It seems as if email communication has been around for so long that it already feels outdated, just like writing letters. The reality is exactly that email communication has been present even before the internet era. This is why it is not surprising that email marketing would be one of the most popular and widely used ways of advertisement.
However, as popular as it might be, email communication is not the mainstream way that advertisers promote their products to consumers. There are so many different communication channels now that it’s impossible to choose and stick to only one.
Besides, for the longest time, email has also been one of the communication channels that requires time and patience from its users. No matter how full your inbox is, it is not possible to skim through dozens of emails fast enough without worrying about missing out on something important or wasting time reading an advertisement for something you do not care about.
For that very reason, years ago some companies sought to solve this problem by inventing a way to hastily skim through the information that is provided to you via email. They made a system that would display you small bits of information contained within the email.
This was first introduced as a feature for some famous mobile phone brands. After some time, when people understood just how convenient push notifications can be, its implementation in different other areas was just a matter of time.
What Are the Main Differences of Emails and Push Notifications?
So, we’ve already learned that push notifications were at first created to make the experience of reading emails more convenient and faster. One was created because of the other. Nowadays, it is apparent that both have become separate communication methods and are now compared to each other so that some advertisers can make the right decision of choosing between either one of them.
For driving leads, both of the channels can be used equally, yet there are separating advantages and disadvantages to both of these methods, which you will be required to learn before making your choice.
But how exactly these two communication methods are different from one another, what makes them so different that they have to be compared?
- Length – Push notifications tend to be much shorter. Sometimes don’t even exceed a duration of 50 characters while emails can be several paragraphs long, even for promotional purposes.
- Level of intimacy – There is a certain level of intimacy that push notifications can have. If sent at the right moment with the right message, push notifications can connect with the customers’ emotions according to their needs and desires.
- Convenience for optimization – Push notifications are much easier to optimize and play around with than emails because of their short length. Compared to lengthy emails, there are only so many things you can change in your push notification before it performs better than before.
- The content difference – Since emails can be greater in length, they can deliver much more information than push notifications can. While emails can describe or inform about something, convince or even tell a story, push notifications can just act as alerts that can drive action.
- Customers’ perception – There is a difference in how consumers perceive emails versus how they perceive push notifications. While a not so useful email that you’ve sent can stay in the inbox of your consumer for a long time, send a couple of poorly timed and irrelevant push notifications, and your consumers will inevitably get frustrated and will unsubscribe from your notification services.
These were some of the main differences that make emails so distinct from push notifications. They have become completely separate communication channels. When choosing a marketing strategy for your company, you have to make the right choice in making your selection.
Below you will find written some of the advantages and disadvantages of both of these communication channels. Hopefully, this will serve you as a guide in making your selection.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Email Marketing
One of the most important qualities that email communication channels have is building trust. There are numerous methods of building trust, which takes a lot of work and time. However, email marketing can surely help you with that task.
Quality emails like weekly newsletters that provide your subscribers with valuable information will help build trust and, more importantly, consequently retain them.
Popular email services have specifically designed inboxes that don’t have many distractions. In the case of many distractions, you might very well lose the attention of your subscriber without any hope of bringing them back. However, if your email has a catchy enough subject line and doesn’t end up in the spam box, then it has a good chance to deliver the intended message to the receiver.
We’ve discussed the positive outcome when your email does not get in the spam box. However, there is also the opposite outcome when it does end up down there. One of the most significant disadvantages of email marketing is that certain email service providers scan all of the incoming emails for specific language and content. If your sent email does end up in the spam box, there is almost no chance that it is going to be opened.
Another disadvantage comes from actually trying too hard to create the best looking and beautifully designed email. You will be right to think that it is important to stand out from the competition.
One of the ways to do that is to create a unique looking design for your email. However, formatting issues can occur, and your design might fall apart and not be displayed properly on all of the different viewing platforms and screens.
One last disadvantage of email marketing is stemming from its long history with humanity. Since it’s been around for long, consumers are already well equipped to tell if they are looking at promotional material. Thus, they will no longer bother to open up the email, leaving you without a chance of success in luring them in and generating leads.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Push Notifications
One of the more important advantages of push notifications is their speed. As already mentioned, if push notifications are sent at the right moment with the right message, they can act as a powerful tool to generate leads.
Another advantage is that push notifications have a higher chance of reaching their intended subscriber as there is no spam box that they can get shifted into. Additionally, push notifications can be set up with much greater ease than emails because of the lack of complexity and length.
It seems that push notifications do have some significant advantages, yet they do also come with some hefty disadvantages. One of the primary ones is their character length: the shorter the message, the harder it is to compose it. It takes a good writer to be able to make short-form content, which is going to be compelling and action inducing.
Other disadvantages of push notifications are that they can be disregarded as ads and feel spammy because of that. A properly designed and timed push notification can do a world of good for lead generation. The opposite would cause subscribers to mistake them for ads, which will make them turn a blind eye on them and unsubscribe from your notification services once and for all.
Conclusively, it seems that each method comes preloaded with many advantages and disadvantages alike. In actuality, there are so many different strategies with so many different purposes that recommending one approach over the other would be unwise.
However, knowing your specific goal and strategy in mind, as well as being well informed of all the advantages and disadvantages of each of these communication channels, should give you the right judgment capability.
Written by:
Azat Eloyan
Azat is a digital marketer and mobile marketing enthusiast. With over 5 years’ experience in content marketing and SEO, he believes that valuable and informative content is key. He is currently working as a marketing specialist at SendSMS.Global a service which is providing SMS marketing services globally.
