SMS Marketing is still widely used by brands – and with good reason. With sky-high open rates, lightning-fast delivery, and high engagement, SMS continues to be a powerhouse for brands looking to connect directly with customers.

There has been a global year-on-year increase of 34% in the use of SMS for marketing use cases. The stats also show that SMS is a key pillar channel for most brands that have adopted an omnichannel communication strategy.

In this blog, we will show why SMS Marketing deserves a prime spot in your marketing strategy.

SMS Marketing Adoption & Reach

1. Nearly universal mobile access: Around 85% of Americans own a smartphone, and an even higher 97% have a mobile phone capable of receiving text messages. Basically, every phone can receive a text message. (Source: Pew Research).
2. Personal use: In fact, people are still using SMS to connect with friends and family. One in three people still exchange at least one SMS daily, and 54% use SMS to reach people who don’t use digital channels. (Source: UKTIN).
3. Customers prefer SMS: When it comes to marketing messages, 19% of surveyed consumers say that SMS is their preferred channel (Source: Validity). The reason being that SMS messages are short, direct and to the point.
4. Business messaging: On the business side, adoption has surged with 60% of businesses reported using SMS in 2024 (Source: Conversational Maturity report).  Business owners have seen how SMS can bring return on investments that far surpass email or even social media campaigns.
5. Holiday Shopping: For particularly busy holidays, SMS has become a reliable channel for brands to connect with customers and usage grows YoY. During Cyber Week 2024, SMS usage for business messages grew by 47% in Europe and 11% in North America (Source: Holiday Shopping Trends).
6. Industry forecast: The SMS Market is still growing. Industry forecasts predict a rise – the SMS marketing market is projected to grow to $9.6 billion by 2030. (Source: Grand View Research).
7. SMS by industry usage: Notably, certain sectors see especially high usage for example, healthcare (57%) and banking/finance (62%) boast the highest usage of SMS (Source: Conversational Maturity report).
8. Businesses recognize this opportunity: 72% of U.S. digital retailers say that expanding omnichannel strategies with SMS will have the biggest impact on their business in 2024 (Source: EMarketer).

Engagement Rates and Customer Responsiveness

1. Open rate: Text message marketing delivers an open rate around 98%, vastly outperforming email’s typical 20% open rate (Source: Forbes).
2. Reading rate: 90% of SMS messages are read within three minutes of delivery (Source: Validity).
3. Response rate: Overall response rates for SMS are dramatically higher than email – studies show an average 45% response rate for SMS offers vs. around 6% for email (Source: Business.com).
4. Click-through rate: marketing texts typically see CTR around 45%, whereas email CTRs often hover in the single digits (Source: Growth Generators).

In short, customers not only read and consume text messages at rates higher than any other channel, they also respond at much higher rates.

Conversion Rates and Return On Investment (ROI)

1. High conversion impact: The strong engagement with SMS translates into superior conversion performance. 72% of consumers reported making a purchase as a direct result of receiving a text message from a brand (Source: Shopbytes). Sales teams that use SMS after initial contact see a 112.6% higher lead-to-engagement conversion rate.
2. Multiple purchases: 86% of those surveyed had made two or more purchases via SMS in the last year, up from 55% in 2022 (Source: Shopbytes).
3. Speed up the buying process: 72% of consumers said that they made a purchase after receiving a text, while 14% said they made impulse purchase thanks to a text message. Plus, 65% said they were planning on purchasing an item, but an SMS made them do it sooner (Source: Shopbytes).
4. Ease of use: 75% of consumers say they prefer offers through SMS because they’re easy to access, don’t require logging into an app, and are always sent at an appropriate time.
5. Return on investment: businesses earn around $71 for every $1 spent on SMS marketing – a 7100% ROI – highlighting the channel’s cost-effectiveness.

In summary, SMS marketing not only engages customers but converts them at higher rates, delivering substantial revenue and ROI gains across industries.

Consumer Preferences & Behavior

1. Channel of choice: 19% of consumers say SMS is their preferred brand communication channel (Source: Validity).
2. SMS for fast update: 52% of consumers ranked SMS as their favorite channel for shipping notifications, 45% for sales and promotions, and 30% for special occasion messages (Source: Validity).
3. Usability: Texts don’t require internet access, and they reach users wherever they are in real time. Texting is the most frequent smartphone activity for 75% of consumers, outranking checking social media or email (Source: Statista).
4. Optimal frequency: When it comes to how often people want to hear from brands via text, moderation is key. 19% of correspondents would ideally like to receive an SMS from brands weekly and 17% only when its important, and 16% 2-3 times a week (Source: Validity).
5. Preferred capped frequency: about 15% say once a day is okay, and another 16% are comfortable with 2–3 texts per week (Source: Validity).
6. Customer frustration: 58% reported unsubscribing from SMS messages and 38% reported them as spam or junk. Additionally, 45% of surveyed respondents say that messaging too frequently is the most likely reason for getting annoyed with a brand. (Source: Validity).

Overall Effectiveness of SMS marketing

Across industries and use cases, the data consistently show SMS as a high-impact marketing channel. With near-universal reach and read rates approaching 100%, text messages virtually guarantee your content will be seen (open rates around 98%).

1. Response rates: Customers not only see texts – they act on them quickly, whether that means clicking a link, replying to a two-way conversation, or redeeming a promotion. Response and conversion metrics for SMS dwarf those of email and other channels – for example, response rates are about 7.5 times higher than email’s (Source: Business.com).
2. Fast purchases: The channel’s immediacy can accelerate purchase decisions – 65% of SMS-driven buyers purchased sooner than planned and even generate incremental sales that wouldn’t have happened otherwise – 14% made a buy they weren’t planning, due to an SMS. (Source: Shopbytes).
3. Loyalty and repeat business: 87% of U.S. shoppers who subscribe to a brand’s texts say they’re likely to make a purchase after signing up (Source: Businesswire).
4. SMS omnichannel: Across all industries and regions, our research shows that where brands use multiple channels to communicate with customers, SMS is always one of the main pillar channels.

Many of our customers rank SMS Marketing as their top revenue channel. It delivers super high conversion rates and a great return on Investment for businesses. It continues to be a cornerstone of mobile marketing strategies, valued by consumers for its convenience and by businesses for its proven effectiveness in driving sales and customer interaction.