brand communications. Entering your email and phone number at sign-up is standard these days, so most people expect to hear from your brand via these channels – you’re not intruding on a personal space.

Why mess with what works when it comes to Black Friday-Cyber Monday comms? You’re almost certainly using SMS and email to communicate with customers already, so lean into the power of these well-used channels and save your creativity for the campaign content.

Convenience and connection

Today’s customers have super-high expectations around service and communication. They want the shopping experience to be easy, seamless and stress-free – there’s little tolerance for missed messages or communication that comes through the wrong channel.

Email and SMS, particularly if they’re connected to your sales and shipping platforms, can help you meet those expectations. Use email to launch your sale and send personalised discount codes. Use SMS to send quick sales reminders or tell customers that a package has arrived.

Timeliness

It’s a fast-moving world out there, and customers expect brand communication to match. The speed of message delivery was a big factor for many survey respondents. And we do mean speed.

• 80% expect to see a welcome message from a brand within 24 hours of signup – 37% said they want to hear from you immediately
• 62% want a receipt from an online purchase within five minutes
• 61% expect a verification code in one minute or less

What’s the fastest way to send this type of time-sensitive message? SMS. Not only are SMS messages sent almost instantly, but most are read within five minutes. This means important messages – like verification codes or email reset links – are less likely to be overlooked in SMS.

During BFCM, it’s particularly important to be on top of instant comms. If a customer has to sit around and wait for a code or welcome message, they could end up clicking away and shopping elsewhere.

Take SMS for a spin

Start messaging for free

Email, SMS and BFCM

How can you leverage the convenience, familiarity and quick-fire nature of SMS and email during Black Friday-Cyber Monday? It’s about matching the message to the medium, being thoughtful about customer behaviour, and making sure it’s relevant.

Power up your promo

Our research found that 39% of customers like getting promotional content through email, while 21% prefer SMS. When you’re building your BFCM campaign, use both channels to cover most of your audience.

Email is a great option for longer-form messages, including graphics, video, product images and links to specific products or deals. In the lead-up to BFCM, use email to tease your upcoming sale, and if you can, include personalised recommendations based on previous purchases or segmentation data.

As a short-form channel, an SMS works well for a follow-up or reminder after an email. You might tease your sale through email, then send a reminder SMS with a link when BFCM rolls around.

TOP TIP: Our research found that customer dealbreakers include receiving irrelevant messages (25%) and ‘too many messages’ (26%) from brands, so dig down into your data before BFCM and make sure you’re sending the right messages to the right people.

Improve service with functional messaging

Talking to customers isn’t all about big, exciting promos – the small, functional messages are just as important to the overall customer experience. This type of messaging can include order confirmations, verification codes, log-in details and receipts after a sale.

SMS makes sense for many of these messages, although our research found that 42% of customers prefer email for order invoices or receipts – probably because they’re easier to find later on.

TOP TIP: You need permission from the customer before you can send BFCM messages through SMS – find out how to grow your messaging database here.

Focus and connect this BFCM

Black Friday and Cyber Monday can be high-pressure times for retailers. You’re rushing around, trying to iron out your sales strategy and campaign details, and channel choices can feel like another complicated option. Take a breath – if you’re already using SMS and email, you don’t need to look any further right now. Your bases are covered, and you have two surefire ways to connect with customers before and during this big sales push.

The other piece of the puzzle is integration. While SMS and email are useful on their own, they really power up when they connect with your CRM and martech platform (we can help you out there). If you can connect the dots between sales, deliveries, customer enquiries and communications, you can build a cohesive, positive experience for your customers at BFCM and beyond.

We’ve got some clever tools to help you close those messaging gaps – including an SMS-to-email gateway that lets you send and receive SMS messages through your email platform. If you want to go beyond email and SMS, we can also help with messaging apps RCS (Rich Communication Services) and MMS. 

Whether you’re planning a complex BFCM campaign or looking for ways to jazz up your customer experience, Sinch MessageMedia can help.

The post Email + SMS: Supercharging your BFCM strategy for maximum impact appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

Well, not quite. At Sinch MessageMedia, we’ve been involved with hundreds of BFCM campaigns over the years. Our key takeaway? The brands that support their fantastic Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals with brilliant customer experiences tend to win.

Here’s how to build customer experiences that sing – and how Sinch MessageMedia can help.

Make your customers feel seen

You can’t create great experiences for customers if you don’t know exactly who you’re dealing with.

