Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce: Which Converts Better in 2025?

By Junaid Imdad, Email Marketing Specialist & Content Strategist.

In the fast-paced world of eCommerce, where each click, swipe, and ping could lead to sales or misses, marketers often grapple with one question: Which strategy drives more revenue?

As an experienced digital content strategist with five years of online marketing under my belt, I’ve seen firsthand how both email and SMS marketing can significantly boost a brand’s sales trajectory when used effectively. If you’re weighing your options, this post on Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce will break down the real-world benefits of each channel—supported by data, personal insight, and actionable recommendations to help you choose the right strategy for your business.

Understanding the Basics

What Is Email Marketing? 

Email marketing refers to the practice of sending targeted messages via email to an audience of subscribers. These may include promotional offers, product launches, newsletters, and cart abandonment reminders among many other uses. It remains a proven and powerful channel, especially in the context of Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce, offering advanced automation, segmentation, and personalization tools that continue to evolve and deliver strong ROI.

Typical Applications: 

(Weekly newsletters, product promotions and drip campaigns).

Cart abandonment reminders will also be sent.

What is SMS?

SMS (short message service) marketing involves sending text messages directly to consumers’ mobile phones, typically achieving open rates that exceed 90%. It’s one of the fastest and most effective ways to engage customers, especially for time-sensitive promotions or urgent updates. In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce debate, SMS stands out for its immediacy and high engagement, making it ideal for flash sales, limited-time offers, and real-time alerts.

Use Case Examples:

(flash sales or limited time offers).

• Order and shipping notifications available

• Customized discount codes

• Event reminders or new product alerts

Let’s face it, email inboxes can be an unforgiving place. Between spam filters and overcrowded promotions tabs, even the best-crafted messages risk getting lost. According to data from Campaign Monitor, eCommerce brands typically see an average email open rate between 20–25%. In the context of Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce, this highlights one of email’s key challenges: visibility. While email excels in depth and design, its effectiveness often hinges on subject lines, timing, and deliverability.

SMS marketing boasts open rates of over 90%, often within minutes after delivery!

Real Talk: SMS will generally outperform email for promoting time-sensitive campaigns such as flash sales. Their immediacy makes text messages perfect for such efforts.

Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce

When it comes to driving sales and building customer relationships, Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce is a comparison every online brand must consider. Email marketing offers rich content, design flexibility, and long-form storytelling perfect for product promotions, newsletters, and abandoned cart reminders. SMS marketing, on the other hand, delivers instant, high-engagement messages ideal for flash sales, order updates, and time-sensitive offers. Choosing the right channel—or combining both strategically—depends on your goals, audience behavior, and the type of experience you want to deliver.

Conversion Rates Aren’t Always an Easy Call 

In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce discussion, open rates only tell half the story. What truly matters is conversion—how many customers actually make a purchase after engaging with your message. While email offers more space for storytelling and visuals, SMS often drives quicker actions, making it crucial to evaluate not just engagement, but actual results.

Omnisend’s 2024 report suggests:

Email campaigns typically experience a 6% conversion rate.

SMS campaigns typically reach 8-12% success depending on offer and timing considerations.

In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce landscape, performance metrics can vary significantly depending on context. For instance, SMS often performs better for time-sensitive campaigns like weekend-only sales due to its immediacy, while email excels when more detailed content is needed such as product descriptions, visuals, and layered promotional messaging.

Personalization and Content: Email Offers Greater Versatility

When it comes to storytelling and delivering rich, informative content, email remains unmatched in its versatility. In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce comparison, email is ideal for sharing compelling narratives, showcasing multiple images, and including educational material. You can leverage rich media, segment your audience lists, A/B test subject lines, and even customize entire customer journeys all of which contribute to deeper engagement and higher conversion potential.

In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce debate, SMS stands out for its brevity—allowing up to 160 characters per message (unless using MMS). This forces marketers to be concise and direct, which can be incredibly effective for time-sensitive updates or clear calls to action. However, the limited space also presents challenges; too few words can result in vague messaging or overly promotional content that lacks context or personalization. Striking the right balance is key to making SMS a high-impact tool in your marketing strategy.

Example

Email : (to be sent) “Introducing our brand-new vegan skincare range! Click to explore ingredients, customer reviews and take advantage of a 15% discount!”

SMS: “Vanilla skincare is now available! Take advantage of it now to take advantage of a 15% discount: [link].”

