• Roughly 259 million people in the US (81% of the population) are texters. In fact, over 97% of all smartphone users have texted within the last week.

• It’s true, the frequency of text messaging is much greater for men and women under 40, but even those over 55 are sending or receiving an average of 16 texts per day.

• Incredibly, according a study by Singlepoint, texts have a 99% open rate. And Forbes reported that 95% of texts are read within three minutes.

• These statistics answer one of the most important questions involving your choice of communication channel—will your customer see your message!

• Text messaging is also off-the-chart when it comes to response rate. A study by Velocify reports 45% of text messages receive a response, compared to 6% of emails. This is why two-way text campaigns are so important.

• Today, your customers’ free time is measured in seconds and not minutes or hours. Sending and receiving a text is 10 times faster than placing a voice call. For the consumer, it takes less than five seconds to read most text messages.

• Businesses also benefit by receiving a response quickly—within 90 seconds on average. Email, on the other hand, takes 90 minutes on average.

Sure, there are times when only a phone call will do, but you would be amazed at how business interactions can be handled quickly and effectively through text messaging.

• A Pew study found that 33% of American adults prefer texts to all other forms of communication—regardless of who is sending that text or what the message is about.

• In fact, 78% of consumers polled wished they could text a business, but most businesses don’t have this option available. According to Twilio, only 48% of business are equipped to handle messaging.

• Texting used to be something you did with friends and relatives, but recent studies have shown most bosses (79%) approve of using text messaging for business purposes.

Contact centers, which can be anything from customer service departments to collection agencies, are quickly adding text (SMS) functionality. A recent study by Dimension Data reported 38% of contact centers currently offer SMS, and 23% plan on adding it within the next 12 months.

What kinds of business activities do consumers prefer to do by text?

A 2014 Harris Poll found that consumers actually preferred certain business interactions to be handled by text.

• Check order status (38%)
• Schedule or change an appointment (32%)
• Confirm reservations (31%)