Dig into your customer data, and you’ll find that customers fall into all kinds of groups, each with unique factors driving buying behaviour. Life stage, location, age, socio-economic level, gender, hobbies, and education level – there are many ways to look at your customer data.

Look for commonalities and differences to divide your base into smaller, more manageable subsets.

For example, a baby gear store could include four main groups:

• Expectant parents – buy high-value basics like cots, strollers and bedding.
• New parents – make small, practical purchases more frequently, including clothing, socks, bibs and nappies.
• Parents of older children – primarily buy practical items like clothing and lunchboxes.
• Grandparents – buy “cute” items like soft toys and knitwear for gifts.

Once you know which group customers fall into, you can design your BFCM comms to match. In the example above, the expectant parents would get the big stroller discounts, new and established parents get the clothing deals, and grandparents get the cutest, cuddliest offers.

You can also reach them in the right places based on shared demographics – those older Nanas are more likely to be on Facebook, while busy parents will probably be more responsive to an SMS, for example.

Get more insights into your audience

Start a 14-day trial with Sinch MessageMedia and take our SMS reporting tool for a spin.

Try it out

Let your personality shine for a Black Friday customer experience that stands out

Dry, corporate comms don’t create positive customer experiences. Don’t be afraid to show some personality in your messaging – make jokes, use casual language or slang, and even throw in the odd exclamation mark! This is more effective when you know your customer groups, as you can tailor language and messages to suit each segment.

SMS is the perfect place to test out your witty, casual messaging because it’s made for informal communication. People use SMS to ask their mates about going to the pub or send a quick message to their mum, so they’re used to casual language and short, snappy messaging in their inbox.

Whip up some LOL-worthy messages this BFCM, and you’ll stand out in a sea of boring, generic comms. 

Think: where, when, how

Customer experience is about finding moments of connection across different channels. You want your BFCM messages to pop up at the perfect time and place for a sale, which means getting inside your customers’ heads.

Recent data from the Sinch report, “The art and heart of meaningful customer connections”, shows that getting the timing and frequency in your messaging right is key. Customers are equally turned off when they receive too many messages as they are when they feel brands send them irrelevant information.

This is another chance to drill into your data. When are the peak activity times on your website? Are people buying on mobiles or laptops? What’s the average time from first look to purchase? How many carts are abandoned before the sale goes through?

Use your segmentation data to learn about your customers’ lives outside the cart. Is it better to send a message early in the morning before work, or after the 6 pm rush? If you’re talking to parents, do you want to send messages in the day, or after the kids have gone off to bed?

Put it all together, and you can discover those golden opportunities to send your sales messages.

Cart abandonment is a simple but effective example. According to Shopify data from some of our clients, the cart abandonment rate was at around 70% during last year’s BFCM sales. That’s two out of three shoppers deciding to click away at the last second. If you’ve got an integrated SMS system and you can send a well-timed nudge to those customers, you can get at least some of those sales back. Our data showed a 26% recovery rate.

Don’t leave customers on read

Be critical about your Black Friday / Cyber Monday communication. Are you giving customers a positive experience at every touchpoint? Inbound comms are a weak point in the customer journey for many retailers, with generic web forms and rarely-checked email addresses leaving queries unanswered.

During BFCM, when people want quick answers to their questions, this approach can lead to frustrated customers and lost sales.

The good news? It’s not that difficult to upgrade your inbound comms. Automated two-way messaging and SMS chatbot functions give customers an easy, reliable way to get in touch – and they’re surprisingly simple to set up. When you have these features activated, a customer can ask a question through your website, which seamlessly shifts into SMS.

If SMS isn’t your customers’ style, you can set up systems that connect to their preferred platforms – all managed through a single portal on your end. It’s about making the whole shopping experience as simple and stress-free as possible, so there’s no reason not to click “buy”’. 

Ready for your Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales? Connect the customer experience dots with Sinch MessageMedia

When it comes to cutting through the noise of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, delivering an outstanding customer experience is what’ll make you stand out.

Do you feel like you still have some gaps in your customer journey? There’s still time to close them before Black Friday-Cyber Monday.

Get in touch with Sinch MessageMedia to talk SMS, connected comms and customer insights.

The post Customer experience: Your secret weapon this BFCM appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

When it comes to your customer communication strategy, this duo might be the most powerful of all. A new report from Sinch, The art and heart of meaningful customer connections, has the numbers to prove it.

