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To hear SimpleTexting tell it, consumers are more open to texts than they are to emails from brands.
Of those polled for a new study by the company, only 6.8% of shoppers reply to an email within 1-2 minutes, whereas 31.8% do so for texts. And 20.9% will respond to an email within 5-10 minutes, versus 45% for texts.
Moreover, the study found that “77% of consumers reply back to a text within 10 minutes vs. only 28% who reply back to an email within 10 minutes.”
That comparison is not quite fair — emails fulfill a different marketing function, and sometimes cannot be replied to.
Similarly, the study notes that 45.7% of consumers check their email 1-5 times per day or less, compared to 26.4% who look at their texts. And 25.1% look at emails 6-10 times a day, whereas 32.1% scan their texts.
Again, this is an unfair slam against email. Texts are constantly pinging on most phones — many are personal. Email does not hit with the same urgency — nor should it.
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But it’s partly a generational thing — 44% of millennials and Gen Z check their text messages more than 10 times per day.
People are engaged with the following mobile activities throughout the day:
Notably, email comes in fourth on this list of activities.
Meanwhile, 70.7% say they have opted in to receive texts from a business in the past year. But 53% want the capability to text a business back.
On the business side, 86% of owners have texted their customers within the past year, up from 55% last year. And 67% have increased their SMS budgets this year.
Also, 71.2% report that their opt-in rates have increased. (We wonder what their opt-out rates are.)
But here’s the key thing to keep in mind: 81% who use SMS have integrated with other marketing channels like Mailchimp, HubSpot and Salesforce. What’s more, 91% of those see higher conversion rates from integrated campaigns, the study shows.
In other words, the channels work better together.
Business owners and marketers use text marketing for these tasks:
Why did they start SMS marketing? The reasons are:
SimpleTexting surveyed 1,400 consumers, business owners, and digital marketers.
Ray Schultz is the former editor of DM News, Chief Marketer, Direct, Circulation Management and other marketing titles.
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