Explore the 2023 Consumer Survey Benchmarks Report for updated data & insights.

As marketers, we care deeply about creating long-lasting relationships with our customers. Striking the perfect balance of right message, right time, right audience is what we all strive for—and that means really knowing our audience (and our channels).

We hear from our customers every day that SMS is one of their favorite and most effective marketing channels, but we wanted to better understand how consumers felt about hearing from brands. And as the data in our 2021 SMS Marketing Consumer Trends Report shows, it turns out they want to hear from their favorite brands more, not less.

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SMS is personal—and not just when it comes to family and friends

Text messaging is no longer only a preferred channel for connecting with loved ones—it’s how shoppers want to communicate with the brands they love (you!).

A majority of consumers now shop online primarily using mobile, and that’s not changing anytime soon. 90% told us they’d be open to signing up to receive text messages from businesses—and 55% have already done so.

As brands realize the value of text message marketing and invest more in this channel, it’s important to keep customer experience at the forefront. Turns out that when it comes to SMS marketing frequency, consumers want to hear more from the brands they care most about. They want to be the first to know, and they want to feel a more direct and personal connection to their favorite brands.

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Integrating text message frequency into your digital marketing strategy

Nearly 40% of consumers said they’d like to receive marketing text messages two-to-three times per week from brands that they signed up to hear from. What’s more, close to 20% of consumers said they would be open to receiving SMS marketing messages once per day.

And the other 42% of consumers? Sign them up for weekly communications. They said they want to receive marketing text messages from brands four-to-six times per month.

These numbers highlight just how comfortable consumers are with communicating with brands via SMS—and how valuable it is to the businesses that want to reach and interact with them.

Your customers don’t just want more messages—they want brand communications that are relevant and rewarding. So how can marketers best use this channel?

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Balancing Frequency with SMS Marketing Best Practices

You know your customers. They love your brand and get excited to hear from you, so make it worth their while.

Consumers are driven by value—whether it’s mobile-only incentives and loyalty programs or exclusive access to new products and back-in-stock items. And while the majority of survey respondents said they’re more likely to complete a purchase if a text message features multimedia content—such as images, GIFs, or videos—approximately one-third of consumers are more concerned with the relevance of the message than its presentation.

This is what makes testing and segmentation vital.

Beyond running A/B tests to better understand how different copywriting, multimedia, and calls-to-action perform among your subscribers, you should evaluate how different times of day and days of the week impact opens, click-through rates, and conversions. And by segmenting your audience based on user actions and properties—such as purchase history, geolocation, and more—you can ensure the messages you send to your subscribers are personalized for each shopper.

If there’s one takeaway from this data, it’s that you shouldn’t be afraid to engage shoppers via text message. Your fans want to hear from you more than you think. But as you build out your text messaging calendar, consider what works best for your specific audience to inform your channel strategy.

Maybe you want to reward your biggest fans with mobile-exclusive sales. Maybe you want to make your customers’ lives easier with a friendly reminder or show them how valued they are with tailored recommendations. Or maybe it’s as simple as letting customers know about the products and promotions closest to them.

Your customers are waiting to connect with your brand. Make sure you give them what they want, on the device they have with them at all times.

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Check out our 2021 SMS Marketing Consumer Trends Report for more actionable insights on what consumers want from text message marketing.