The research includes survey results from more than 500 consumers, revealing their preferences and expectations around the way brands communicate with them throughout the customer journey.

One thing the report makes crystal clear… SMS and email have won the hearts of most consumers. But why?

3 reasons why SMS and email are the top communication channels

Question after question, throughout the survey findings, email and SMS were the channels that came out on top as user favourites. But it’s not just consumers who see value in these forms of customer communication either, so do businesses.

Sinch also surveyed more than 400 B2C companies to ask about their communication strategies. Results show 92% of businesses use email to reach customers and 73% send customers text messages via SMS.

Businesses focus on these channels because they’re two efficient, effective, and reliable ways to reach a mass audience of consumers. At the same time, these businesses choose to communicate over SMS and email because that’s what their customers expect and prefer.

So, what is it about email and SMS that make them consumers’ favourites?

1. Familiarity

A big reason that SMS and email are consistently the top choices is because consumers are very comfortable with them. It’s what they’ve become familiar with because nearly everyone uses email and SMS.

Email has been around for decades, and it’s an important channel for brand communications. People are used to getting emails from brands, but it’s less common to use email for everyday, peer-to-peer (P2P) communication with family and friends.

Text messaging, however, is a primary way for people to communicate in their personal lives. At the same time, SMS communications from brands have become very common. That makes it an appropriate channel to create customer connections that feel more familiar and conversational.

When a consumer creates a new account, they often submit both their email address and mobile phone number at signup. While you should always obtain consent, new customers are likely expecting to hear from you via SMS and email.

It may not be the same for other mobile messaging channels. Some consumers may not yet be comfortable hearing from brands on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp because they feel it should be reserved for P2P messaging. Still, we’re not saying you should exclude these channels from the mix. They represent excellent opportunities to connect when consumers give you permission.

2. Convenience

Throughout Sinch’s report, the research suggests what consumers want from brand communications is a more convenient experience. Your messages should make their lives easier. That could include anything from a personalised email promotion that helps them save on products they love to an SMS notification that a shipment has arrived.

Sinch found 54% of consumers cited factors impacting convenience as most important when they first connect with a B2C brand. Consumers want companies to be easy to work with, provide useful information, and answer their questions quickly.

Consumers’ familiarity with email and SMS also makes them a convenient way to communicate.

On the other hand, the fastest way to get on a consumer’s bad side is to become an inconvenience. The top two “dealbreakers” for consumers were related to getting too many messages (26%) or receiving irrelevant communications from a company (25%).

Consumer communication dealbreakers

Interestingly, only 8% of consumers chose problems with their order or account as a dealbreaker. That means they’re more willing to forgive mistakes than they are to be annoyed by excessive or irrelevant communications.

3. Timeliness

Speed or timeliness of message delivery is directly connected to convenience. This is an area where SMS communication truly shines. It may be the best way to reach customers and contacts quickly. Here’s why:

• SMS messages are delivered to consumers almost instantly.
• Most text messages are read within five minutes.
• SMS achieves open rates as high as 98%.

The need for speed is highlighted throughout Sinch’s Customer Connections report. For example, consumers expect certain types of messages will arrive quickly, and the speed of SMS helps you meet those expectations.

• After signing up, 80% of customers expect a message from a brand within 24 hours.
  • 37% want to hear from the company immediately after signup.
• 62% of consumers expect receipts from online purchases to arrive within five minutes or less.
• 61% of consumers expect verification codes to get delivered in one minute or less.

Many survey respondents also indicated they’d worry if transactional communications like order confirmations or one-time passwords (OTPs) failed to show up quickly.

Email has a role in timely customer communications as well. Advanced features like Send Time Optimisation from Sinch Mailgun use machine learning to automatically find the best time to send emails to individual subscribers based on when they’re most likely to engage.

How SMS and email support the customer experience

Let’s dive deeper into the findings to explore specific situations where communication plays a vital role in the customer experience. How do email and SMS fit into these scenarios?

Whether it’s choosing the right channel for the situation or the preferred method of communication for the customer, the message is undeniable… Using both text messaging and email marketing helps you deliver what consumers want.

Promotional messages

Once an individual opts in to receive your promotions, is there a specific channel on which they’d prefer to receive marketing campaigns? The survey found email and SMS were the top choices for existing customers (those who’ve previously purchased).

39% of consumers want promotional campaigns delivered to their email inboxes while 21% would choose an SMS message to learn about the latest deals and updates.

