Using SMS vs Email for Customer Communication

Keeping in touch with your customers is key to ensuring your business runs smoothly. Squeegee offers two ways to do this- email and SMS messaging- but what’s the difference between them?

Many businesses rely on email alone to contact their customers. While it can be effective, introducing SMS messaging can be great for more immediate communication. Squeegee allows you to use both email and SMS, while managing customer preferences so you know who can be contacted by each method.

📅 Reminders

Using email can prove cost-effective and useful for sending reminders in bulk, but SMS messaging is often more immediate. Using SMS messaging alongside email gives you the opportunity to have smoother schedules and fewer missed appointments.

💷 Quotes

Email can be beneficial for sending quotes to your customers but responses can sometimes be slow or missed completely. Messaging can be more effective as it offers a direct, conversational approach encouraging customers to respond promptly so your business flows smoothly.

📣 Marketing

Email can be a cost-effective option for marketing and great for reaching a large audience, however many people typically have a busy inbox, meaning your campaigns may receive lower engagement or go overlooked entirely. By also sharing your campaign via SMS, to customers who are opted in for both, you can achieve higher engagement.

On average, SMS messages have open rates of around 98%, with most being read within just a few minutes (Sendmode.co.uk). However, email open rates come in at 20–32% (Sales So), often opened across many hours of the day. Response rates are also much higher for SMS, averaging around 45%, compared to 6% for email (Yournotify). Click-through rates follow a similar pattern, with SMS typically achieving 10–19%, versus 2–3% for email (Sales So).

Cost of email vs SMS

Sending emails to your customers in Squeegee is free. SMS messaging comes with a cost, which is: 150 free credits per month per user are included with Advanced, Ultimate and Infinite plans. In the UK, each SMS credit costs £0.036 + VAT per credit. Read more here.

Squeegee SEND

It’s easy to create professional-looking email and SMS communications for your customers with Squeegee SEND. Sending via both channels, for customers who are opted in, can boost your average open rate. You can build templates fast with the drag-and-drop campaign builder, using content to match your brand.

You can also create unique audiences to ensure your campaigns feel relevant and timely. Squeegee’s filters make it easy to target specific groups, whether you’re reaching out to customers who may want to book another gutter clean or offering discounts to long-term customers. Filters can be applied based on things like location and job type.

Canned Responses

Some Squeegee users choose to use canned responses instead of the SEND feature for quicker, day-to-day communication. A canned response is a pre-written message that can be reused, meaning there’s no need to build a full SEND campaign each time.

This is great for repeat messages, answering common questions or handling everyday communication quickly and efficiently. Canned responses can save time, keep your communication consistent, and make quick interactions easier to manage.

You can learn more about using canned responses in Squeegee here.