Why Your Business Needs More Than Just Email (And How to Add SMS Without Overcomplicating Things)
Email marketing works. You know this because you’ve seen the results: newsletters that keep your audience engaged, promotional campaigns that drive conversions, and automated sequences that nurture leads while you sleep.
The numbers back this up. Email marketing delivers an average ROI of roughly $36-$38 returned for every dollar spent, with nearly one in five companies hitting $70 per dollar invested. Email consistently outperforms other digital channels, delivering at least double the ROI of alternatives and driving purchases three times higher in value than social media.
And when you add automation into the mix? The results get even better. Behavioral trigger emails (like cart abandonment or form-follow-up sequences) can generate open rates above 40% and produce around 10× more revenue per recipient than standard broadcast campaigns.
But here’s the thing: even with these impressive numbers, email isn’t always enough on its own anymore. Because your customers and prospects are everywhere, and the most successful businesses are meeting them on multiple channels.
Here’s what we’re seeing: while email newsletters average open rates between 19% and 38% depending on your industry and list quality, text messages get opened by 95% of recipients within three minutes. Email provides depth and detail; SMS provides immediacy and guaranteed visibility.
The businesses getting the best results aren’t choosing between the two. They’re using email as their foundation (leveraging that exceptional ROI and engagement) and adding SMS strategically for moments when timing is critical or when email alone isn’t breaking through.
Let’s talk about why adding SMS to your marketing mix might be the easiest way to boost your overall engagement and revenue this year, and how to do it without making your life more complicated.
The Problem With Email-Only Marketing
Email is still one of the highest-ROI marketing channels available. The data proves it. But even the best-performing channel has limitations:
Timing delays: Even the best email might sit unread for hours or days. The average person checks email a few times per day, often when they’re at a desk and have time to read through messages. Smart platforms solve this by learning when each subscriber typically opens their emails and timing delivery accordingly. For example, if someone always opens emails at 7am, that’s when your message should arrive in their inbox, not at the random time you hit “send.” This is what Robly AI does with just-in-time email delivery.
The second-chance problem: What happens when someone doesn’t open your carefully crafted email? On most platforms, that opportunity is just… gone. But the most effective email strategies automatically give your message a second chance by resending to non-openers with a fresh, optimized subject line. This simple technique can boost your overall open rates by 50% or more without any extra work. That’s exactly what Robly Opengen does giving your campaigns a second boost of opens.
Inbox competition: Your email is competing with hundreds of others. Promotional emails, in particular, can get buried or filtered into tabs that rarely get checked.
Deliverability challenges: Between spam filters, promotions tabs, and inbox algorithms, there’s no guarantee your carefully crafted email will even be seen.
These challenges are real, but they’re also solvable with the right technology. Modern email platforms use AI to optimize send times and automatically recover missed opportunities. Still, even with these improvements, there are moments when email alone isn’t enough.
That’s where SMS marketing comes in.
Why SMS Works (For Almost Any Business)
Email has come a long way. With AI-optimized send times and smart resend technology, modern email platforms can dramatically improve your open rates and engagement. You can now ensure your emails arrive when each subscriber is most likely to read them, and automatically recover opportunities from people who missed your message the first time.
But even with these advances, email still operates on the recipient’s schedule. They open it when they have time to sit down and read through their inbox. For most people, that’s a few times per day, often when they’re at their desk or intentionally catching up on messages.
SMS operates on a completely different timeline.
Here’s the stat that matters: 95% of text messages are read within 3 minutes of being received. This isn’t because text messages are inherently more interesting than emails. It’s because of how we interact with our phones. When a text comes in, we feel it. We hear it. We see the notification on our lock screen. And because texts are typically short and quick to read, we don’t put them off the way we might with an email that requires more attention.
This immediacy doesn’t replace the need for email. Your newsletters, detailed product announcements, educational content, and relationship-building campaigns still belong in email. But for certain types of time-sensitive communications, SMS is simply unmatched.
