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3 min read

Why We Don't Offer Email, 5 Reasons for Texting vs. Email

texting vs. email

For more than a decade, customers have been asking us to add an email service to our product. To this day, it remains one of our most popular feature requests. Most of the population would say that email is an essential communication tool for business. Estimates indicate that 74 trillion emails are sent every year. That's a staggering number, the equivalent in seconds to 2,334,404 years! Keep reading to learn why we don't offer email and discover 5 reasons for texting vs. email.

So why would a company choose to not offer such a widely popular method of communication? On the surface, it would seem that email would be very complementary to the mass texting and calling services provided today. The demand for email is enormous and likely offers a substantial opportunity to add revenue.

How we're different than most companies

Let me start by saying that we're a different kind of company. If you don't know us already, here are some of the reasons why we're different:

  • Being a values-driven company that puts people, customers & employees, over profit (although we believe firmly that a healthy bottom line is essential to our purpose).
  • Our desire to be an employee-owned company that lasts for at least 100 years.
  • We're guided by our manifesto and high-level strategy that keep us focused on being the best mass messaging
  • We don't have a sales team. That's right, we don't hunt for new leads or harass prospects. We believe in nurturing relationships with new users through exceptional customer experiences.
  • We think you should fire us if we suck.
  • We loathe SPAM, unwanted messages, and interrupt dinner with the family calls. See our responsible use policy.

Why email doesn't fit into our strategic plan

Now that you understand us a little bit more let's get back to the topic of email as a feature. Our service is part of a particular niche of mass messaging that focuses on informational messages (again, no SPAM). We provide value by making it easy for our users to reach large groups of contacts quickly and easily engage those contacts when they reply to messages.

While this might sound similar to email, there are some key differences;

  1. SPAM makes up 45% of all emails. Remember that 74 trillion number annually? On top of this, a significant portion of emails are promotional in nature and would violate our Terms of Use.
  2. MailChimp indicates that the average open rate for email is just 21%. That means click rates are even less, making email highly in-effective for reaching contacts with urgent messages. However, 98% of text messages are read in less than 3 minutes, and the average response time is just 90 seconds. Texting is much more effective when it comes to delivering urgent messages.
  3. Email regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act can be a compliance nightmare. Not to mention that laws vary by state and country. Texting is far less regulated and far less likely to get blocked by a SPAM filter.
  4. Message formatting can also be an issue with email and may require extra resources like the design or HTML coding. Traditionally email can be a more formal, long-form communication method that allows for detailed sharing of information.
  5. Texting is fast, urgent, and concise. Text messages are mobile in nature, easy to read on the go, and less intrusive. They're more collaborative in nature and better suited for quick interactions or real-time conversations.

 

The future is going to be about texting

While texting has been around since 1992, the first email was sent way back in 1971. Texting is still a relatively new technology and continues to evolve. RCS, 5G, and other technologies are bringing new features to texting that will allow companies to do more. Imagine branded messages, identity verification, read receipts, typing indicators, and rich content like maps, surveys, and more.

We want to invest our resources in technologies that provide the most value to both our users and the contacts they communicate with. Without question, texting is the preferred communication method for most people today. As the underlying technology evolves and messaging continues to shift toward texting - we'll be there to provide solutions for our customers.

Too many existing email providers already

Going back to our high-level strategy, we want our clients to believe we're THE best mass messaging service out there. We're great at texting and calling, we're a joy to do business with, but there are already too many companies that are great at email. Adding that into our mix would be a distraction. The learning curve would be really high, and we'd likely have a sub-par product compared to the hundreds of different solutions already in the marketplace.

Companies already offer excellent solutions, the MailChimp Free plan is ideal for beginners and will let you deliver up to 10,000 sends to 2,000 contacts.

Shift your mindset to the most effective solution

When it comes to texting vs. email, hopefully, we've helped you understand how powerful and effective texting can be. Great reasons to send emails definitely exist. However, the vast majority of our customers are looking to quickly reach contacts with valuable information, and texting is the clear winner.

If you're an existing customer and you'd like to tell us why we should build an email solution, you can add your comments to the current product feedback board.