Text vs. email: what’s the difference in open and conversion rates, and when to use it?

If you send feedback requests to your contacts, you want the conversion rate to be as high as possible. There is a big difference between a text campaign and an email campaign.

Email vs. text #1: opens

Especially the open rate of an email is much lower than the open rate of a text. While 98% of the texts are opened within 2 minutes, after 24 hours this rate is nearly 100%. This is different for emails: on average 67% will be opened by the receiver.

Texts mean less effort for the reader because of the shortness, so the receiver rather opens a text than an email.

Email vs. text #2: clicks (CTR)

Texts require immediate action, so make sure you send your text campaign with a feedback request during "normal" hours. Texts are usually opened and processed immediately. If the receiver is not able to click on the review link at the moment of opening, he or she will probably not click on it at all. 

The click rates of texts vs email differ less from each other than the open rate: on average 36% for texts and 33% for emails.

Email vs. text #3: conversion rate

The conversion rate of texts is much higher than of an email campaign. Texts have a conversion rate of on average 33%. For email, the average rate is 19%.

The device on which the receiver opens the feedback request, has influence on the conversion rate in general: 

• Phones have a 7% higher conversion rate than desktop
• Tablets have a 20% higher conversion rate than desktop.

There is also a difference between specific kinds of emails. Make sure you optimize your email or text campaign for a maximum conversion rate.

When to use what?

Often sending requests

If you want to send feedback requests more than once every 2 weeks, it's better to start an email campaign than a text campaign. This is because it will be found too intrusive to receive texts from an organization more than twice a month. 

An important reason for this feeling of intrusiveness can be found in the fact that a text is much more personal than an email, which is of course the reason that the open rate is much higher.

Using branding of organization

Feedback requests by email offer the opportunity to design the request in a way that fits your branding. The opportunities of text campaigns are less in this domain.