Short Message Service (SMS) has long been a staple for communication. Over time, SMS has been leveraged for marketing purposes, known as SMS marketing. As technology advances, new messaging options have emerged, with WhatsApp becoming a popular choice.
Recognizing business needs, WhatsApp has also evolved into a promotional tool, giving rise to WhatsApp marketing. Both SMS marketing and WhatsApp marketing now serve as channels offering personalized communication.
With the continuous development of SMS marketing, WhatsApp marketing, through innovations like the WhatsApp Business API, also consistently introduces new features for marketing purposes. The question now is, between SMS and WhatsApp, which is the more effective channel for product promotion?
READ MORE: 30 Examples of Call to Action (CTA) That Attract Many Customers
This article will provide an in-depth comparison of these two platforms, examining their respective strengths and weaknesses, and offering guidance to help you decide which platform best suits your business needs.
Table of Contents
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is a well-known mobile marketing strategy that uses SMS to promote products and services. Over time, SMS has been used not only for promotional purposes but also for order confirmations, SMS OTPs, and booking appointments.
SMS marketing is characterized by its high level of personalization. As a result, SMS is often used to send birthday greetings and holiday messages to engage and retain customers.
The reach of SMS marketing is extensive, as anyone with a mobile phone can receive text messages. Any business can use these short text messages for their marketing needs.
What is WhatsApp Marketing?
WhatsApp marketing is a marketing strategy that leverages WhatsApp as a promotional tool. WA marketing has become particularly popular today, especially with the increasing number of active WhatsApp users worldwide.
WA marketing offers convenience through several key features such as WhatsApp broadcasts, WhatsApp stories, auto-replies, and WhatsApp catalogs. These features can be optimized by businesses to better promote their products.
LEARN MORE: The Truth About WhatsApp Business: Advantages and Disadvantages
Without the need to incur phone credit costs, you can send WhatsApp broadcasts for free through WhatsApp Business. However, this free broadcast is only possible if both you and your customers have saved each other’s numbers. If you want to send WhatsApp broadcasts without saving numbers, you can use the WhatsApp Business API.
Advantages and Disadvantages of SMS Marketing
SMS marketing is a recommended strategy if you want to connect with customers on a personal level. Before implementing it, consider the following advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages
- Accessible to Everyone Anyone with a mobile phone and an active number can receive messages. This is not limited to smartphone owners; even users of basic phones can be reached with SMS marketing. This makes it a viable strategy if you want to reach a broader customer base.
Note: The messages you send must be clear, introducing your business identity, purpose, and should not be misleading. Violating any of these can negatively impact your company’s brand image. - Concise and Clear Capture customer attention through 160 characters in SMS marketing. This challenges you to deliver high-quality, targeted messages.
Disadvantages
- Limited to Text Messages SMS marketing can only send text messages, including product purchase links. Without visuals, messages may be less engaging. Therefore, it is crucial to maximize your SMS marketing copywriting. Messages must be tailored to the buyer persona to attract attention directly.
- Relatively Higher Cost Each message sent to customers incurs a charge, deducted from your phone credit balance. For instance, if you send 2000 messages daily at a rate of 300 rupiahs per message, calculate your daily expenditure. This cost increases if you schedule multiple message deliveries per week.
- Geographical Limitation SMS messages can only be sent within the country. SMS marketing is less effective for reaching your target market abroad. If this geographical limitation hinders your marketing strategy, you might need to consider alternatives to SMS marketing.
- Limited Customer Interaction The lack of message variety reduces customer interaction. How can you build engaging interactions with customers by relying on a single message type? Quality interactions can impact customer engagement and product sales conversion.
Advantages and Disadvantages of WhatsApp Marketing
Now, let’s analyze the advantages and disadvantages of WhatsApp Marketing. After studying the pros and cons of both SMS and WhatsApp marketing, you should be better positioned to choose the strategy that best suits your marketing campaign needs.
Advantages
- No Geographical Limitations Unlike SMS, WhatsApp marketing is not limited by geographical boundaries. You can target customers in Malaysia, Singapore, or any other country. However, ensure that the language used in your messages is appropriate for your audience to understand them clearly. Utilize the “click to WhatsApp” feature on WhatsApp Business to generate new leads through META ads, which can then be followed up using WhatsApp.
- Diverse Message Types While SMS is limited to text, WhatsApp marketing allows for supporting visuals like images, videos, and emojis. The visibility of promotions on WhatsApp can be maximized by adding call-to-action buttons to facilitate actions like purchases or registrations. You can access floating button features after activating WhatsApp Business API.
