What Happened:
In an interview with Lifecycle Letter, lifecycle strategist Jeanette Lofsky explained that most brands treat email and SMS as interchangeable, sending shortened versions of the same message across both channels. She said this creates weak customer experiences and drives early SMS unsubscribes.
She noted that email should act as the long-form storyteller, while SMS should stay immediate and action-driven. When brands copy-paste content, subscribers see no incremental value in staying opted into both channels.
She added that retention improves dramatically when brands set clear expectations at sign-up and deliver differentiated value.
More Insight:
Jeanette said many lifecycle breakdowns begin before a single email or SMS is sent. Brands obsess over messaging frameworks but overlook the pop-up. When a pop-up only promises a discount, subscribers enter the program with no understanding of what ongoing value looks like, making SMS especially vulnerable.
“If people don’t know what they’re signing up for beyond a promo, they’re gone after the first text.”
She explained that this mismatch between expectation and experience is why unsubscribes spike immediately after the first SMS. People redeem the offer, then receive a message that feels like a redundant echo of the email they just saw. The brand hasn’t articulated any reason to stay.
From there, Jeanette said the real opportunity is designing messages that only make sense on their respective channel. Email excels at narrative: product detail, education, recommendations, storytelling, brand moments. SMS excels at urgency: reminders, early access, contextual nudges, micro-personalization.
“There’s so much creativity available on SMS if you stop thinking of it as ‘email but shorter.’”
She pointed to brands experimenting with region-specific messages (like weather-based weekend prompts for swimsuit customers) as examples of how SMS can create value without relying on discounts.
When each channel has a distinct job, subscribers stay longer, engagement rises, and lifecycle teams can actually measure incremental lift rather than channel cannibalization.
Ultimately, her takeaway was simple: treat email and SMS like two specialists, not two versions of the same tool. When brands do that, both channels get stronger.