Looking for the latest text message statistics and SMS marketing facts? I’ve got you covered.
In this collection of SMS statistics, facts, figures, and insights you’ll find:
Read on for more.
The latest business texting stats and text messaging trends indicate that SMS usage is on the rise. More businesses and organizations are now texting.
Texting facts and statistics also show that SMS messages are an effective way to reach people. SMS is one of the easiest ways to communicate with contacts, customers, clients, teammates, and employees.
Despite these SMS facts, business text messaging software hasn’t yet reached mass adoption amongst all businesses, organizations, and texting demographics.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic did hasten this transition. More businesses and organizations adopted business text messaging as a new way to keep connected.
Around 39% of businesses and organizations use SMS text messages to communicate. 21% of B2B organizations send text messages. 42% of B2C organizations send text messages. And 37% of organizations send both B2B and B2C messages.1
Of the 39% of businesses and organizations that text, 63% are considered SMBs. The remaining 20% and 18% are mid-market and enterprise organizations respectively.1
The types of businesses and organizations that use texting vary. 73% of organizations in the real estate vertical say they text. 65% of agriculture businesses text and 63% of entertainment-based organizations send texts.1
Some 57% of trades and service-based businesses text their customers. 50% of logistics and support-based businesses send texts and 50% of nonprofits text. 48% of the automotive industry including car dealerships text. 47% of organizations involved in education are texting.1
| What types of businesses and organizations are texting? | |
|---|---|
| 1. Real Estate 🏠 | 73% |
| 2. Agriculture 🌱 | 65% |
| 3. Entertainment 🎥 | 63% |
| 4. Trades and Services 🔧 | 57% |
| 5. Utilities ⚙️ | 53% |
| 6. Airlines and Aerospace 🛫 | 50% |
| 7. Logistics and Support 🚚 | 50% |
| 8. Nonprofit 💗 | 50% |
| 9. Automotive 🚗 | 48% |
| 10. Education 🎓 | 47% |
63% of businesses and organizations say they use text messaging for scheduling appointments and reminders. Another 44% say they use texting for customer service and support, with 38% indicating texting for alerts.1
30% of organizations said they use SMS for texting employees and staff. While 25% said marketing and promotions and 22% use texting for inbound and outbound sales.1
Finally, 19% of businesses and organizations use texting for billing and payment reminders. Another 15% say they use texting for text-to-apply recruiting and staffing.1
| What do businesses and organizations use texting for? | |
|---|---|
| 1. Scheduling & reminders 📅 | 63% |
| 2. Customer service & support 🙋♀️ | 44% |
| 3. Alerts ⚠️ | 38% |
| 4. Employee communication 🌐 | 30% |
| 5. Marketing & promotions ✨ | 25% |
| 6. Inbound & outbound sales 💰 | 22% |
| 7. Billing & payment reminders 🤌 | 19% |
| 8. Special COVID-19 communication 🚨 | 19% |
| 9. Recruiting & staffing 👩💼 | 15% |
| 10. Delivery updates 🚚 | 13% |
| 11. Mobile payments & donations 💗 | 12% |
| 12. Curbside service & pickup 📬 | 8% |
| 13. None of the above | 2% |
| 14. Other | 1% |
Below are examples of how various businesses and organizations use text messaging.
