106 SMS Marketing Statistics: Say Hello to Potential.

Can you picture your next lunch break?

Let’s say you’re sitting there, sipping your water (or tea or soda or energy drink or coffee—take your pick). You’re scrolling on your phone, enjoying a quick respite from the hustle of the morning.

Suddenly, a text message pops up.

It’s from your favorite clothing brand, offering a flash sale on shirts.

Within minutes you’ve clicked, viewed the available sales, and made a purchase…

Welcome to the potential of SMS marketing.

But what are the stats on SMS marketing? Is it really a powerful marketing opportunity with the potential to be a significant revenue-booster for your business? Or is it all hype?

Let’s dig into some of those stats and find out.

A Note About SMS Marketing Statistics…

The reality is that the internet is full of stats in general, SMS marketing-related or not—and not all of those stats are as reliable as others.

Many articles flout numbers without clearly citing the source. Some data is old, or from sources that have a vested interest.

(For example, a stat that is still heavily cited is that SMS has a 98% read rate, which, while may have been true at one time, has recently been found to be outdated.)

Much of this online information doesn’t come from academic-level endeavors—they aren’t peer-reviewed by experts and aren’t required to vigorously defend all of their sources.

And there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, as long as people realize that all such online sources must be taken with a grain of salt as they cannot necessarily be verified.

Most stats you find on blog posts throughout the internet are not necessarily based on rigorous scientific testing. But they can still be helpful in providing interesting insights that can help inform our decisions.

And even if stats are accurate, they may not necessarily hold true for your specific audience.

Take the stats listed below for informational purposes to help you make decisions, but ultimately you should run your own tests and figure out what works for your business.

Without further ado, here are some SMS marketing stats for your benefit and enjoyment…

• 35% of respondents say that it is very helpful to receive a message via email as well as SMS (K1)
  • 33% of respondents say it is repetitive (K1)
  • 27% of respondents say that whether or not it is helpful to receive both email and SMS depends (K1)
• 5% of respondents concurrently subscribe to a brand’s email list when they sign up for that brand’s SMS list (A1)

• 63% of North American respondents said that being offered a discount increased the likelihood of them subscribing to a brand’s SMS messages (K1)
• In another survey, 49% of US respondents reported that a “great discount” would lead them to share their phone number; similarly, around 50% said that a “complimentary gift” would lead them to share their number (A1)
• The top 5 reasons people sign up for SMS: (per source K1)
  • 39% of respondents said it was because the brand was one that they loved
  • 38% of respondents said it was because they wanted a discount on an upcoming purchase
  • 38% of respondents said it was because they wanted order status updates
  • 37% of respondents said it was because they often purchase from the brand
  • 35% of respondents said it was because they wanted to make a purchase when the brand offers sales

Some practical takeaways from these stats include:

• SMS marketing—and mobile phone usage in general—is alive and thriving, so businesses would do well to consider how to best take advantage of it
• Offer discounts to get people to subscribe to your texts
• People generally prefer emails, but many do prefer SMS for both transactional messages (for example, confirmations) and promotional messages (for example, birthday deals and coupons)
  • Consider sending text messages alongside some emails (but not too many)
  • Avoid overusing cart reminders, low inventory alerts, and non-sales content—these seem to be less desired
  • Capitalize on purchase intent—the stats above seem to indicate high conversion potential
• People don’t want to be overwhelmed with too many SMS messages—we would recommend that you don't send more than 1 SMS per week
• People prefer to be texted on weekdays, with a large number preferring to be texted during regular business hours (9am–5pm)—although 45% of people are most likely to make purchases in the evening, so you could test sending some messages in the evening
• Consider expanding your SMS marketing to international customers and prospects

As you can see, SMS marketing has promising potential for becoming a major source of revenue for your business.

How can you be taking better advantage of SMS as a marketing medium?

If you haven’t gotten started yet, you can try a free test account now to get a feel for how it would work for you.