Share It!
66% of people prefer to text message with a business, and 85% want to receive texts from companies. Text messaging has become the primary channel for people to communicate on a global level. Why is text messaging with consumers so crucial to a business?
Let’s begin with some facts:
- 95% of American’s text at least once per day
- Texts are sent 5x more often than calls are made
- 78% of consumers say texting is the fastest way to reach them
- 150 is the average number of times people text per day
But what about sending emails?
Once businesses started purchasing lists of email addresses and “spamming” consumers, emails became less trustworthy. Consumers tend to protect their phone numbers more and believe that text messages are more reliable. Spam text messages exist; however, when messages come from a business that a consumer likes, has knowledge of, or has purchased from before – credibility increases.
Text Messaging vs. Email Stats
- 95% of text messages are read in 3-minutes
- Only 4% of American’s have at least 50 unread texts
- 40% of American’s have at least 50 unread emails
- Only 20% of emails are opened, 80% of them are never opened
The pandemic pushed people to do more of their daily tasks on their phones and with text messaging. Grocery delivery services exploded, giving consumers the ability to grocery shop online, schedule delivery to their homes, and text with their shopper to add or substitute items. This instant ability to order whatever you want, whenever you want, and communicate with someone quickly via text messaging has become the new digital lifestyle for communication.
Not only is text messaging quicker, but 76% of consumers also say that speed is the most crucial factor when it comes to customer satisfaction. 50% of consumers had instantly purchased when they received a branded text message about a product. These numbers will only increase as time goes on and digital marketing becomes more and more popular.
What is also important to remember is a significant difference between using a phone for text messaging and using a text messaging platform. As a business, data and customer information is gold and needs to be stored properly. When texting from a personal phone, a company runs the risk of losing the information or creating a breach in consumer privacy.
So, where does a company begin finding the right text messaging platform for what they need to do? Here are four facts to consider:
- Do they offer MMS?
MMS stands for multimedia messaging service, meaning text messages can include pictures, videos, emojis, website links, GIFs, and more. You also gain the ability to have a 1600 character limit versus the standard 160 character limit you get with SMS. MMS also has a 20% higher opt-in rate over SMS, and MMS messages are 8x more likely to be shared on social media.
- Can the text messages be integrated with AI Chat?
When people are interested and respond to your text message to ask questions and engage, the speed of your response is vital. If it’s after business hours or your team is busy, AI chat can answer questions and keep customers from moving on to your competitors.
- How does the platform work?
Make sure your team can jump into a conversation from any device and that all discussions and leads are integrated into your CRM and can be managed from a centralized dashboard. Any time a new platform is introduced, there can be a learning curve. Finding a solution that is easy to use and a team of experts to help you along the way is critical.
- Are they secure and cellular compliant?
There are still rules to follow when texting consumers. You want to make sure that the platform you are using complies with current regulations and security.
Ready to start texting your special offers and promotions to customers? Digital Air Strike covers all the tips above and more. You can learn more about our consumer text marketing here. Get a 10-minute demo today and start texting consumers for more sales tomorrow.