While email has the advantage of sending longer messages with graphics, product images, and buttons for calls to action (CTAs), SMS is limited to short text messages and links. However, options like MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) and RCS (Rich Communication Services) can make text marketing campaigns more versatile, visual, and even interactive.

Order confirmation messages

After a promotion prompts someone to purchase, which channel is best for receiving confirmation that an order successfully placed and is being processed? 37% of consumers would select email while 23% would prefer SMS for order confirmations.

Email has a slightly larger lead over SMS when we asked consumers about receiving the actual receipt or invoice for an online order. In that case, 42% would choose email while 20% chose SMS for receipts. This may be because it’s easier to search the email inbox and keep important invoices and receipts organised in folders.

Verification for account access

The gap between SMS and email narrows when it comes to verifying consumer identities when they’re logging in or need help accessing an account. A quick text message with a verification code or temporary password is a fast, reliable, and secure way to get logged in.

While a third of consumers want these communications delivered to their email address, more than a quarter of people prefer SMS. When combining all messaging channels, 45% of consumers prefer verifying their identity on a non-email channel.

Alerts about account activity

If a bad actor is trying to gain access to a consumer’s account, or there’s suspicious activity to report, time is of the essence. In this situation, 34% of consumers would choose email and 25% want to be notified with an SMS message.

A speedy text message is an ideal option when you need to alert consumers and get them to take immediate action. That’s why many financial services companies use texts to notify people of possible fraud.

What about MMS and other mobile messaging channels?

It’s worth noting that SMS and MMS aren’t necessarily separate channels. They’re simply different protocols delivered through the same channel – the text message inbox. The same goes for RCS and RBM (Rich Business Messaging), which represents the next phase of interactive text messaging experiences.

If you combine MMS results with SMS, Sinch’s survey shows text message marketing is even more popular than if you look at these protocols separately. Plus, the report shows that when you tally up all mobile messaging options, they come close to and even exceed consumer preferences for email.

What does this mean for your business? It’s wise to diversify your customer communication strategy and move towards an omnichannel approach.

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Email and SMS may not be going anywhere anytime soon. However, consumer behaviours constantly evolve. That’s especially true when it involves technology and digital media. Are you prepared for the future? What about the next generation of consumers?

A recent study on small business marketing from Sinch SimpleTexting found Gen Z consumers were less likely than older generations to prefer email. They had a slight preference for text compared to older consumers. However, they were much more likely to want to get marketing communications from brands via social media.

This suggests the ability to connect with consumers on social messaging apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp will become important soon. Where you do business matters as well. For example, statistics show that nearly 45% of Australians are using WhatsApp (for what it’s worth – that beats Aussie TikTok usage). If you serve customers in Asia, over-the-top (OTT) channels like WhatsApp are extremely popular in certain regions. More than 90% of Indonesians and 83% of people in India use WhatsApp too.

The good news for your communication strategy

Here’s the thing… if you’re already using SMS and email to reach your target audience, you’ve picked the two most practical and powerful channels. Congrats! This means you’ve likely got your bases covered and can connect with your customers where they expect to hear from you.

That’s what makes email and SMS the power couple of customer communications. They may not be quite as famous as Beyoncé and Jay-Z, but they pack a serious punch.

Just remember, it’s not only about the channels you choose to use, but it’s how you use them to interact with your customer base. For example, Sinch MessageMedia integrates with tons of martech platforms. This enables you to use customer data to build relevant, personalised mobile messaging campaigns. Our platform also integrates with Sinch Mailgun helping you deliver cohesive customer communications with an SMS-to-email gateway. Sinch MessageMedia also provides a feature to turn emails into SMS messages. See how nicely these two play together?

If you’re thinking about moving beyond SMS and email to reach more people in more places, Sinch can help you develop the right strategy. Take a free assessment and receive a personalised report with recommendations for your business.

The post SMS and email: The power couple of customer communications appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

The public sector isn’t usually at the forefront of digital transformation. City councils, regional bodies and other government-adjacent organisations are often both cash-strapped and governed by strict spending rules – making it difficult to invest in newer technology as it emerges.

Slowly but surely, the sector is seeing a shift toward new technologies and tools. In a recent survey of Australian public sector workers, 85% of respondents said they had recently participated in a digital initiative. 

One key growth area for digital tech: communications. By unifying communication channels on a single integrated platform, you can radically change the way you reach and interact with constituents and staff. This can boost engagement, save time for your employees, and cut the admin time needed to manage disconnected comms channels.    

