OpenMarket – September 19, 2016
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Businesses looking to engage with millennials should definitely go for text messaging, according to new research from OpenMarket. Its latest report, based on a poll of 500 US millennials (ages 18 – 34), says 72 percent of millennials text 10 times a day, or more, while 31 percent do it 50 times, or more.
Millennials would enjoy being approached by businesses through text messages, the report, claims, saying it is the two-way communication that tips the scales, offering convenience, speed, and ease of use. Millennials are highly responsive to text messages, it was said, with 83 per cent opening their messages within 90 seconds of receiving it. Almost two thirds (60 percent) would love to be able to text their preferred businesses, a practice that’s not that common nowadays.
“The goal of this survey was to dive deeper into the mobile-millennial mindset and learn not only why this age group prefers text messaging as their main communication tool for business interactions, but at what level they are looking to engage,” said Jay Emmet, general manager for OpenMarket.
“These results show that the capabilities of SMS are very prevalent with millennials, who desire more opportunities to communicate through texting, including more personal two-way interactions. Businesses need to further harness the ubiquity of SMS to realize better overall engagement and customer loyalty with the millennial generation.”
Another interesting finding of the report is that businesses should really stay away from social media for communication. Texting is the number one choice, followed by email. Voice is a ‘distant third’, while even postal mail scored higher than Facebook and Twitter.