Study: Email More Popular With Consumers Than Text

Email wins again, hands down, as the most popular channel among consumers. 

Of the individuals polled in a new study by Lunar, 57.54% say they prefer email as a way to receive a message from a business or salesperson. In contrast, text messaging is cited by 34.46% and voicemail is cited by 8%.

However, 52.47% say text messages are the easiest to read and respond to, compared to 41.36% for email. 

Email seems to win among all age groups, preferred by 57.14% of those from 18 to 29 years old, 50% of those who are 30-44, 56.60% of people ages 45-60 and 54.84% of those in the 60+ cohort. 

Text messaging is a distant second among all groups.

Email is even seen as easier to read, at least among those aged 60 and over—48.39% say so, compared to 45.16% for text messaging. But 49.35% of the 18-29 set also prefer email for readability, vs. 42.86% for text. But text is ranked higher among all other age groups.

In another positive sign for text, almost 70% say they approve of a salesperson they have a relationship with using it to contact them. Almost 60% have received such a communication in the last three months. 

One thing is clear: Voicemail is not much liked by any group.

Lunar surveyed 325 people for its study. 

3 comments about "Study: Email More Popular With Consumers Than Text".
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  1. Igor Kholkin from Avidon Marketing Group, April 19, 2019 at 5:06 p.m.

    Not surprising at all. Cell phones are still largely private use. Email is expected to be more B2B.

  2. Steve Schildwachter from Enterprise CMO, LLC replied, April 22, 2019 at 10:56 a.m.

    Igor, you nailed it.  The only exception I can think of is when the business you're patronizing is very personal in nature.  In our business, home health care, some family members like the urgency of text because the subject matter is *very* personal.  I can also imagine wanting to hear by text from a very personal advisor, like my primary care physician, attorney or accountant.  But your overall point is more the norm.

  3. Marcelo Salup from Iffective LLC, April 22, 2019 at 8:37 p.m.

    More popular doesn't necessarily translate into more effective. And, of course, consumers will prefer email! They can block it or delete it. Most SMS are opened a few seconds after they are received and allow for quick links. I used SMS really effectively even in radio (TEXT DIRECTV to 91011) and our conversion ratios were 1/4th that of TV at 1/6th of the cost.

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