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64% of people say that an appointment reminder is the most valuable text they’ve received from a business or organization. 48% of people say an update on the status of a delivery or item shipment was also helpful to them. Another 29% say discounts on a product or service was helpful.3
| What are the most valuable texts people receive from businesses and organizations? | |
|---|---|
| 1. Appointment reminder | 64% |
| 2. Status and delivery updates | 48% |
| 3. Discounts and offers | 29% |
| 4. Prescription refill alerts | 16% |
| 5. Quick answers to questions | 15% |
| 6. Booking confirmations, changes & cancelations | 10% |
| 7. Last minute appointment openings | 8% |
| 8. COVID-19 updates | 4% |
| 9. other | 4% |
| 10. Transit or commute notifications | 2% |
83% of people say they received a text from a business or organization within the last year.2
There are a variety of ways to send and receive text messages. But 68% of businesses and organizations use business text messaging software to text. 13% use a CRM or API. 6% use a point-of-sale system (POS). And 14% use something else to text.1
| How many businesses and organizations use business text messaging software? | |
|---|---|
| Business text messaging software or app | 68% |
| CRM or API | 13% |
| Point of sales (POS) system | 6% |
| Other | 14% |
Businesses and organizations use a variety of SMS phone numbers including 10-digit local numbers (10DLC) and toll-free and shortcodes. Most businesses and organizations (65%) use 10-digit local phone numbers to text.1
Additionally, 61% of people think businesses and organizations should use the same phone number for calling and texting.1
| What types of SMS phone numbers do businesses and organizations use? | |
|---|---|
| 10 Digit Long Code (10DLC) | 65% |
| Short Code (5-6 digit) | 13% |
| Text Enabled Toll-free Number (TETF) | 4% |
29% of business employees text from a company-provided cell phone. Some 37% of employees report using their personal phones for work. And the remaining 20% and 14% use some form of business texting software.3
29% of employees say they give their customers a personal phone number very often or often. 43% of people give their personal phone numbers to customers sometimes or rarely. And 26% of employees say they never give their personal numbers to customers.3
Only 34% of people say they start text conversations with a business or organization. 66% said no, they don’t start text conversations with businesses.3
Building an SMS subscriber list by using the home page of a website or other high-traffic page is one-way organizations are marketing texting capabilities.
Adding a “Click-to-Text” button on a website or the words “Text or Call” raises awareness that a business or organization can text.
14% of people report sending or receiving text messages from a business or organization at least once a day. 28% say they get a text once a week. Another 14% say they get texts once a month. And around 44% of people say they sporadically or never text with businesses or organizations.3
| How often do people send or receive texts from businesses or organizations? | |
|---|---|
| 1. Once a day | 14% |
| 2. Once a week | 28% |
| 3. Once a month | 14% |
| 4. Sporadically | 34% |
| 5. Never | 10% |
58% of people say that texting is the most effective way for businesses and organizations to reach them quickly. An equal 21% and 21% say phone calls and emails respectively are the fastest way to get in contact.3
The conclusion is that text messaging has clear benefits compared to email and voice. Especially given people’s clear communication preferences.
Call management and reducing phone calls are ever-present problems for businesses and organizations. Not getting an answer or having calls go to voicemail is becoming increasingly common.
21% of businesses and organizations say they play phone tag with customers very often. 29% and 28% say they play phone tag often or somewhat often. And only 22% of businesses say they don’t often play phone tag with customers.2
| How often do businesses and organizations “play phone tag” with customers? | |
|---|---|
| Very often | 21% |
| Often | 29% |
| Somewhat often | 28% |
| Not often | 22% |
22% of businesses and organizations haven’t adopted text messaging. They don’t believe their customers want to text.2
17% say they’re concerned about customers’ thinking their texts are spam. 25% say they’re worried about having to set up and manage another communication channel.2
Finally, 16% of people say they don’t have a budget for texting or didn’t know it was a possibility.2
| Why haven’t businesses and organizations adopted business text messaging? | |
|---|---|
| 1. Don’t believe customers want to text | 22% |
| 2. Think texts would be interpreted as spam | 17% |
| 3. Worried about managing another communication channel | 14% |
| 4. Concerned about setup and implementation | 11% |
| 5. Didn’t know that businesses could text | 9% |
| 6. Don’t have budget for texting | 7% |
| 7. Don’t know why they haven’t adopted texting | 42% |
70% of businesses and organizations used text messaging to communicate with customers or employees because of COVID-19.3
34% of businesses say they adopted texting because of the pandemic. 77% of businesses and organizations say they will continue to use it after the pandemic ends.3
Text message marketing statistics show that amongst marketers SMS marketing growth is increasing. Many marketing strategies took advantage of text message marketing and text message broadcasts following the pandemic.
