A well-made digital marketing strategy includes multiple channels and methods for reaching your audience. So what’s the best way to reach today’s consumers? Research shows that many customers embrace the new age of SMS (Short Message Service) marketing and expect the comfortability and convenience that it brings to their experience. 

Data from today’s user's and consumer's mobile devices can offer insight into the potential effectiveness of text marketing and how its implementation can benefit your brand. If you’re considering an SMS marketing strategy for your company, here are some stats you should know.

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Millennials are Always on Their Phones

We already know that most millennials are always on their phones. Smartphones have become necessary to many daily activities, from checking your bank account balance, setting appointment reminders, and ordering food. 

We don’t need research to show us what we already know, but it’s helpful to see data that shows the potential reach SMS marketing tactics can have for your business. The statistics make us realize how often people are touching and using their phones in their daily lives and how we can leverage that into your marketing plan.

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Read and Responded in Under Five Minutes

According to smartphone dependency research, 85% of Americans own a smartphone, up from 35% in 2011. In fact, 15% of Americans only access the internet through their smartphones, abandoning traditional home broadband altogether. What do these numbers tell us? They tell us that the most direct method to your customers is in the palm of their hands.

Data collection on SMS marketing shows that 95% of SMS messages were read and responded to within three minutes of receiving. That’s almost all of the texts sent—read and responded to in under five minutes! Cell phones are constantly in our hands or very nearby. It makes sense that text marketing is the fastest, most direct method of notifying your audience of your company’s message.

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Sleeping Next to It

Just how close are most people keeping their cell phones to them? Half of the adults in one recent survey on leveraging SMS marketing said they either checked their mobile phones immediately upon waking up or within five minutes. 

Consumers today are taking their phones with them to bed and thinking about them as soon as they wake in the morning. This constant contact with their devices contributes greatly to the effectiveness of SMS marketing since your audience doesn’t need to step outside of their normal routine or do any extra work in order to access your business’s messages. 

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Research Shows Phones Being Used for Non-voice Technology

More research was conducted on the use of cell phones for non-voice technology like games, texting, and apps. The research showed that people spent an average of four and a half hours each day doing non-voice-related tasks. 

These numbers are predicted to continue to increase in the years to come as consumers get more and more comfortable with the use of non-voice technology and expect to be offered more non-voice options from businesses.

Consumers are More Likely to Open a Text Than an Email

Research on email and SMS marketing retail industry campaigns showed that the audience was 98% likely to open a text, compared to 20% likely to open and read an email. This same study found that users were 45% more likely to respond to the text message than an extremely low 6% likelihood of responding to the email. 

The gap in these numbers demonstrates the convenience that SMS marketing campaigns offer. Email marketing bombards inboxes and your open rate drops as messages are lost in the pile of other company’s newsletters. The beauty of texts is that your phone will not let you forget that you have an unread text message. Users will have to either open it or delete it in order to clear the notification. 

Text marketing also easily encourages your audience to respond and participate in what feels like a natural conversation. In contrast, emails can often come across as less personal and are also easy to ignore. If your marketing strategy can benefit from customer engagement, SMS marketing can be an invaluable tool. Customers will appreciate the personal touch and build a stronger, more loyal connection to your company. 

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43% of Surveyed Users Texted a Business

43% of consumers proactively text businesses. This is great news in the SMS marketing world because it shows how audiences easily adopt this new technology. Customers welcome the convenience and speed of exchanging texts directly with their favorite businesses and brands. 

Since even non-smartphones still have SMS capability, it makes sense that text marketing is becoming the next best step in any company’s marketing plans. The reach of SMS is unlike any other marketing method before, and your audience will welcome receiving coupons, discounts, and promotions through mobile marketing.

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Customers Prefer SMS Text Messages to Other Options

The same study mentioned above also found that only 6% of survey respondents and internet users say they are likely to install a company’s custom app in order to communicate with it—with 30% saying they would be very unlikely to install it. The same study showed that 62% of customers said they prefer a direct message chat option to voice when communicating with a company. 

Another study we’ve mentioned surveyed various marketing communication channels and shows 48% of consumers say they prefer mobile messaging for brand updates compared to email, paper mail, and app notifications. That’s almost half of the surveyed users! The jump is not hard for customers to make: from texting their loved ones to texting a company, it’s the easiest option that makes the most sense for today’s marketing.

These statistics show us the majority of consumers are voicing their preference to not be inconvenienced with things like downloading special apps or sort through full email inboxes. The customers of today’s market want their favorite brands to come to them where they already are—which is texting on their phones. 

Users are already texting their friends and family throughout the day. The ability to take care of a customer service concern over a quick text message is the level of ease that consumers are looking for. No more long phone calls where customers get rerouted to multiple representatives and no more unnecessary apps taking up their home screens. The people have spoken—and they want to text.

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It Can Save You Money

Research also shows that the use of SMS for customer service can potentially even lower your company’s expenses. 58% of businesses in a study said that having SMS customer service actually lowered their costs and average response time. 

When we look at why we see that paying staff to handle customer support issues one at a time is expensive and inefficient compared to texting and chatting digitally. Representatives are able to message multiple customers at once and save time on the formalities of an over-the-phone conversation. 

The data shows text message marketing to be a direct way to reach customers promotionally and a time-saving and cost-lowering method of providing customer support.

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Text Marketing Statistics Summary

Research demonstrates the effectiveness of SMS marketing and the surprising benefits it can have for your business. The use of SMS marketing allows you to get onto the screens that your audience is often looking at first thing in the morning. 

The best part is that customers are seeming to embrace and welcome the convenience of SMS marketing messages. They’ll feel a personal connection to your brand and appreciate that you’re valuing their time. No need to blast out emails or build expensive apps—customers want to have you at their fingertips with no extra work. 

Community allows retailers to unlock what modern technology has to offer your marketing strategy and help you start building better connections with your audience today. Notify your customers of brand announcements, news, product launches, and more—even request feedback so you can keep the content you send out relevant to their needs. 

These SMS marketing stats show that customers are expecting more from today’s brands. They don’t want the fluff of outdated marketing channels; they want to connect directly to you in an easy way that won’t take up too much of their day. Sign up to get a phone number with Community, the SMS platform that’s here to step up your marketing game. 

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Sources:

Cell Phone Addiction: Stats and Signs | King University 

SMS Marketing 2021 | Emarketer.com

2018 Political Texting Report | Techforcampaigns.org 

48 SMS Marketing Statistics You Must See: 2020/2021 Market Share Analysis & Data - Financesonline.com | Financesonline.com