The Key Difference: Intent vs. Interruption
The critical distinction between email and SMS isn’t just about open rates or speed. It’s about the relationship between the message and the moment.
Email works best when you’re providing value that the recipient can engage with on their own schedule. A newsletter with industry insights, a detailed product announcement, or an educational drip campaign. These are messages people appreciate having in their inbox to read when they have time to really absorb the content.
SMS works best when timing is part of the value. The appointment reminder is only valuable if it arrives with enough time to act on it. The flash sale announcement only drives revenue if people see it while the sale is still happening. The webinar reminder only helps if it gets them to show up.
This is why the most successful marketing strategies don’t choose between email and SMS. They use email as the foundation for ongoing communication and relationship building, then layer in SMS for the moments when immediacy matters.
The Magic Is in the Combination: Email + SMS
Here’s where it gets really interesting: you don’t use SMS instead of email. You use them together.
The most effective approach is to think of email and SMS as complementary channels that each have their strengths:
Email is great for:
Detailed information and long-form content
Storytelling and relationship building
Rich visuals, attachments, and formatting
Weekly newsletters and regular updates
Educational content and resources
Complex offers or multi-option promotions
SMS is great for:
Urgent, time-sensitive messages
Quick reminders and confirmations
Breaking through when email isn’t getting opened
High-priority announcements
Simple calls-to-action
Real-time engagement
When you coordinate them strategically, the results compound.
Real-World Example: Nonprofit Fundraising Campaign
Let’s say someone registers for your nonprofit’s virtual fundraising gala. Here’s what a smart multi-channel approach looks like:
Immediately after registration: Send a confirmation email
Full details about the event date, time, and virtual platform
Information about the cause and impact their attendance supports
Calendar invite attached
Preview of auction items or speakers
Clear “Add to Calendar” button
1 day before event: Send a reminder email
Subject: “Tomorrow Night: Join Us for [Event Name]”
What to expect during the program
How to participate in the auction or giving moments
Login link and technical instructions
3 hours before event: Send an SMS
“Hi Maria! Our virtual gala starts in 3 hours. We’ll text you the link 10 minutes before. Your support means everything!”
Short, warm, personal connection to the mission
10 minutes before: Send another SMS with the link
“We’re going live in 10 minutes! Join here: [link]. Thank you for supporting [cause]!”
Makes it dead simple to join right when it starts
Reinforces the impact of their participation
During the event: SMS for donation moments
“Loved Sarah’s story? Text GIVE50 to donate $50 right now and help three more families like hers.”
Captures emotional moments when donors are most motivated
This sequence dramatically increases attendance and giving. The email provides all the details and builds anticipation. SMS provides the timely nudges that ensure people actually show up and give in the moment.
Real-World Example: E-commerce Abandoned Cart Recovery
A shopper adds items to their cart but doesn’t complete the purchase. Here’s what a coordinated recovery strategy looks like:
1 hour after abandonment: Send an abandoned cart email
Subject: “You left something behind!”
Full product images with prices
Easy one-click checkout link
No pressure, just a friendly reminder
Professional, detailed
4 hours later (if no action): Send an SMS
“Hi Alex! Still thinking about those running shoes? Here’s free shipping to sweeten the deal: [link]”
Short, direct, adds new incentive
Personal touch that feels like a helpful nudge
Response rate typically 10-20x higher than email
12 hours later (if still no action): Send a follow-up email
Subject automatically optimized for opens (if using OpenGen)
Different angle: customer reviews, size guide, or styling tips
Slightly better offer or urgency element
Addresses potential objections
24 hours later: Final SMS push
“Last chance, Alex! Your cart expires tonight. Use code SAVE15 for 15% off: [link]”
Creates genuine urgency
Final opportunity to convert
3 days later (if purchased): Thank you email + SMS
Email: Order confirmation, shipping details, cross-sell suggestions
SMS: “Your order shipped! Track it here: [link]”
Continues the relationship post-purchase
This sequence gives you multiple chances to recover the sale across different channels and times of day. Email provides the product details and visual appeal. SMS cuts through inbox clutter with immediacy and personal touch. Together, they can recover 15-25% of abandoned carts that would otherwise be lost.
