SMS and Email Integration: How Does it Work?

SMS and Email integration is a winning combination for your multi-channel marketing strategy. Integrating these platforms allows marketers to provide a cohesive experience that caters to the different preferences of their clients. However, what many don’t understand is how these systems work together – integrating with each other as well as CRM systems.

How SMS and Email Come Together

SMS and email cross paths in a variety different ways but, how does it work? Once implemented, an SMS API integration is a very understandable process. To talk to each other, the two systems rely on two vital technological processes: SMPP and A/B testing.

SMPP Simplifies Short Message Communications

Let’s start with short message peer-to-peer or SMPP protocol. This is a term that simply means the transfer of text message data with external messaging entities (a SMS application). This is how businesses have the ability to send text messages in bulk to thousands of clients at once. Imagine that you’re a business with a large customer database and you want to alert all of them about a special promotion. Instead of texting them one at a time from a mobile device, you can use a SMS application – the SMPP provides the capability for you to send your message to everyone at the same time.

A/B Helps Systems to “Speak” to Each Other

Once you have SMPP setup for your text messages, how do we integrate the email system? More importantly, how do we make sure that clients are receiving messages on the right medium? This is where A/B testing comes into play. Using A/B testing, or split testing, is the process of comparing two versions of a web page or application to determine which performs better. This is crucial for SMS and email integration because it’s the way that platforms define how each client receives the business’ message. The A/B test combs through your client database and, based on your clients’ selected preferences, it will send your message through the correct medium. Think of it as a digital huddle between SMS and email as they decide the best of course of action for scoring points with your clients.

SMS and Email Integration for CRM

One of the key reasons marketers have for SMS and email integration is for customer relationship management (CRM). A dedicated CRM system can easily facilitate integration in a way that is cohesive to your business’s multi-channel marketing strategy. Email and SMS simplify the CRM strategy by allowing you the most convenient and effective way to reach customers – the way they want to be reached. The added bonus of monitoring customer preferences gives the business the power of new data – for tracking behaviors and adjusting messaging to save both time and money.

Integration within multi-channel marketing is imperative for keeping up with the growing digital landscape. Email and SMS are essentially the peas and carrots of multi-channel marketing; they are a tried and true combination that can fit almost anywhere. By understanding integration at a technical level, businesses can discover how simply this integration can be adapted for multiple purposes.