Automated text messages and peoples’ preference for texting means that more marketers are looking to use text messaging. Digital marketers regard text messaging as an important marketing channel.
However, people do opt out of unwanted and unsolicited text messages at a high rate. They also don’t tend to enjoy the texting experience with one-way 5-6 digit shortcode messages.
People say they prefer to receive texts over phone calls or emails for scheduling, sales inquiries, customer service and support, and marketing and promotions.
SMS marketing data indicates that texting is one of the top four most adopted mobile marketing tactics.5
Amongst marketers, 53% currently use mobile messaging to reach out to their prospects, leads, and customers. 31% plan on adopting the technology in the next 12 months.6
23% of marketers are planning on using AI to automate customer interactions over social channels or messaging apps. 57% plan on doing so within the next two years.6
68% of businesses and organizations expect advanced mobile messaging apps to play a highly important role in online consumer marketing within five years.5
56% of organizations say that texting pictures and media using SMS and MMS works well for improving customer engagement.5
Plus…
| Text | Phone call | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Scheduling | 70 | 25 | 5 |
| 2. Sales inquires | 55 | 37 | 8 |
| 3. Customer support & service | 53 | 42 | 5 |
| 4. Marketing & promotions | 52 | 23 | 25 |
| 5. Billing & payment reminders | 27 | 55 | 18 |
| 6. Recruiting & staffing | 23 | 31 | 45 |
| 7. Returns | 23 | 70 | 7 |
| 8. Shipment tracking | 20 | 60 | 21 |
| 9. Alerts & reminders | 19 | 60 | 21 |
| 10. Account security notifications | 17 | 63 | 20 |
Text message open, delivery, response, and spam rates are all superior to email. Text messages have up to a 98% open rate. Emails average around 20%. Overall, text messages have much higher conversion rates and response rates than emails.1
| Open Rate | Click Through Rate | Response Rate | Spam Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text message marketing | 98% | 36% | 45% | 3% |
| Email marketing | 20% | 2% | 6% | 53% |
96% of people use their cell phones to send text messages. 22% send text messages from their laptop or desktop computer. And another 16% send texts from their tablet or iPad.1
The average person sends around 13 SMS text messages per day. But the average person only sends 3.3 emails per day. This means that people send 4x as many texts as emails on any given day.2
74% of people report having zero unread texts, and only 4% report having 7 or more unread texts. 17% of people report having zero unread emails, and 50% report having 7 or more unread emails1
74% of people respond to text messages from a business within an hour vs. 41% via email. 85% of people respond to a text message from friends or family within an hour vs. 38% via email.1
SMS stats show that 61% of Millennials and Generation Z want to use the same number for calling and texting businesses.1
3 out of 5 Millennials will reply with a text after choosing not to answer a phone call.1
Text marketing statistics indicate that millennials are twice as likely as Gen X’ers to reply to an unknown sender’s text message.1
Millennials are 4 times more likely to respond to a text message than call back to a voicemail.1
31% of people say they like to have the option to call, text, or email a business or organization. And other 27% say that personalized communication is important to them.2
28% of people say that having easy, clear opt-out and choosing messaging frequency is important.2
Finally, 14% of people say that having the ability to reply to a message is the most important thing when messaging a business or organization.2
| What is the most important thing for people when communicating with a business or organization? | |
|---|---|
| 1. Options for communicating (phone, text, email) | 31% |
| 2. Personalized communication | 27% |
| 3. Easy and clear opt-out | 18% |
| 4. The ability to easily respond to a message | 14% |
| 5. Being able to choose messaging frequency | 10% |
53% of businesses and organizations report that they’ve never sent a text to someone who hasn’t already opted in. Another 20% aren’t sure if they’ve sent texts to non-opted-in phone numbers.
Text marketing stats also reveal that 27% of businesses and organizations have sent texts to contacts who haven’t opted in.3
Text message marketing stats indicate that only 22% of businesses say they’re very familiar with TCPA compliance. 35% said they are somewhat familiar, but 44% reported being not familiar at all.3
65% percent of people say they’ve unsubscribed from a business’s texts. The top two reasons for unsubscribing include spam at 31% and receiving too many texts at 30%. 18% of people opt out because they don’t find certain texts relevant to them.3
SMS mobile marketing statistics show that 16% of businesses and organizations use one-way short-code texting to send text message blasts.3
The low usage is likely due to consumer demand for conversational two-way texting with businesses and organizations.
