Avochato Blog | Text Messaging for Business

54 business texting statistics you should know | Avochato

Written by Avochato Team | Nov 13, 2022 1:32:00 PM

Texting isn’t a new mode of communication, but there’s still a fair amount of hesitation from businesses. It makes sense to question the validity of a channel you’re not sure about, especially if you don’t know the impact or perception. 

That said, if you’re still wondering whether or not you should be using text messages, or if you’re curious about how texts are perceived by customers, you don’t have to anymore. 

Recent statistics prove that text messaging isn’t just a viable communication channel for businesses to use—whether you’re using it for marketing, sales, internal operations, or customer service—but they also prove that text messaging is sometimes the best means of communication.

Business Texting Statistics

Here are 54 of the most important text messaging stats for business: 

Nearly everyone texts

  1. Over 6 billion texts are sent every day.
  2. 96% of adults own cell phones today, according to Pew Research.
  3. 81% of those phones are smartphones, which people rarely go anywhere without.
  4. 85% of people keep their phone at arms reach at all times.
  5. 38% of millennials always have their phone with them.
  6. The average American checks their phone 96 times a day.
  7. Two-thirds of Americans check their phones 160 times a day.
  8. 80% of smartphone users in the US check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up.

More businesses are turning to text messages

  1. Half of the top 1,000 digital retailers already use SMS to communicate with their customers.
  2. According to Juniper Research, business messaging hit an all-time high in 2020, at 2.7 trillion, up 10% from the year before.
  3. 48.7 million customers opted into business messages in 2020, and that growth is supposed to continue. 
  4. 98% of all mobile business messages sent as SMS, and the trend is likely to continue (over OTT messaging services like Messenger)
  5. In 2020, businesses sent a total of 2.7 trillion texts, 10% more than the previous year. 
  6. But the market isn’t saturated: Only 39% of marketers overall use text messaging.

Texting gets better results, faster

  1. 9 out of 10 people read the texts they receive within the first 3 minutes.
  2. The open rate for text messages is 98%. (email’s open rate is only 20%.) 
  3. The response rate for text is 45%, whereas for email it’s only 6%.
  4. On average, it takes people 90 seconds to respond to a text message. (It takes 90 minutes to get a response to an email, by contrast.)
  5. SMS response rates are 295% higher than responses from phone calls.

Customers want text messages

  1. 9 out of 10 consumers say they want businesses to communicate with them via text message.
  2. 89% of consumers say they prefer texting with businesses over any other mode of communication.
  3. 63% of consumers say they would switch to a company that offered text messaging as a communication channel.
  4. 63% of consumers would recommend their friends switch, too.
  5. 60% of consumers say they’d prefer to book their hair care appointments over text.
  6. 72% say they would prefer to book with a travel company that texted them about travel plans, updates, and reminders.
  7. 67% of consumers find texts reminding them about upcoming appointments helpful.
  8. Number of people who want their accounts, billing, and payment reminders sent to them as a text? 65%.
  9. 88% of customers want their order updates, reminders, and order confirmations sent as texts.
  10. 70% don’t want a call from their vacation rental manager. They want a text. 
  11. Before they hop in a rideshare, 3 out of 4 consumers prefer their drivers to text instead of call.
  12. 58% of consumers said they responded to a company’s missed call with a text message but couldn't get through to anyone that way. 
  13. 78% of people say they’d like to have a text conversation with a business. 
  14. 75% of consumers say they prefer texts to ads.

Texts are preferred for customer service

  1. A Forrester study shows that, on average, customer service calls cost roughly $16. Texts, on the other hand, cost only $1 to $5.
  2. More than half of consumers prefer texting over calling with customer support.
  3. The engagement rate for MMS can be up to 20% higher than regular SMS. Learn more of the differences between SMS and MMS.
  4. 56% of consumers said they would text businesses more often if given the opportunity.

Texting converts better

  1. A recent study showed that when companies texted customers after initial contact had been made through another channel, conversion rates increased by 112.6%. 
  2. Sending text messages to prospective clients can raise conversion rates by 100%.
  3. Prospects who are sent texts convert at a rate 40% higher than those who don’t receive any text messages.
  4. SMS marketing has about a 14% conversion rate, compared to email’s conversion rate, which is less than 4%. Even compared to online ads, SMS campaigns convert better, on average. Facebook ads convert at an average rate of 10%, and Google ads convert at only 3%.

Texting is for all ages

  1. Generation Z is king of the text, with 18–24-year-olds sending an average of 109.5 text messages a day.
  2. Boomers are also getting in on the texting trend. They’re now twice as likely to text as opposed to call when they use their phones. 
  3. 4 out of 5 consumers, including Boomers, say they wished businesses texted them more.
  4. 69% of people from all generations say they’d prefer a text over a call from unfamiliar brands.
  5. 75 percent of millennials consider phone calls to be “too time consuming.”

B2B text messaging gets results

  1. B2B text messaging has already been on the rise for years, increasing by 197% between 2015 and 2017. 
  2. 61% of people say they’d recommend businesses contact them via text while they’re at work.
  3. 80% of professionals use text messaging for business purposes.

Texting gets more engagement

  1. 97% of companies that have launched texting initiatives say those initiatives help them communicate with consumers more efficiently.
  2. 86% of companies that use text messaging say texts engage customers more than email.
  3. Text messaging has a click-through rate of 19%, while email’s CTR is 3.2%, on average.
  4. Retailers that use sms marketing to their fullest advantage, with targeted messaging, personalization, time-sensitive promotions and strong CTAs can increase their conversion rate to 23%.
  5. Incredibly, people are 134% more likely to respond to your text than your email. 

 

And there you have it: 54 text messaging stats every business needs to know. Consider these numbers when you’re developing your communications plans for marketing, customer service, internal operations, or sales. 

Overall, these figures prove that text messaging isn’t an unwanted comms channel that businesses should steer clear of. Rather, it’s one of the most successful ways to communicate in business today.

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