If your customers are in the US, this is for you.
Today, SMS is one of the primary sources of marketing communication. Millennials use it, baby boomers cannot escape it, and Gen Zers are also typing away.
But who is more prone to read and respond to your SMS?
This article examines Americans’ texting habits and some message statistics from Infobip.
Infobip polled 1000 consumers across the U.S. to learn their SMS consumption patterns
We collated their report, analysed them and described how the US texting habit affects your business.
Let’s start.
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Some words you should know to understand these stats
First, let’s get some basics out of the way. The survey used a sample of adults across the age groups of 18 to 65+.
Here is what you need to know about the different generations that use SMS.
- Baby boomers: Born between 1946 and 1964, boomers were born into unprecedented post-war growth. They were also the first generation to receive a label.
- Generation X or Gen Xers: Born between 1965-1980, Gen Xers grew up at a time of a lot of uncertainty. The boom was over, and so was job security.
- Generation Y or Millennials: Born between 1981 and 1996, technology affected millennials’ formative years like no other generation. Millennials are creative, more people-oriented and tend to think abstractly. Surveys predict that Gen Y will be 75% of the workforce by 2025.
- Generation Z or Gen Zers or iGen: Born 1997- 2010, Zers were born into the era of social media from their childhood. Their knowledge spans the internet and the offline world. They have an astounding amount of knowledge as compared to their predecessors.
6 US texting and SMS habits in 2024
Here are some survey results and texting habit trends and differences between generations.
1. Americans prefer SMS and instant messaging to phone calls
81% of Americans text regularly. They send 6 billion texts every day.
Americans prefer texting to other forms of communication. This (includes WhatsApp and other forms of instant messaging).
Statistics on texting reveal that 33% of American adults surveyed checked their text messages within one minute. Another 40% reported they checked them within 1- 5 minutes.
What does this mean for your business?
As a business in the US, you should explore SMS as your first marketing tool. Your customers will more likely read your messages.
LearnHub’s text message statistics reveals that SMS grabs 70% of consumers’ attention. And, 60% of customers read texts within 1 to 5 minutes after receiving them. That’s a powerful text message trend you can leverage.
Combined with the survey results, this is a compelling reason to use SMS as a marketing tool in your business.
2. Young Americans lead the way with SMS and instant messaging
Among US teens aged 13 to 17 in 2018, texting was the top choice for communication, with 35% favoring it. In-person interactions followed closely at 32%. Meanwhile, social media lagged behind at 16%, and video chatting trailed at 10%.
And then, there’s the young adults. They’re the most avid texters by a wide margin.
Cell owners aged 18 to 24 exchange 109.5 messages on an average day. Now, that works out to 3,200+ texts every month.
The typical young American sends or receives 50 messages per day (or 1,500 messages per month).
Other stats reveal that 48% of Gen Zers prefer to message. 53% of millennials also choose the same.
This shows a skew in data towards the younger generations compared to the older ones.
What does this mean for your business?
These texting stats matter if your business caters for Gen Zers or millennials.
Create promotional SMS campaigns targeting customers in the given age range. Use bulk SMS tools to communicate with your audience periodically.
For example, as a gaming business, you can use SMS to promote your new Web3 game to GenZ. Alternatively, a new minimalist fashion line can periodically SMS millennials.
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3. Americans can text anywhere- Even in the face of death
This may not be the exciting text message statistic you were looking for, but we bet it got your attention.
Some text messaging statistics reveal Americans’ texting habits. You can find Americans texting in odd places and on odd occasions.
52% of the millennials, 40.7% of the Gen Xers, and 30% of the Boomers and Gen Zers have the habit of driving and texting. As if that was not enough, 45% of the millennials texted while drunk.
A surprising number of people have texted during weddings and funerals. 36% of millennials and 30.8% of Gen Zers messaged as other people tied the knot. 26.8% of millennials reported texting while attending someone’s last moments.
What does this mean for your business?
Generations most exposed to technology since early childhood believe in connectivity.
According to the texting statistics above, millennials communicate from anywhere. Gen Zers follow them in this behaviour and are close to outdoing them.
So, capitalise on these texting or calling stats.
Create non-invasive SMS campaigns that they will be happy to read.