Customer Preferences: Dependent on Relationship

In the context of Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce, it’s clear that modern customers expect brands to communicate in ways that align with their lifestyles. Some consumers prefer long-form emails they can read at their leisure—perhaps during a lunch break—while others gravitate toward short, snappy SMS messages that deliver the essentials instantly. Understanding and catering to these preferences is key to building stronger connections and driving more meaningful engagement.

Recent surveys demonstrate:

• 65% of consumers prefer receiving promotions via email.

• 30-40% of SMS users prefer using it for order updates and urgent deals.

Therefore, rather than picking one over the other, a more strategic solution would likely involve using both approaches simultaneously.

Email Is More Cost-Effective Than SMS

When evaluating Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce, cost is a major factor to consider. Email marketing typically proves to be more cost-effective, with many platforms offering flat monthly fees based on subscriber count. In contrast, SMS marketing often incurs charges per message sent, which can quickly add up—especially for larger campaigns. For brands with tight budgets or extensive mailing lists, email often offers a more scalable and affordable solution.

Here’s an approximate breakdown:

Emails cost between $0.001-$0.02 per message sent.

In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce comparison, cost per message is an important consideration. SMS text messaging typically ranges from $0.05 to $0.15 per message, depending on factors like volume and region. As message volume increases, so does the overall cost—making SMS a potentially expensive channel for large-scale campaigns.

In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce conversation, if you’re working with a limited budget, email may be the ideal long-term channel for cultivating leads and building lasting customer relationships. Its low cost per message and powerful automation capabilities make it a sustainable and scalable option for growing your brand over time.

Compliance and Privacy: Both Require Care

In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce landscape, both channels are governed by strict compliance regulations. Email marketing must adhere to the CAN-SPAM Act, while SMS is regulated under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Regardless of the medium, clear opt-in mechanisms are essential, and recipients must be provided with a simple, accessible way to opt out at any time. Failing to comply can result in legal consequences and damage to brand reputation.

SMS violations tend to carry more severe repercussions due to their more personal nature and stringent regulations.

Whatever route you take, ensure your data collection and marketing practices follow all regulations.

Email Vs SMS 

Both email and SMS marketing have their strengths, and the key to success lies in knowing when to use each channel effectively. Here’s a breakdown to guide your strategy:

Situation	Best Channel
Flash Sale	SMS
Product Launch	Email
Cart Abandonment	Email
Shipping Confirmation	SMS
Weekly Newsletter Delivery	Email

Benefits of Email Marketing

In the Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce debate, email stands out as a cost-effective and scalable channel, especially when compared to the higher per-message fees associated with SMS marketing. Here are five key benefits of email marketing:

1. Low Per-Message Costs: Email platforms typically charge flat monthly fees based on subscriber count, making it affordable to scale without increasing per-user messaging costs.
2. High Scalability: You can send thousands of messages simultaneously at little additional cost, ideal for growing eCommerce audiences.
3. Richer Content Format: Emails support images, long-form content, product carousels, and personalized recommendations—making them perfect for storytelling and promotions.
4. Automation & Segmentation: Advanced tools allow for behavior-based automation and list segmentation, improving targeting and boosting conversions.
5. Better for Re-Engagement: Email is ideal for nurturing inactive subscribers, abandoned carts, and post-purchase follow-ups through thoughtful and data-driven campaigns.

While SMS excels in immediacy and urgency, email remains the preferred choice for more detailed, cost-efficient, and creative campaigns that nurture long-term customer relationships.

Final Thoughts: 

When it comes to Email vs SMS Marketing for eCommerce, it’s not about choosing one over the other. As an online store owner or eCommerce marketer, you shouldn’t view email and SMS as competing channels, but rather as complementary tools. Smart brands are leveraging both in tandem—using SMS for real-time urgency and email for in-depth storytelling and personalization—to build a cohesive, high-performing marketing strategy that reaches customers at every stage of the journey.

Email excels at storytelling, education, and brand building; while SMS delivers instantaneous, urgent reminders. If you want to get info about Ai disrupting email, simply click on it.

Here is how an actual brand might structure their funnel:

• Email 1: Product announcement with story, details and value props.

• Email 2: 24 hours later, I sent another reminder and testimonials.

• SMS: Final two-hour countdown with an exclusive discount offer.

Ultimately, it doesn’t have to be about choosing either email or SMS; the key question should be how I can use both channels effectively in ways that feel natural and beneficial to my customer base?

Are you having difficulty setting up email and SMS funnels? I can help. I have assisted numerous eCommerce brands increase conversions using ethical, user-first marketing. Let’s connect today so we can discuss.

Junaid Imdad, Email Marketing Specialist & Content Strategist.
Connect with me on LinkedIn