- Relatively Lower Costs With WhatsApp marketing, you only need an internet connection to send messages to customers. Unlike SMS, which requires more expensive phone credit, WhatsApp is more cost-effective. If you have a limited marketing budget, consider using WhatsApp marketing first. Check out these WhatsApp marketing tips to maximize your performance.
- Higher Open Rate Compared to SMS, WhatsApp messages are more likely to be opened. WhatsApp had a 98% open rate last year, making it the most effective channel for product promotion. The likelihood of messages being read and customers taking further action is high. Ensure your messages are engaging and include clear call-to-actions to achieve satisfactory sales conversions.
- More Supporting Features WhatsApp Business offers many supporting features to enhance your promotions. Some features you can utilize include:
- Business Profile: Helps customers recognize and trust you. Ensure information like your company name, location, and operating hours are filled out in the WhatsApp business profile.
- WhatsApp Story: Useful for interacting with customers by posting content such as opening hours, new product announcements, and promotional information.
- WhatsApp Broadcast: Sends multiple messages to many recipients simultaneously, making it more effective and efficient.
- WhatsApp Group: Build a customer community through WhatsApp groups. You can freely provide education and build customer engagement within these groups.
- WhatsApp Catalog: Simplifies the process for customers to browse your products through an online catalog on WhatsApp. Ensure product photos, descriptions, and prices are clear to facilitate offers and transactions.
- More Interactive Two-Way Communication Customers can respond to your messages, and you can reply to them as well. This helps in building interactive two-way communication with customers. This benefit not only enhances your WhatsApp marketing but also improves customer service and increases customer engagement.
Disadvantages
- Only Reachable by WhatsApp Users WhatsApp marketing can only target active WhatsApp users, unlike SMS, which can reach all mobile phone users. It is your responsibility to ensure that your target audience actively uses WhatsApp. Ensure your well-crafted WhatsApp broadcast does not fail because the recipient does not use WhatsApp. Conduct a contact test by saving their number and checking if it appears in your WhatsApp contact list. If their name appears, they are active WhatsApp users, and vice versa.
SMS Marketing Vs WhatsApp Marketing
Have you decided which strategy is suitable for your marketing campaign? Based on the comparison, WhatsApp marketing offers significantly greater benefits compared to SMS marketing. Besides the above comparison, here are a few considerations to help you choose the right strategy:
1. Consider Buyer Persona
Understand your buyer persona to determine the best strategy. If you haven’t created a buyer persona, you need to do so first. A buyer persona is a detailed depiction of your customers, including aspects such as:
- Gender
- Age
- Occupation
- Name (can be a pseudonym)
- Income level
- Characteristics (hobbies, entertainment preferences, food preferences, etc.)
If your target customers are not active on WhatsApp, then you cannot use WhatsApp marketing effectively. Instead, rely on more conventional marketing strategies to ensure your promotions are effective.
2. Marketing Objectives
Determine your marketing objectives. Are they urgent promotions like flash sales and delivery notifications, or are they for long-term promotional needs? Long-term promotional needs include upselling and cross-selling, customer service, and content marketing such as tutorial videos.
Although brief promotions are suitable for SMS marketing, WhatsApp marketing can also handle them. Moreover, after broadcasting, you can follow up for free, allowing your products to sell faster.
3. Marketing Budget
Set your marketing budget to decide which channel is suitable. If you have a limited budget, you can use WhatsApp marketing. If you have a larger budget, you might consider SMS marketing. Understand the pros and cons of both because even choosing the cheaper tool can be costly if it doesn’t match your persona.
Conclusion
In conclusion, WhatsApp marketing offers more benefits compared to SMS marketing. Especially when using WhatsApp Business API from Qiscus as your WhatsApp marketing tool, the benefits include:
- Unlimited WhatsApp Broadcasts: No daily broadcast limits unlike regular WhatsApp Business.
- Broadcast Without Saving Numbers: Unlike regular WhatsApp Business, you can send broadcasts without customers saving your number, increasing reach.
- WhatsApp Green Tick: Adds credibility in the eyes of customers amid prevalent WhatsApp scams.
- Integration with Multiple Applications: Enhance marketing performance and customer experience by integrating with various apps like CRM, Instagram, Facebook, email, and marketplaces.
- Dashboard Analytics: Monitor WhatsApp marketing performance in real time and help plan your next strategies.
There are many more benefits to using WhatsApp Business API. Interested in learning more? Consult with us for free here.
