Summarize these selected article findings and their source context. This brief is not the full article. Preserve units, populations, dates, assumptions and limitations. Distinguish illustrative calculations, vendor descriptions and measured results. Do not invent omitted information or claim to have read the complete article.

SMS vs Email Marketing: Give Each Channel a Job

Selected article findings, not the complete article.

SMS vs Email Marketing: Give Each Channel a Job. By Rene, Zobi. Primary documentation checked 28 October 2026.
Decision: Choose the shopper's task before the channel, count people once, coordinate current-state checks and test whether adding the second channel earns its additional cost.
Channel roles: Longer explanation can suit email; a concise, timely next action can suit SMS. These are editorial starting choices, not a universal performance ranking. A reply with a specific buying question needs an approved answer or owner.
Platform documentation: Klaviyo treats email and SMS permissions separately. Its Smart Sending windows are independent across channels and skipped messages are not automatically rescheduled. The cited channel guide says Klaviyo does not track SMS opens; Received SMS does not prove reading. Attribution rules and windows assign credit, rather than establish incremental contribution.
Worked reach snapshot: 20,000 email-eligible people plus 8,000 SMS-eligible people with 6,000 in both =>22,000 unique. Disjoint groups: 14,000 email only,6,000 both,2,000 SMS only. SMS adds 2,000 email-unreachable people in this example. The shared group's possible benefit is a contact-policy question, separate from additional reach. Reliable identity matching and one snapshot are required.
Worked equal-group policy comparison: 1,000 assigned shoppers per group, email 80 orders, email plus SMS 90 orders, average contribution $30 per qualifying order before channel costs, total policy costs $100 and $320. Net contribution is 80*$30-$100=$2,300 versus 90*$30-$320=$2,380. Difference=$80. Ten additional orders create $300; extra cost $220 leaves $80. Eight whole extra orders are needed to exceed $220 at $30 each. Count all qualifying orders, including repeat orders, inside the same outcome window. A materially different order mix requires actual contribution totals rather than this shared-average shortcut. These are assumed teaching inputs, not a merchant result or statistical certainty.
Test design: Compare policies within the same eligible shared audience, assign the person once, keep offers comparable and follow one defined outcome window. Include everyone assigned, including failed sends. Evaluate SMS-only additional reach separately. Exclusive offers or extra service change the package tested; do not attribute all changes to the medium.
Operating policy: Define each channel's job, contact priority, purchase/suppression stop conditions, reply sources and handoff owner. Another promotion does not answer a delivery or pack-size question. Read opt-outs, unresolved replies and support load beside the primary commercial outcome.
Download: The completed channel planner models reach and equal-group contribution, accepts repeat orders, rejects bad inputs and supports local JSON save/load. It includes a one-page printable brief. It does not connect to accounts or supply provider prices or confidence intervals.
Zobi relevance: Zobi’s EQ models are designed to read a shopper’s question in context and choose a relevant reply from merchant-approved information, within the programme parameters the merchant approves.
Concrete next step: Discuss the checkout or repeat-purchase question, approved answer source, programme limits and evaluation with Zobi. No rates, superiority or performance promise.
Sources:
https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036972292
https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002779311
https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035056972