Here’s how: 

All channels, one platform

As more public sector organisations are discovering, connecting all channels on a single communication platform is a game-changer. Send bulk SMS or MMS messages to target groups or demographics, send email updates, make voice calls, and chat with customers – all through one platform.

If you’re used to switching between apps and laboriously transferring data from one to the other, it’s easy to see how a one-platform solution would make a difference. It’s simpler and more efficient to manage, which makes it less time-consuming and error-prone. As a result, your people spend less time on manual workarounds or fixing mistakes.

Make your outreach more accessible

A wider range of communication channels helps make your outreach efforts more accessible to some groups. If you’re a local council or other community-focused organisation, reaching these people should be a key focus. It’s not equitable for some groups to miss a survey about a district plan, for example, because it comes via email, and they don’t have internet access at home.

SMS is one of the most effective channels, with ultra-high open rates and engagement. This makes it ideal for urgent or time-sensitive messaging – updates about rubbish bins, emergency weather warnings or reminders about an upcoming event.

Of course, email works well for longer-form content, such as education about a local issue, newsletter updates, rates or tax bills, and payslips for your employees. Voice calls or messaging can be used for people with accessibility needs or issues requiring a fuller conversation.

It’s about choosing the right channels for the right messages so they reach the right people.

Try it out for yourself

Try Sinch MessageMedia for 14 days for free, and see what an integrated comms strategy can do for your business.

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Conversations and feedback mechanisms

For public sector organisations, two-way communication should be the goal. You’re working for your constituents, so they should be able to open a dialogue with you and offer their feedback about issues.

A communication platform simplifies this sort of interactive conversation by collecting feedback and queries in one place. If a constituent responds to an SMS with a question, for example, a connected platform will make it simpler to answer. If your organisation requests feedback about a new district plan, a comms platform makes it easy to collect and analyse the responses for simpler reporting.

As leaders in the public sector well know, pinpointing the issues driving people in your area is crucial for making funding and policy decisions. Instead of online surveys – which often have low response rates – a quick text poll or mini-SMS survey can help you get a sense of community feelings about an issue.

Track and tweak

A connected communication platform makes tracking the impact of your campaigns easier, too. With disconnected software, you might need to combine results from several channels to create a report – for example, you might get some information from your SMS platform, some from your email provider, and more from your social platforms. Comparing this data isn’t always easy – different providers use varied KPIs, making it difficult to truly understand how a campaign is performing.

With a single communication platform, all data is collected in the same place. You can measure the impact of a campaign and see how well different channels perform. For example, if you’ve run a campaign to educate the public about new rubbish bin rules, you could gather data about email open rates and click-through rates, SMS open and click-through rates, and feedback from the public. If open rates and engagement are far higher through SMS, you could prioritise that channel in future campaigns.

Build efficiency with automation

Automation is a big drawcard for harried public sector organisations. With a unified communication platform, you can automate many comms processes, such as sending SMS reminders triggered by user actions or setting up email responses for certain queries or requests.

For example, you could send an automatic reminder to constituents if they’re more than two days late paying their rates bill. Or, you could streamline the building permit process by automating email responses and updates.

If your customer service teams are strained, automation can save time and improve service levels. The more repetitive tasks you automate, the more time your team has to deal with complex issues and face-to-face interactions. 

Your tech transformation journey

Tech transformation is big business – and it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the huge range of options on the market. Not every tool or platform is right for every organisation. Instead, it’s about finding the software that fits the needs of your organisation and your community.

Ready to transform communication in your public sector organisation? We can help.

Visit the Sinch MessageMedia stand at Tech in Gov, or get in touch to set up a chat.

The post Digital transformation in the public sector appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

Gone are the days when companies just used SMS to blast out promos to entire databases. Today, it’s a highly personalised, creative, and impactful marketing tool. As the best SMS marketing examples show, it helps businesses to connect with customers in more meaningful ways.  

Indeed, we can all learn a thing or two from those who take the simplicity of SMS and turn it into a powerful part of their broader marketing strategy. 

Here are some of our favourite SMS marketing campaigns that we’ve seen so far.  

Best SMS marketing examples: Let these four companies inspire you

When you find the magic formula for SMS, you gain your customers’ trust and loyalty, while also saving your team a lot of time and effort — just as these four businesses have done. 

