As a trusted advisor to small and medium businesses across industries, I‘ve seen firsthand the power of texting. With global usage exploding year after year, text messaging represents an engagement channel brimming with potential.
Let‘s explore 25+ intriguing statistics that showcase the rising influence of texting worldwide – and how your business can capitalize on this trend.
Billions Worldwide Text Daily
Did you realize over 5 billion people text worldwide? That‘s nearly 65% of the global population! And in just North America alone, a staggering 292 million individuals use text messaging.
To put the sheer volume in perspective:
- Every day, roughly 23 billion texts are sent globally
- That equates to around 16 million messages per minute
As smartphones proliferate, especially in developing nations, the ubiquity of texting will only expand.
But plenty of businesses still underutilize this channel, failing to connect with customers in their preferred communication medium.
Consumers Overwhelmingly Prefer Texting
With texting so widely embraced globally, it stands as the dominant communication mechanism for billions. Recent surveys found:
- 85% of consumers rank texting as their favored communication method
- 90% of mobile users read incoming texts within 3 minutes
- Text messages boast at least a 98% open rate, dwarfing email‘s paltry 20%
And this reliance on texting is only intensifying over time:
- 38% of Millennials say they always have their phone in hand
- 80% check messages within 15 minutes of waking up
For the average adult in 2024, texting consumes 23 hours of their week – nearly a part-time job!
With such heavy usage, can you afford to ignore this engagement channel?
Texting Dominates Phone Usage
If there was any doubt about the central role texting plays in our digital lives, more data clarifies the picture:
- 78% identify texting as the most-used smartphone feature
- In Australia, 96% rely on mobiles primarily for texting
- Chinese citizens send over 1 billion SMS daily
And as rising nations bring more citizens online for the first time via mobile devices, global SMS usage will only accelerate.
Clearly, messaging sits at the heart of our digital existence in 2024.
Businesses Utilizing Texting See Results
With consumers so attached to messaging, smart brands engage customers via texting:
- 45% of subscribers respond to branded text campaigns
- 9 in 10 want to receive business texts they deem relevant
Properly personalized texts focused on value have excellent open and response rates for one-to-one business outreach.
And tailored SMS marketing blasts allow you to:
- Send coupons or exclusive promos
- Offer limited-time percent-off deals
- Remind customers of upcoming appointments
- Announce new products or services
- Share company news and events
Weighing SMS Marketing Pros and Cons
Of course, any communication channel comes with trade-offs. Before launching an SMS campaign, weigh factors like:
Pros
- Direct line to subscriber inbox
- Fast opt-in and delivery
- Cost-effective vs other ads
- High open and response rates
Cons
- Character limits per message
- Managing subscriber preferences
- Risk of turning off clients with spam
Within reason, consumers gladly engage via texting – just keep messages relevant and infrequent.
If tailored thoughtfully, an SMS marketing initiative pays dividends through higher customer lifetime value.
The Future is Bright for Messaging
Looking ahead, the influence of texting shows no signs of slowing down.
As 5G cellular networks expand globally over the next two years, an expected 1.2 billion devices will enjoy upgraded messaging experiences by 2025.
And with further improvements to loyalty programs, e-commerce integration, and multimedia messaging, texts will become even stickier for billions worldwide.
Key Trends to Watch
- Shift from SMS to RCS Business Messaging
- Payments Processing Within Messages
- Customer Identity Management Across Channels
For consumers, messaging provides convenience and simplicity hard to replicate in other apps. And with their affinity only rising over time, customers want to text your business too.
Are you ready to meet this demand?
Make Texting Central to Your Strategy
Hopefully this analysis showcases why SMS can no longer be an afterthought for small and medium businesses. To recap the key points:
✅ Billions text daily – among highest engagement of any channel
✅ 90%+ open rates crush email
✅ Consumers prefer texting for business outreach
My advice? Place texting at the heart of your customer communication strategy:
☑️ Collect subscriber permission
☑️ Segment your subscriber list
☑️ Personalize messages
☑️ Test call-to-action creativity
☑️ Analyze performance rigorously
☑️ Never sacrifice relevance for volume
Then watch as your SMS and MMS campaigns drive results and delight subscribers through the channel they love most – texting.
The engagement potential is truly unmatched – if messaged thoughtfully. But that "if" makes all the difference.
Hopefully this analysis revealed why texting represents such fertile, high-upside terrain for small businesses in 2024. Applied strategically, messaging unlocks immense value otherwise left on the table.
What questions do you still have on leveraging texting for your organization? As your advisor, I‘m always happy to offer my insight. Just shoot me a text!
