Push notifications are brief alerts an application triggers to recipients who have downloaded and installed the app. Short messaging services, also known as SMS, on the other hand, are electronic messages sent between phones and allow you to send text messages up to 160 characters to your customers.
The question about the difference between an SMS and a push notification is not naive to most people in the text marketing provider industry as the question is often raised.
On the face of it, they can look similar as both SMS and push notifications are two highly effective tools for marketing. However, some differences between them can make a huge difference in terms of user engagement or your business marketing goals.
To have effective marketing, you must reach the right person in the right place and at the right time. This article helps you with everything you need to know so you can learn the differences and identify which SMS messaging or push notification best suits your needs.
Difference Between Push Notifications And SMS Notifications
Push notifications and SMS are very effective marketing tools businesses can use to reach customers. There are distinct tactics that are used to achieve effective marketing.
Achieving effective marketing tends to be more tedious than before as getting the audience or attention of your customers now is getting relatively more challenging daily as they face endless distractions every day.
However, with the use of mobile phones rampant among most people now, most mobile users hardly function without peeking on their phones consistently at intervals. Hence, push notifications and SMS messages effectively reach your audience with important information.
Let’s take a closer look at some differences between these two mediums of communication used to reach customers. Some of the differences include:
- How to receive messages
The first significant difference is the opt-in process to receive an SMS and push notification message.
To receive a push notification message, recipients only have to download an application. They do not have to open the app for push notifications to be sent, and users can easily either withdraw or grant permission with the app on their phones. On websites, they appear via a popup that requests someone visiting for the first time to either allow or block notifications.
To receive an SMS marketing message, Firstly, you need to get expressed written consent and contact phone numbers; recipients are asked to send an opt-in text or a specific phrase to a specified number to subscribe to marketing texts.
When the recipient responds to the opt-in message, they have subscribed to the business text marketing campaigns.
The process involved to opt-in for push notifications and SMS messages is less tedious with the former because users have easier control over permissions, and you don’t need to get express written consent like SMS messages.
- Delivery
Another significant difference between SMS messages and push notifications is their delivery method.
Push notifications are delivered via an app that uses and requires the internet. They can only be delivered to the recipient’s desktop or mobile device when they have downloaded the App. Push notifications pop up when the recipient is connected to the internet, although they don’t have to open the App before receiving the messages on their phones.
SMS text messages do not require internet use; they are delivered over a cellular network, implying you can receive text messages even when there’s no internet. And also, SMS messages are delivered directly to the user’s inbox and are not required to download any application to access news.
Hence, for urgent messages, SMS messages are considered the fastest, most accessible, and most reliable channel to pass your messages across to your customers.
- Visibility
Visibility is another distinct difference between SMS and Push notifications medium of communication.
Push notification most times arrives with a sound notification but depending on the volume of push notifications, these messages may be ignored or missed, for example; if a user chooses to ignore a notification for a while, and then more notifications keep troping in, they can forget the first notification.
SMS messages flash up on the mobile phone screen with a sound alert. However, it is usually easier to see the text message from the lock screen, and research shows that most text messages are open within the first few hours of receipt.
Even when SMS messages are swiped, they remain in the user’s phone inbox, where subscribers can easily access them when they want to. They are more challenging to ignore than push notifications, making SMS a more prominent marketing channel.
- Character space limit
SMS text messages can contain up to 160 characters. Once this limit is exceeded, it will count as an additional message which should be noted when mass texting as this would cost additional charges, and users can easily add links to the message.
Push notifications are mostly a line or two in length.
Push Notifications Vs SMS: Which Is More Secure?
Push notifications are considered more secure than SMS.
SMS can be sent to users without their consent, and it’s easy for hackers to send you an SMS message which opens you up to being victims of fraudulent traps by hackers.
However, push notifications are authenticated, and google takes it very seriously to block sites that indulge in spam notifications without users’ consent.
When To Send Push Notifications Or SMS
Which medium to use for effective marketing depends on your business and needs.
E-commerce businesses, for instance, would find push notifications a more valuable and effective marketing tool for announcements, product recommendations, and also general store promotions.
However, for messages that are time-sensitive or urgent, SMS text messages are the best in this regard, messages like emergency alerts, appointment reminders, e.t.c. SMS is an effective means of grabbing recipients’ attention; you can hardly ignore an SMS text message.
Conclusion
SMS and Push Notifications have their pros and cons, hence, which one is better than the other is not a debate; because your choice would depend on your need and the type of business you are in. They are both highly effective marketing tools.
However, before you make the decision of which of the two options to opt for, consider your audience, content, nature of your business, and delivery guarantee.