Vinomofo: 120x ROI and 21% conversions with SMS and HubSpot

Vinomofo is an Australian online platform for wine enthusiasts. Mofos (aka customers) come to Vinomofo for personal recommendations, finding new wines that fit their taste, and for building a community with other wine aficionados. Vinomofo has been successful since 2011 because they understand their customers’ need for a highly personalised experience. Focusing on personalised marketing and creating engaging experiences has always been what really set the brand apart.

In order to cater to their customers’ individual preferences, Vinomofo was working with several data and communication tools which, with their growing user base, became increasingly more difficult to manage. As they were unifying all their marketing campaigns under HubSpot, they ran into a hurdle. SMS integration.

As SMS marketing renders some of the highest conversion rates and ROI, it was important for Vinomofo to find an SMS marketing tool that would also work with HubSpot and would support their email and SMS cross-channel campaigns. With Sinch MessageMedia, they did. And not only that, the easy HubSpot integration boosted their conversions even more.

“The SMS for HubSpot integration has been a fantastic addition to our marketing arsenal with 120X ROI and 21% conversions!”

Jobeth Harvey

Email Marketing Manager, Vinomofo

This didn’t just work for one campaign, but gave Vinomofo consistent results over months. What’s even more, their SMS and email cross-channel efforts were particularly successful with reengagement campaigns. These highly personalised messages helped reduce churn, which is huge for companies with a subscription-based business model like Vinomofo.

Do more with SMS and HubSpot

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Muse: Pilates studio grows click-through rate 16% with SMS

When a business jumps from a few hundred to a couple of thousand members, there’s bound to be some growing pains. For Muse Pilates, the biggest challenge was staying connected with their rapidly expanding community — particularly given the Muse team prides itself on personalised service. 

To solve the challenge, Muse decided to add SMS to their marketing toolkit. For this, they partnered with Sinch MessageMedia. Now, the team has a flexible, engaging way to connect with members, either all at once or one-on-one.  For example, bulk SMS messages are used to market class packs and offers to all members — with custom fields enabling them to add the personal touch to every single message.

The impressive results: Muse has been able to increase their average click-through rate by a whooping 16%!

“Since we started using Sinch MessageMedia and SMS, our conversion rate has consistently gone up.”

Mackenzie Ford

Group Marketing and Sales Manager, Muse

And, by using a dedicated number that members know and trust, the Muse team is having more (lots more) two-way conversations. 56% of their outbound messages in 2023 were MMS. And the average click-through rate? An incredible 23% while also using short trackable links. 

Yarn: 3x ROI with bulk SMS

Yarn is Australia’s premier marketplace for authentic First Nations collaborations and products. Its mission is simple — to help indigenous-owned businesses and artists share their culture and unique stories with more people. 

To cut through the clutter in a crowded market, Yarn adopts a multichannel approach to marketing — and SMS has become a key ingredient in the mix. 

Using Sinch MessageMedia’s smooth HubSpot integration, Yarn can easily send promotions or sales messages out via whichever channel they decide is best. For example, in the lead-up to big sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they send personalised bulk SMS campaigns to alert customers to their biggest deals. 

And, to nurture the corporate sales side of the business, Yarn is embracing the convenience of two-way SMS to help accelerate the time it takes to close a deal. 

“Using SMS alongside other channels like email helps us push our messages to the front of what can be a very long queue — and we know they’re much more likely to respond because they’re always on their phones.”

Adam Benz

Virtual Marketing Officer

What’s proved particularly successful for Yarn is combining SMS and MMS for big sales events. They’ve seen a massive increase in engagement and conversions, particularly after introducing images to their SMS campaigns.

Hamper Emporium: Increasing repeat buys by 36% through SMS campaigns

Did you know that the probability of selling to an existing customer is around 70% compared to 5% with a new customer? That’s why getting customers to buy from you again has a big impact on your revenue. Of course that only works if existing customers re-engage with your brand.

The Australian gift basket retailer, Hamper Emporium, was struggling to stand out from the competition. Until they discovered SMS. As soon as Hamper Emporium started using Sinch MessageMedia to promote their gift baskets via text message, it became a game changer.

“I was amazed at the difference in open rates, engagement, and click-throughs. It’s so instant. The minute after I send an SMS, you can see revenue from our website spike. It’s crazy!”