Creating non-invasive SMS means messaging when people are glad to read your messages.
During weekdays most people in the US check their phones after arriving at their offices. So sending an SMS early in the morning, between 9 AM and noon, is ideal. The next best time is after 6 pm but before 9 pm. This is when most people are already on their phones for various reasons.
Avoid sending messages on Mondays. Your SMS will compete with other marketing material delivered over the weekend. See the best time to send promotional messages in US.
4. The iPhone is the name of the game for young Americans
Next up is a text message statistic that you will agree with. The usage of texting varies by generation and device choice.
iPhone has not been able to charm its way into the hands of older generations. Not quite yet. The opposite is the case for millennials.
The millennials texting habits and iMessage stats clearly show a shift towards more modern devices.
A whopping 71.8% of Gen Zers and 45.5% of millennials report the iPhone as their favourite phone to message with. The Gen Xers have a different phone of choice- 56.9% favour the Galaxy. Not just that, 55.6% of Boomers favour Samsung too.
Not just that, 55.6% of Boomers favour Samsung too. Indicating a clear preference for Android over iOS for their texting usage.
So where do other phones like the Grand Blackberry stand? Less than 5% across each generation prefer it for texting purposes.Â
What does this mean for your business?
The choice of phone does not affect communication. However, it affects the way your consumers receive and perceive it.
This is an important figure related to messaging for a business with iPhone lovers. iMessage is the default messaging app that comes with iPhones. It helps you create exclusive messages that look like conversations with a friend.
You can make longer messages for iPhone recipients and add multimedia. You can also leverage high-resolution iPhone screens for exclusive video content. So, consider these US SMS facts when choosing the marketing platform for your campaigns.
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5. Americans across age groups love emojis
This texting statistic proves that Americans across age groups love emojis. Irrespective of the phone choice, the love of the visual stood out.
Statista records that 66% of emoji users in the US reported using emojis for fun.
People across all generations showed interest in emojis compared to gifs and screenshots.
34.6% of Gen Zers and 32.2% of millennials preferred emojis. Surprisingly, 44.5% of Gen Xers and 42% of Boomers favoured it.
To show how personal this is, as many as one in three Gen Z’ers have ended a relationship with someone using an emoji.
What does this mean for your business?
No matter which generation they belong to, people respond to emojis. As you add emojis, your message becomes more humanised.
However, make sure you do not overpopulate your message with emojis.
This statistic is only helpful if you stick to what your audience is familiar with. People may not understand what a sequence of emojis means, so try and avoid sending your message like so.
But, if your audience is not responding favourably to emojis, try toning it down. You can also revert to sending plain texts to keep your brand relationship going.
Remember, emojis will serve to enhance what already exists.
6. Americans still want you to connect with them via SMS and WhatsApp
We are sure you have figured this out by now.
But wait, there’s more.Â
Here are some facts about this texting trend that will interest you.
The demographic that prefers to receive marketing SMS has shifted over time. Gen Xers were the original users of SMS 30 years ago. Now 33% of Gen Zers and 32.7% of millennials prefer receiving marketing communication via SMS.
However, people have chosen email as their preferred mode across the generations. In 2021, 79.6 million mobile users in the US spent time on WhatsApp. SMS is their second option for receiving marketing communication. SMS is their second option for receiving marketing communication.
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What does this mean for your business?
A lot of people still wish to receive important communication via SMS. Remember this text messaging fact as you plan your campaigns.
If you need instant action, send your messages via text only. Keep these facts about texting in mind when you are sending time-sensitive messages. Like an offer that may expire in a few hours, use SMS instead of email.
The best way to do this is to add links to your message that can bring them to your desired web pages. Craft a short and to-the-point message. Make sure to get permission from your customers before sending the communication.
Check out our video on promotional SMS best practices.
All text messaging statistics maximise your business
There you go.
We hope this report and analysis gave you insight into the US market. If you want to read the Infobip report, here you go.
If you need an SMS marketing tool to help you send SMSes that your customers will love, check out SMSCountry.
SMSCountry is a simple and reliable messaging platform for SMEs. It enables you to create timely and valuable conversations with your customers. Learn more about our service.
