Think back to a time when businesses were making the critical decision to switch over from mailing campaigns to exclusively using email to market and communicate. To us, that sounds like it must have been an easy decision: email provided
- ease of access
- faster response rates
- and trackable conversions.
Now come back to the present and realize that the business world is in another round of switching to a new communication platform. Some companies have already switched entirely to texting, while some remain tethered to their email marketing campaigns. Email has served us well for years with marketing, mass communication, and of course, the advertisements we can’t quite remember agreeing to. But there is a time and place for everything, and those of email are quickly disappearing.
“10X faster than email”
We are entering into a new age of texting where everything achieved through email can be obtained through texting about ten times faster. I know it’s hard to let go of mass email campaigns that seem to have propelled your business into high profits and trackable consumer engagement, but the time has come for email to take a step back, hit the golf course, and let texting have its turn in the spotlight. If you’re not convinced that texting has surpassed email, take a look below at some surprising texting statistics and why they might matter for your business.
In 2020, there will be nearly 3.5 billion smartphone users worldwide
Most Americans access the internet through their smartphones daily. These numbers are growing every year, allowing smartphones to reach parts of the world that previously have been isolated in the market. The accessibility of smartphones means that consumers do a large part of shopping and scheduling through their phones. Smartphones are indispensable resources that allow for constant and effective communication. This makes smartphones the biggest and most important point of contact between a business and a consumer. This importance should be reflected in your marketing plan. If your consumers are doing all of their shopping online, your business should make advertisements and purchases accessible from a smartphone.
Text message open rates surpass those of email by nearly 80%
Email inboxes are overflowing with unread messages while text messages are opened minutes after they’re sent. In order to reach a market, send your consumers a message they’ll read- not one that will sit unread in their inbox. Of course, with any online marketing, you run the risk of having consumers ignore your messages completely. But with texting, those chances become much higher than with email.
97% of Americans send a text once a day
If you need any more proof that people actually use their phones enough for it to be a viable marketing channel, look no further. Americans send about 26 billion texts every day. On average, a single person will send about 15 texts a day, with messaging being the top app on most smartphones. Meet your consumers where they already are. If texting is their primary form of communication, it should be your primary form of marketing. Most people check their texts constantly throughout the day. With email, you entertain the risk of your message getting lost completely- that’s something that you don’t have to worry about with texts because it is a response-heavy platform.
50% of emails sent per day are spam
Out of the 269 billion emails sent per day, half of those are spam. How, in the mix of all of those spam messages flooding the inboxes of consumers, can one make sure their message is heard? The answer is to not enter into the ocean of email at all. To give your message a chance to be heard, you have to first make sure that it will be seen.The age of email spam is over, and the age of relevant SMS marketing is here.
It typically takes 90 seconds on average to respond to a text message and 90 minutes to respond to an email
This one’s simple- if you want to get a message across quickly and effectively, sending a text will make a much bigger impact than an email. Even further, if you need a quick response, texts are much more accessible for consumers than email. Including shortcuts and predetermined responses will increase the chances and shorten the wait time for a response.
Nearly 75% of consumers would rather receive an offer by text than by email
Getting your customers to take advantage of your offerings depends heavily on giving them an easy way to do it. Customers want to receive discount codes and special offers. Customers do NOT want to wade through a hundred emails and ten different tabs to reach the discount. Studies show that consumers would rather not redeem an offer at all than go through a complicated process to reach the end goal. Giving your customers an easy and accessible way to access your brand will drive consumer engagement.
However, most consumers would like to receive less than 3 texts a month from a business
It can be hard to tell how much is too much. One message a month and your consumers might forget about your business or product. However, spamming your customers with messages every few days will have them opting out a couple weeks in. Studies show that people usually like to receive about two to three texts per month from a business that’s advertising to them. It’s important to stay within this range to make sure you remain relevant without annoying your customers into opting out of receiving texts from your company entirely.
Nearly 80% of consumers aren’t marketed to through SMS campaigns
This means that there’s a HUGE gap in the market. Only 1 out of every 5 consumers receives offers and advertisements for brands they love and are loyal to even though nearly 60% of those people are likely to take advantage of SMS offers. Don’t let your consumers miss out on opportunities! They want to hear from you so that they can take advantage of opportunities.