SMS Marketing FAQs
1. “Won’t I annoy my customers?”
Only if you overdo it. The key is permission and relevance:
Always get explicit opt-in for SMS (it’s required by law anyway)
Make it easy to opt out (also legally required, but good practice regardless)
Be selective about what you send via text – SMS should be reserved for messages that genuinely benefit from immediacy
Keep it valuable – Every text should offer something: information they need, a reminder they’ll appreciate, or access they want
Think of it this way: people who opt in to your SMS list are asking to hear from you this way. Respect that by sending messages they’ll actually want to receive.
2. “Do I need to hire someone to manage this?”
Not if you use a platform that keeps email and SMS in the same place. The operational burden of multichannel marketing usually comes from juggling disconnected tools — not from the channels themselves.
When both email and SMS live inside one system, you eliminate most of the coordination work that otherwise requires a dedicated specialist. You can:
Manage both channels from one dashboard: Your contacts, tags, segments, and consent live in a single database. You’re not exporting lists, syncing contacts, or trying to keep two platforms aligned.
Extend the workflows you already use: If you’re used to creating segments or running campaigns in Robly, adding SMS builds directly on that muscle memory. You’re not learning a new system or duplicating strategies in a second tool.
3. “How do I add SMS without breaking what already works?”
The biggest hesitation businesses have is simple: adding a new channel feels like adding more work. More lists to manage. More campaigns to plan. More chances to get something wrong.
This is only true if your email and SMS live in different tools.
When both channels sit inside the same platform, everything becomes dramatically easier. You can:
• Use the same contact database
• Trigger emails and texts from the same workflow
• Build unified automation journeys
• Keep reporting in one place
• Maintain one source of truth for consent, segmentation, and preferences
This is where integrated platforms outperform pieced-together stacks. You are not reinventing your marketing workflow — you are adding a second output to the same engine.
With Robly, SMS functions exactly the way your email already does. It uses your existing segments, your existing automations, and the same editor. Nothing new to learn. Nothing new to manage. It is an add-on to your existing system, not another platform you must juggle.
Robly users also benefit from the same personalization engine across email and SMS. The same tags, fields, and behavioral triggers that shape an email campaign can instantly shape a text message too — making the channel feel like an extension of your existing strategy, not a separate project.
So… Why Does SMS Matter Now?
Because the inbox is getting noisier. Because attention spans are shrinking. Because deliverability rules keep tightening. Because timing matters more than ever.
Email still delivers unmatched ROI, depth, and storytelling power. That does not change. What changes is how you support it when speed or urgency decides the outcome.
You use email to build the relationship.
You use SMS to activate it.
If email is your long game, SMS is your moment-game.
And the moment is where revenue often happens.
Robly’s SMS tools were built around that idea: simple, instant, high-visibility communication layered on top of the email engine you already rely on.
The Risk Isn’t Adding SMS — It’s Ignoring It
The brands that win are not blasting people across channels. They are coordinating touchpoints so customers get the right nudge at the right time.
A webinar reminder that gets 40 percent more attendance, a cart recovery that brings back a sale that would’ve slipped away, a fundraising appeal that lands during the emotional peak instead of twelve hours later. Missing those moments is where businesses lose revenue without even realizing it. SMS closes those gaps while mail sustains everything else.
Together, they form a system that is significantly more resilient, more responsive, and more profitable than email alone.
This is exactly why Robly users adopt SMS not to replace email, but to reinforce it during moments where timing transforms outcomes.
How Robly Makes Email + SMS Simple
Most platforms treat email and SMS as two different ecosystems: different editors, different audiences, different automations, different reporting. That separation is the source of operational friction — the extra tabs, the duplicated lists, the inconsistent data, the gaps that cause timing failures.
Robly approaches the problem differently. Instead of bolting SMS onto email, the platform treats both channels as expressions of the same underlying system. One database. One automation engine. One customer record. The result is a genuinely unified workflow that feels like an extension of what you already do, not an additional channel you need to learn.