Difference Between Push Notifications And SMS
Push notifications are brief alerts an application triggers to recipients who have downloaded and installed the app. Short messaging services, also known as SMS, on the other hand, are electronic messages sent between phones and allow you to send text messages up to 160 characters to your customers.
The question about the difference between an SMS and a push notification is not naive to most people in the text marketing provider industry as the question is often raised.
On the face of it, they can look similar as both SMS and push notifications are two highly effective tools for marketing. However, some differences between them can make a huge difference in terms of user engagement or your business marketing goals.
To have effective marketing, you must reach the right person in the right place and at the right time. This article helps you with everything you need to know so you can learn the differences and identify which SMS messaging or push notification best suits your needs.
Difference Between Push Notifications And SMS
Push notifications and SMS are very effective marketing tools businesses can use to reach customers. However, there are distinct tactics that are used to achieve effective marketing.
Achieving effective marketing tends to be more tedious than before as getting the audience or attention of your customers now is getting relatively more challenging daily as they face endless distractions every day.
However, with the use of mobile phones rampant among most people now, most mobile users hardly function without peeking on their phones consistently at intervals. Hence, push notifications and SMS messages effectively reach your audience with important information.
Let’s take a closer look at some differences between these two mediums of communication used to reach customers. Some of the differences include:
- How to receive messages
The first significant difference is the opt-in process to receive an SMS and push notification message.
To receive a push notification message, recipients only have to download an application. They do not have to open the app for push notifications to be sent, and users can easily either withdraw or grant permission with the app on their phones. On websites, they appear via a popup that requests someone visiting for the first time to either allow or block notifications.
To receive an SMS marketing message, Firstly, you need to get expressed written consent and contact phone numbers; recipients are asked to send an opt-in text or a specific phrase to a specified number to subscribe to marketing texts.
When the recipient responds to the opt-in message, they have subscribed to the business text marketing campaigns.
The process involved to opt-in for push notifications and SMS messages is less tedious with the former because users have easier control over permissions, and you don’t need to get express written consent like SMS messages.
- Delivery
Another significant difference between SMS messages and push notifications is their delivery method.
Push notifications are delivered via an app that uses and requires the internet. They can only be delivered to the recipient’s desktop or mobile device when they have downloaded the App. Push notifications pop up when the recipient is connected to the internet, although they don’t have to open the App before receiving the messages on their phones.
SMS text messages do not require internet use; they are delivered over a cellular network, implying you can receive text messages even when there’s no internet. And also, SMS messages are delivered directly to the user’s inbox and are not required to download any application to access news.
Hence, for urgent messages, SMS messages are considered the fastest, most accessible, and most reliable channel to pass your messages across to your customers.
- Visibility
Visibility is another distinct difference between SMS and Push notifications medium of communication.
Push notification most times arrives with a sound notification but depending on the volume of push notifications, these messages may be ignored or missed, for example; if a user chooses to ignore a notification for a while, and then more notifications keep troping in, they can forget the first notification.
SMS messages flash up on the mobile phone screen with a sound alert. However, it is usually easier to see the text message from the lock screen, and research shows that most text messages are open within the first few hours of receipt.
Even when SMS messages are swiped, they remain in the user’s phone inbox, where subscribers can easily access them when they want to. They are more challenging to ignore than push notifications, making SMS a more prominent marketing channel.
- Character space limit
SMS text messages can contain up to 160 characters. Once this limit is exceeded, it will count as an additional message which should be noted when mass texting as this would cost additional charges, and users can easily add links to the message.
Push notifications are mostly a line or two in length.
Push Notifications Vs SMS: Which Is More Secure?
Push notifications are considered more secure than SMS.
SMS can be sent to users without their consent, and it’s easy for hackers to send you an SMS message which opens you up to being victims of fraudulent traps by hackers.
However, push notifications are authenticated, and google takes it very seriously to block sites that indulge in spam notifications without users’ consent.
When To Send Push Notifications Or SMS
Which medium to use for effective marketing depends on your business and needs.
E-commerce businesses, for instance, would find push notifications a more valuable and effective marketing tool for announcements, product recommendations, and also general store promotions.
However, for messages that are time-sensitive or urgent, SMS text messages are the best in this regard, messages like emergency alerts, appointment reminders, e.t.c. SMS is an effective means of grabbing recipients’ attention; you can hardly ignore an SMS text message.
Conclusion
SMS and Push Notifications have their pros and cons, hence, which one is better than the other is not a debate; because your choice would depend on your need and the type of business you are in. They are both highly effective marketing tools, and ideally a business would be leveraging both. If you had to choose one, the simplicity of use for SMS notifications, just edges out push notifications as the winner.
To get started sending SMS notifications, feel free to sign up for a free trial of Texting.io, or book a demo to learn more about our platform.