Additionally, 33% of people have tried to reply to a short code text message with something other than a text autoresponder keyword.1
Shortcodes are great for alerts and mass marketing. But texting software offers a better customer experience. With two-way texting, customers have the option to initiate a conversation if they need further assistance.
Nearly 75% of people say they get frustrated with shortcode text messages.3
Mobile messaging statistics show that much of the US population owns a phone capable of receiving text messages. Additionally, people spend a tremendous amount of time checking and engaging with their phones.
Mobile messaging app statistics also show that people don’t want to give up human interaction. Out of all the apps on their mobile phones, people use their native text messaging app the most.
Businesses and organizations have also adopted chatbots and branded apps to communicate. But people also feel burdened by having to download special apps to talk with businesses and organizations.
5.1 billion people use mobile devices globally. The CTIA predicts there will be 31 billion connected devices by 2023.4
From 2014 to 2017 the number of active smartphones in the US grew 31% to 273 Million.4
77% of Americans own a smartphone compared to 35% in 2011.4
In 2018, Americans connected another 21.5 million mobile devices for a total of 421.7 million devices. 284.7 million of those devices are smartphones. That’s 87% of the U.S. population.4
67% of Americans value reliable wireless service more than affordable housing, good schools, and good commute times.4
72% of consumers said they would give up chocolate over their smartphones. 65% said they would trade TV. 63% said they would give up coffee.4
80% of Americans consider wireless service indispensable.4
89% of people can’t live without their smartphones or always have them within arm’s reach. 4
63% of people use the SMS text messaging app the most on their personal phones. Facebook Messenger is the second most popular messaging app for 15% of people. This is followed by WhatsApp at 8% and Snapchat at 5%.2
| What messaging tool do people use the most on their personal phones? | |
|---|---|
| 1. Phone’s native texting app | 63% |
| 2. Facebook Messenger | 15% |
| 3. WhatsApp | 8% |
| 4. Other | 6% |
| 5. Snapchat | 5% |
| 6. Line | 2% |
| 7. Google Hangouts (Gchat) | 1% |
| 8. WeChat | 1% |
35% of people spend 3 to 4 hours on their phones each day. Another 26% report that they spend more than 4 hours per day. While 39% say they spend just 1 to 2 hours on their phones per day.3
34% of people immediately check their personal cell phones soon after waking up in the morning. 33% check their cell phones within 5 minutes. That means 67% of people check their phones within the first few minutes of starting their day.3
| How soon after waking up in the morning do people check their personal cell phones? | |
|---|---|
| Immediately | 34% |
| Within 5 minutes | 33% |
| More than 5 but less than 30 min | 20% |
| 30 min to an hour | 8% |
| More than 1 hour | 4% |
The majority of people check their phones more than 20 times a day. 16% say they check their mobile phones more than 50 times per day.2
54% of businesses say it's very difficult or somewhat difficult to get a response from customers. 36% say it's somewhat easy, while only 10% say it's very easy.2
| How difficult is it to get a response from contacts, customers, clients, and employees? | |
|---|---|
| Very difficult | 9% |
| Somewhat difficult | 45% |
| Somewhat easy | 36% |
| Very easy | 10% |
18% of businesses and organizations say they use a chatbot. But only 51% of those can transition those conversations to a real person.2
74% of people say they prefer to speak with a person when conducting business. 23% of people say they prefer to start a conversation with a chatbot. But they still want to transfer to a human at some point if necessary.2
64% of people say they’re unlikely to download a branded app to communicate with a business.2
61% of people say they’ve often deleted branded apps shortly after use.2
| How many people have downloaded a branded app just to communicate with a business or organization? | |
|---|---|
| Yes | 61% |
| No | 39% |
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