Businesses, Take Note: Your Customers Prefer Texts

If your business wants to communicate with customers, just know that emails are out: 85 percent of smartphone users prefer mobile messages to emails or calls, according to Soprano Design.

More than half of consumers (55 percent) flat-out ignore marketing emails, because they get so many of them. (See the full infographic below.)

Customers want to interact with their phones, and texting is the preferred method of communication.

Most people, 90 percent, open a text within three minutes, compared with the 20 percent of people who even open an email.

Texts have a response rate of 45 percent compared to email’s 6 percent.

And even more tellingly, people respond to a text message within 90 seconds—by contrast, they respond to emails within 90 minutes. 

The company’s study also found that in 2019, 81 percent of consumers used their phones to manage finances, 79 percent to shop online, 32 percent to access government services, and 10 percent to receive healthcare.

Mobile use has become so ubiquitous that 69 percent of people would rather use their phones than talk to an in-store employee.

“When we want something, we expect our phone to tell us where the product is being sold at a store nearby, and even tell us if it’s in stock this very moment,” Allan Thygesen, President of Americas at Google said.

“And when we’re ready to transact, we expect it to be frictionless and fast.”

Phones help customers obtain information before they even get to the store, allowing 60 percent of them to feel more confident and prepared.

And increased reliance on phones has implications for all sorts of industries, from retail to curbside pick-up, restaurants, and telehealth. 

In telehealth, for example, patient satisfaction increases between 77 and 96 percent when messaging is implemented.

And 70 percent of patients want to be able to choose between texting and email when interacting with their providers. 

There are drawbacks to lacking a phone strategy.

One in three consumers have sent messages to a business but received no reply (mainly because the business didn’t have two-way texting).

This reflects poorly on the customer experience offered by the company. 

Additionally, 65 percent of consumers feel more positive about businesses with messaging than they do about businesses without it.

Messaging through mobile phones is a fast, easy way to gain points with customers.

And then they’ll be more likely to choose your company.  

If your business wants to communicate with customers, just know that emails are out: 85 percent of smartphone users prefer mobile messages to emails or calls, according to Soprano Design.

More than half of consumers (55 percent) flat-out ignore marketing emails, because they get so many of them. (See the full infographic below.)

Customers want to interact with their phones, and texting is the preferred method of communication.

Most people, 90 percent, open a text within three minutes, compared with the 20 percent of people who even open an email.

Texts have a response rate of 45 percent compared to email’s 6 percent.

And even more tellingly, people respond to a text message within 90 seconds—by contrast, they respond to emails within 90 minutes. 

The company’s study also found that in 2019, 81 percent of consumers used their phones to manage finances, 79 percent to shop online, 32 percent to access government services, and 10 percent to receive healthcare.

Mobile use has become so ubiquitous that 69 percent of people would rather use their phones than talk to an in-store employee.

“When we want something, we expect our phone to tell us where the product is being sold at a store nearby, and even tell us if it’s in stock this very moment,” Allan Thygesen, President of Americas at Google said.

“And when we’re ready to transact, we expect it to be frictionless and fast.”

Phones help customers obtain information before they even get to the store, allowing 60 percent of them to feel more confident and prepared.

And increased reliance on phones has implications for all sorts of industries, from retail to curbside pick-up, restaurants, and telehealth. 

In telehealth, for example, patient satisfaction increases between 77 and 96 percent when messaging is implemented.

And 70 percent of patients want to be able to choose between texting and email when interacting with their providers. 

There are drawbacks to lacking a phone strategy.

One in three consumers have sent messages to a business but received no reply (mainly because the business didn’t have two-way texting).

This reflects poorly on the customer experience offered by the company. 

Additionally, 65 percent of consumers feel more positive about businesses with messaging than they do about businesses without it.

Messaging through mobile phones is a fast, easy way to gain points with customers.

And then they’ll be more likely to choose your company.