Nikki Barnett

Head of Marketing, Hamper Emporium

With SMS marketing, Hamper Emporium was able to:

• increase repeat buys by 36%
• save ad money (buying a keyword on AdWords costs $15 per click, a text message with Sinch MessageMedia is 10 cents)
• grow revenue by 50%

What you can learn from the best SMS marketing examples

1. A personal touch helps nurture long-term loyalty. 

Examples like Vinomofo or Muse Pilates show: personalisation goes a long way towards building trust. In fact, 64% of today’s customers want their messages personalised. 

And it can still be achieved even when your business is growing fast. With a platform like Sinch MessageMedia behind you, it’s easy to automate the sending of personalised messages at scale — freeing up your time to really nurture customer relationships. 

2. SMS is most powerful in tandem with other channels. 

None of the businesses above abandoned other marketing channels. Instead, SMS is just one tool in a cross-channel marketing strategy. 

In fact, our recent research into forging customer connections found that cross-channel engagement is the way forward to build and maintain strong connections — for example, 39% of consumers still want to receive an email for personalised product recommendations based on purchase history. 

The takeaway? Identify which channels work best for different types of messages, and constantly test, learn and refine your approach. 

3. It’s time to get conversational with your customers.

Businesses that run successful SMS campaigns are all embracing a more fluid, friendly way to engage with customers. They understand the effect that conversational messaging can have — and they have set up their systems to enable it. 

You can, too. A platform like Sinch MessageMedia makes it easy to integrate SMS campaigns into your overall SMS marketing strategy.   

The post Best SMS marketing examples for 2024: 4 businesses that nailed it appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

The incentive was due to expire on 31 May 2023 – but, as of that date, the Technology Investment Boost is yet to be legislated. So, what does that mean for small business owners? Recently, we spoke with Business Growth Expert Caren Hendrie to get the lowdown on what’s happening. She shared how accountants and financial advisors can cut through the noise and turn confusion into clarity for their clients.

Ping, ping! You have a new message.

One of the first things Caren says she’d be doing is getting on the front foot. To do that, you need to connect with your clients. They don’t know what they don’t know, so they’ll appreciate your proactivity.

“There are lots of conflicting reports out, with some suggesting that the incentive is a done deal,” says Caren. “As accountants, we know that it hasn’t become legislation, but do your clients know that – and do they understand what it means for them? Probably not.”

Your clients want business advice. Give it to them.

So, you’ve sparked up a conversation with your clients. Now is the perfect opportunity to show you can do more than just file taxes.

“Whether the tax deduction becomes legislation or not is kind of irrelevant,” says Caren. “The real questions become: is investing in digital tech right now a smart business decision? Does it still stack up, even without the tax deduction?”

Helping your clients answer those questions is where you can add value as a trusted business advisor. At the end of the day, if it’s a good business decision, it’s still a deductible expense whether the investment boost becomes legislation or not.

Most business owners today want to invest in some form of digital tech. But, depending on their business, right now might not be the smartest time. “If your clients are spending the money just to take advantage of the incentive, then there’s no guarantee they’ll get reimbursed.”

Too many clients, not enough time? Send an SMS.

When you’re working with hundreds of clients, having face-to-face chats (and even phone calls) could take hours. So, we asked Caren if there’s a way to have that conversation, without adding any extra stress at this busy time of year (hello, EOFY).

To our delight, she suggested sending an SMS.

“It can be as simple as ‘Here’s an update, give us a call if you have any questions.’ It shows that you’re on the pulse. At this time of year, clients expect to hear from their accountants. But it’s also the time of year when people in finance are the most time-poor.”

“We really only used to use SMS for appointment reminders, but we’ve quickly realised that it can be utilised in so many other ways.”

Want some inspo?

Save and tweak these SMS templates commonly used for financial service businesses.

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Here are six ways SMS can help.

Caren isn’t wrong. There are lots of different ways you can use SMS to get – and stay – connected with your clients.

• Two-way SMS – have instant conversations with your clients. You can send and receive replies, follow up on responses, and track who has responded and when.
• Make it automated. Send SMS without picking up your phone. Set automated text replies so you can focus on what’s most important – your clients. 
• Send in bulk – 90% of text messages are read within two minutes, making it the fastest way to communicate with clients in mass.
• Send text messages via email. Send an email to us, and we’ll convert it to a text message. Then, we’ll send it to your clients. Super simple.
• Save time using SMS templates. All you’ll need to do is copy and paste, tweak the nitty-gritty details, and hit save.

Start making connections.

When business owners don’t have the answers, they turn to people they trust. Improve engagement with a simple text.