Here is what that looks like in practice.
1. Just-In-Time Delivery (Robly AI): Timed email that makes SMS smarter
Robly AI already optimizes email by learning when each subscriber typically opens. Some people check at 7am, others at noon, others late evening. The system tracks this on a per-contact basis and times delivery down to the minute.
This matters in a multichannel context because better email timing reduces unnecessary SMS sends. You only text the people who truly need a nudge — not the people who would have opened on their own. Most platforms cannot do this because their email and SMS engines don’t share intelligence.
2. Second-Chance Opens (Robly OpenGen): A smarter fallback before you ever use SMS
Before you escalate to a text message, Robly automatically re-engages non-openers with a second subject line crafted for improved visibility. This “second-chance layer” captures a huge portion of your audience without sending a single text.
It’s a structured system:
Step 1: Email at optimal time → Step 2: AI-optimized resend → Step 3: Decide when and if SMS is needed
This hierarchy is what makes SMS feel strategic rather than intrusive. Your list sees texts only when the email layers have done their job and a timely nudge would materially increase engagement.
3. Coordinated Workflows: One platform, two channels that work together
For most teams, trying to run email and SMS in parallel means managing two systems that were never designed to talk to each other. Lists need to be synced. Tags need to match. Segments need to be rebuilt. And any kind of coordinated timing — like “email first, then SMS if needed” — requires Zapier, webhooks, or manual steps that create friction and delay.
Robly avoids all of that by keeping both channels in the same environment.
You still create your email campaigns the way you always have, but you now layer SMS into the same workflow you already use for segmentation, timing, and audience management — without leaving the platform or duplicating your work.
Instead of stitching together tools, you can:
Target the same segment with an email and a text
Use the same tags, preferences, and subscriber data for both channels
Maintain one clean consent source of truth
Control timing directly inside one dashboard
This doesn’t turn SMS into a complex, fully automated journey builder — and that’s the point. What Robly offers is simplicity: one place to manage both channels, one database that powers them, and one workflow your team already understands.
4. Shared Personalization Data: One identity, two channels
Robly stores all your data in one place — tags, fields, segments, behavioral attributes, purchase history, engagement patterns, and past automation behavior. That means personalization is not limited to email.
You can send SMS messages that adapt to:
Customer tier
Geographic location
Purchase stage
Interests or past behavior
Time since last action
Birthday or renewal dates
Most platforms force you to maintain separate lists for email and SMS, which leads to mismatched experiences. Robly’s shared identity model ensures that both channels always reflect the same understanding of the customer.
5. Straightforward SMS Plans: Predictable, transparent usage
Rather than forcing you into dedicated monthly SMS subscriptions or requiring a second billing cycle, Robly keeps things simple with usage-based pricing aligned with your email account.
No additional platforms. No separate contracts. No extra technical setup.
This matters because it encourages smarter SMS usage — you text when it drives impact, not because you’re trying to “use up” credits you already paid for.
6. One Reporting Layer: Cross-channel insights that actually make sense
In a fragmented stack, you analyze results separately and try to draw conclusions manually. That often leads to misleading interpretations — an SMS might feel successful while actually cannibalizing an email open that would have happened anyway.
Robly solves this with unified reporting that gives you actual lift, not just channel-specific numbers.
The Bottom Line
Email remains your highest-ROI channel. It is where your storytelling lives, where trust is built, and where long-form engagement happens. But SMS fills in the critical moments where timing determines the outcome — the reminders, the nudges, the confirmation messages, the last-call pushes.
Most importantly, SMS becomes powerful only when it is integrated into the same system that powers your email. That’s what eliminates the operational drag. That’s what keeps the message consistent. And that’s what allows you to coordinate channels based on behavior, not hope.
Robly gives you that unified foundation. If you want to get more value from the audience you already have, combining email and SMS inside a single workflow is one of the simplest and most impactful upgrades you can make and Robly makes that shift feel effortless.
