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May 20, 2021

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37 Stats to Know About the SMS Market in 2021 

Enterprise  |  Mobile Brands  |  Product

As we outlined in a recent blog post, SMS (Short Messaging Service), along with MMS, A2P, P2P, and RCS, has blossomed into a dynamic and versatile business tool, facilitating not only intra-team and intra-company communications, but engagement with customers, consumers, and constituents, as well.

So, we decided to curate 37 SMS stats that you ought to know! To jump to a particular section, click the links below:

General SMS Statistics

  1. 90% of adults have a cell phone or a smartphone. (99firms)
  2. This includes 74% of seniors, 88% of people ages 50-64, and 97% of those younger than 49. (99firms)
  3. Around 92% of US adults own a cell phone. (99firms)
  4. More than 23 billion SMS are sent every day. (SMSEagle)
  5. Roughly 65% of the global population send and receive SMS messages. That’s approximately 5 billion people. (Slicktext)
  6. However, by 2025, it is estimated that 6 billion people will be able to send and receive SMS messages. This will represent 78% of the world population. (99firms)
  7. In North America, 292 million people use text messaging. This represents 80% of the population. (Slicktext)
  8. In Russia, 89% of people send and receive text messages. (Slicktext)
  9. With nearly 1.1 billion people sending and receiving text messages, China has the most SMS users in the world. India, with 730 million, comes in second. (Slicktext)

 

SMS Marketing and Engagement Statistics

  1. Americans check their smartphones an average of 52 times per day. (Slicktext)
  2. Consumers are more likely to open text messages before any other form of mobile communication. (Openmarket)
  3. SMS boasts open rates as high as 98%. For the sake of comparison, email open rates tend to languish in the 20% range. (Smallbizdaily / Ddiy)
  4. SMS messages have a 45% response rate. (Smallbizdaily)
  5. Only about 1% of SMS marketing messages are considered spam. By contrast, 80% of email messaging is considered spam. (99firms)
  6. 31% of people answer SMS surveys in fewer than 6 minutes. (Eztexting)
  7. 77% of customers have a positive view of businesses that use SMS to reach them. (Ddiy)
  8. People 18 to 34 years old prefer text for business notifications. (Eztexting)
  9. SMS messages are opened within 90 seconds by approximately 83% of millennials. (Eztexting)
  10. In fact, 75% of millennials prefer SMS for deliveries, promotions, and surveys. (Eztexting)
  11. Moreover, millennials prefer to receive SMS from businesses for b (62%), delivery notifications (59%), and payment reminders (48%). (Ddiy)
  12. Overall, 79% of smartphone users make their shopping decisions based on SMS or similar mobile device services. (99firms)
  13. Consumers redeem SMS-delivered coupons about 10-times more than other coupon types. (99firms)
  14. SMS can reduce missed appointments by 80%. (Voicesage)
  15. 90% of consumers enrolled in SMS loyalty programs feel like they benefit from the program. (99firms)
  16. Moreover, around 64% of clients agree that businesses should reach them via SMS more often. (Textbetter)
  17. SMS marketing is a growing trend. Its use for B2B efforts increased by 197% from 2015 to 2017. (CMSWire)
  18. It is expected that the SMS marketing market will grow to 83.03 billion U.S. dollars by 2024. (Transparency market research)
  19. 61% of marketers increased their SMS marketing budgets in 2020. (Simpletexting)

Enterprise SMS Statistics

  1. Roughly 74% of cell phone and smartphone users do not have any unread text messages. (99firms)
  2. Moreover, only 4% of users have 7 or more unread text messages. By contrast, 38% have as many or more unread emails. (99firms)
  3. In fact, while 41% of people will reply to a business email within an hour, 74% will reply to a business text. (99firms)
  4. Likewise, while 38% will respond to emails from friends and family within an hour, 85% will respond to texts. (99firms)

 

Other SMS Statistics

  1. In the financial services industry, businesses have found that leveraging SMS to improve collection rates has enabled them to reduce customer service involvement by 60%. (Voicesage)
  2. Moreover, SMS alerts helps financial brands appeal to consumers’ emotions by reducing financial anxiety. (Voicesage)

MMS Statistics

  1. In 2016, 387.5 billion MMS messages were sent worldwide. (MMAGlobal)
  2. According to some brands, MMS shows 300% more engagement than SMS-only messages. (Tatango)
  3. As of 2016, 86% of enterprise businesses with at least $100 million in revenues, were using, or planning to adopt, MMS in the next year. (Tatango)

About Pareteum

Pareteum is an experienced provider of Communications Platform-as-a-Service solutions. We empower enterprises, communications service providers, internet service providers, mobile operators, full MVNOs, light MVNOs, early-stage innovators, developers, IoT (Internet of Things), and telecommunications infrastructure providers with the freedom and control to create, deliver, and scale innovative communications experiences.

The Pareteum platform connects people and devices around the world using the secure, ubiquitous, and highly scalable solution to deliver data, voice, video, SMS/text messaging, media, and content enablement.

For more information on Pareteum Experience Cloud, set up a meeting!