Give SMS a go

The post Here’s why this Business Growth Expert recommends SMS for accountants. appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

Customers are over being talked at – they want authentic connections with your brand. Fact. And that means they want to be able to reach out at any time and get a fast, personal response.

But the buck doesn’t stop with your customers – building beautiful connections with SMS extends to your teams and potential customers too.

Cozy up to your customers.

How do you connect and stay connected with your customers? Simple. Make it easy for them to talk to you. No long wait times, just real, authentic connection. Now that’s some A+ customer support.

With SMS, you can start having two-way conversations with your customers.

• Ask them where you can do better.
• Thank first-time customers for choosing you and follow up with a loyalty discount.
• Be helpful and send appointment reminders by text.

Spark meaningful conversations with teams.

Texting in the office? Ohhh yeahhh. Most of your employees are spending their days looking at their phones for work (and “for work”). So, it’s smart to talk to them where they already are.

By using SMS to connect with your teams, you can send messages fast to more devices. And With 98% open rates and 8x the response rate of email, those are messages you know they’ll read. 

You can use SMS as a platform to build a positive team culture. Welcome new team members, send out surveys, send social club reminders – all that good stuff. In an emergency, when every second counts, SMS is also the fastest and most reliable way to update everybody.

After more hacks for finding your messaging mojo?

Check out our Beautiful Connections Hub. It’s full of expert insight, exclusive invites, inspo from other businesses just like you and more.

Go there now

Knock more sales out of the park.

Responding fast to enquiries is the ultimate sales advantage. So, how do you get super speedy? That’s right. You can text potential customers too.

With faster response rates, you can use SMS to dig deeper into what your customers really need and want. The faster you can get them the answers they need, the more chance you have of turning that conversation into a sale. Ouch, you’re on fire!

Ready to make beautiful connections?

Download our latest playbook for more advice on getting closer to your customers

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The post Build beautiful connections with your customers. appeared first on Sinch MessageMedia.

1: It’s survival of the fastest

A new customer enquiry has dropped into your inbox. It’s always a great feeling. You could respond via email and wait not-so-patiently for a response. Or, you could fire off a quick text message – you’ll be in front of them even before your competitors have written out their emails.

2: Let’s be best friends

With faster response rates, you can use SMS to improve customer relationships and dig deeper into what your customers really need and want.

That might be asking a simple question, ‘Are you available on Thursday for an initial inspection?’ or an automatic message triggered by a keyword or phrase. You can follow up those answers with more relevant information like a quote, or pass them on to a sales rep who can personally respond.

The faster you can get a customer the answers they need, the more chance you have of turning that conversation into a sale. But more than that, you’re laying the foundation for a more trusted connection beyond the sale. That’s the golden ticket.

3: Avoid any sticky hitches

Ever had to go back through an email chain? Headachesville. The beauty of SMS is you can integrate it with your other platforms – CRM, marketing, eCommerce – you name it. That makes it easy for everyone involved to stay updated with a customer’s latest response. Sending and receiving messages from one place also means you never risk losing a conversation and any business that comes with it.

SMS for sales – why so shiny?

SMS is a great way to get on your customer’s radar and stay top of mind as they make their decision. But it can’t be that easy, can it?

While some might say it’s digital sorcery, SMS has proven time and time again that it can cut through the noise and close more deals.

Here’s how:

Two-way communication in a single inbox

Over 50% of people reply to a text message within 1-2 minutes. With faster response rates, two-way SMS lets you send and receive replies from one inbox. You’ll save time while building a customer profile you can fall back on every time you engage with that person.   

SMS lets you be more personal

These days, customers can spot mass sales emails from a mile away. Instead, they’re looking for experiences that don’t make them feel like another number. Yes, text messaging is more casual and more conversational, but that’s exactly why it works. It allows you to be more personal and grow customer trust, all while ramping up conversion rates.

Deliver messages at the right time.

With 98% open rates and 8x the response rate of email, it’s clear that customers are more likely to hit ‘reply’ or ‘buy now’. But, to create a lasting impact, it’s all about the timing. Set messages to go in advance or use rule-based triggers to send an automatic reminder. Your message could contain an incentive to return to an abandoned cart or add urgency to promotional messages. Other smart features like socially-aware sending can ensure you only send messages within a specific window – particularly useful for overseas customers.

Ready to make beautiful connections?

Download our latest playbook for more advice on getting closer to your customers

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.

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