• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, June 29, 2023

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.  

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: 

• Texting —78% 
• Social Media — 66% 
• News & Entertainment — 50.9% 
• Email — 50.4% 
• Music & Podcasts — 50.1%
• Watching Videos — 44.6%
• Playing Games — 37.9% 
• Calling — 37.1%
• Mobile Shopping — 26% 
• Other — 5% 

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: 

• Customer satisfaction surveys/review requests — 57%
• Appointment/reservation reminders — 50% 
• Billing collections — 30.5% 
• Customer service/text-for-info — 37.3% 
• New offerings/announcements — 33.8% 
• Shipment/order notifications —29.8% 
• Internal employee communication — 27% 
• Special offers/promotions/sales alerts — 25.8% 
• Sweepstakes/contests — 12.5% 
• Other — 1.5%

Why did they start SMS marketing? The reasons are: 

• Higher engagement levels from customers — 60.5%
• Higher open & click-thru rates than other channels — 53.5% 
• Most efficient channels for customer service or text support — 52.3%
• Quick and easy channel for two-way interactions with customers — 43%
• Quicker feedback from prospective customers — 38.5%
• Younger customers prefer texting over other forms of communication — 28.5%
• Other—0.8%

SimpleTexting surveyed 1,400 consumers, business owners, and digital marketers.