6 Facts to Support Text Messaging in Business Communications

Since it's meteoric rise in the 00s, sending text messages has become undeniably the most reliable way to get in touch with someone. It has worked for everyone from friends finding each other in the mall to coordinating aid in natural disaster areas where phone lines were down and cell towers were tied up with frantic voice calls.

While most businesses won't be flying rescue helicopters any time soon, business text messaging gives you an unmatched personal connection to your clients. The ability to contact a client quickly and efficiently and receive a fast response in return is an amazingly powerful tool for marketing, customer service, and service coordination all at once.

However, as with any popular technology, there are always a few interesting facts we don't know that have slipped out of the common knowledge. Among the silly and historic facts of business communications lie a few key statistics that clearly show how useful text messaging can be for you and your clients.

1) Everybody Texts

Texting habits of teens and adults has been studied extensively and every time similar results appear in the data. Pew Research Center found specifically that while young adult are the most prominent and prolific texters, that demographic doesn't matter at all. It doesn't matter what city, ethnicity, or background you come from, if a person owns a phone then there is a very high likelihood that they send and receive text messages on a regular basis. This means that the vast majority of your clients can text and will do so quite eagerly no matter where your target audience is demographically.

2) 90 Seconds vs 90 Minutes

One of the most popular text messaging statistics going around is the 90 to 90 comparison. It's been found that the average time it takes an adult to read a message sent by email is ninety minutes. While most people would agree that checking your email more frequently than once every half hour seems a little excessive, it does make it difficult to get in touch with clients if you need to make a last minute schedule change or coordinate logistics before you arrive. 

In contrast, it only takes an average of 90 seconds for someone to check their phone after receiving a text message. This is most likely because we keep our phones on us, usually in a pocket where we can hear and/or feel the text message arriving. For a business, this means that your clients usually receive your messages near-instantly and can respond if you need to talk about something urgent.

3) 98% of Texts are Read

We've talked about how quickly texts are checked but of course, you can't expect your clients to have their phones on them or be able to respond 100% of the time. Sometimes a text is lost or left unopen as an oversight but the fact of the matter is that a full 98% of text messages are read, usually within the aforementioned 90 seconds and otherwise within the day. Compared to the 20% of emails that are ever even opened, much less read all the way through, text messaging is the clear winner for making sure that a message actually reaches your client.

4) Texts Are Read in 5 Seconds or Less

Most of us know one of those people who can spend an hour composing a five-sentence response to an email, and you may well be one of them. Emails, for some reason, seem to influence many people to take their time and think carefully about the message sent. Text messages, on the other hand, are a quick-response communication type. Most people, once they open it, read a text message in five second or less and respond in less than five minutes. There's no denying that it's a lot faster than standard email communication and is often more efficient than a phone call.

5) Texting Works When Phones Fail

One of the amazing things about texting is how reliable it is. Not just in getting ahold of clients when they're at work or on-the-go, but in an emergency when all other forms of communication fall through. When the internet is down, cell tower signals are tied up, and physical phone lines are down, the little text messaging data packets can still get through. Whatever happens, no matter how extreme or even unlikely, with a text messaging system you should be able to reach out to your clients and stay in touch.

6) Phones Used More Than Computers

The final reason your business should consider adding SMS to the communication suite is that phones are more wide-spread than personal computer ownership. Despite the push toward web and mobile marketing, not everyone owns a computer or even a tablet but almost everyone has a phone. Teenagers, seniors, rich or poor, even people in developing countries have cell phones that send and receive text messages. No matter who your clientele may be, they probably have cell phones.

The ability to send and receive SMS text messages is an important part of running a modern business. Not only will your customers be grateful for mobile-friendly appointment or delivery reminders, they will also be more than happy to begin interacting over text messages with the same enthusiasm that the populace has picked up business chat and email before that. Of course, your CRM communication suite also can't consist solely of SMS texting. The ideal unified communications solution includes phone, SMS, chat, and possibly even social media management. Is your current software suite up to the task? For more information about integrating SMS or upgrading to unified communication, please contact us: