• by Ray Schultz , June 14, 2022

Text is gaining on email if you believe the 2022 Consumer Texting Behavior Report, a study released Tuesday by EZTexting. 

Consumers rate texting is rated as effective for appointment reminders (75%), emergency notifications (67%), delivery confirmations (65% and payment reminders (54%).  

Email was rated more highly for order confirmation (52%), flash sales (43%), event invitations (49%), customer support (38%), payment support (60%) and promotional offers (53%). 

However, the preference for text in flash sales jumped from 8% to 41% this year, and email’s lead slipped 6% to 43%. Moreover, email suffered an 11% drop for customer support from 49%.  

Moreover, while it still leads, email fell from a 59% preference for promotional messages and from 63% for payment support. 

Phone calls lead in none of these areas.  

As for frequency, 39% say their daily text volume is fewer than one per day: That’s down from 54% in 2021. Another 39% send two to five per day, and 14% six to 10 per day.  

In contrast, 10% send fewer than one email per day, 26% two to five per day, 18% 11-20 per day and 19% 21 or more per day.  

Meanwhile, consumers say:  

• Texting is a convenient way to reach me no matter where I am — 56% 
• Texting is a faster way to reach me — 50% 
• Texting is a more efficient way to communicate — 43%
• Texting is a more interactive way to communicate — 18%
• Texting is a more personal way to communicate — 17%

The study also found that people keep their phones within easy reach:

• Always (more than 95% of the time) — 57% 
• Usually (85%-94% of the time) — 30%
• Often (50%-74% of the time) — 9% 
• Occasionally (25%-49% of the time) — 2% 
• Rarely (less than 25% of the time) — 1% 

EZTexting surveyed 3,095 consumers in January 2022 through an independent market research panel. The respondents were qualified based on location and mobile phone ownership for personal use.