I tend to be suspicious of such overtly headline grabbing and outlandish claims. Have we all been struck dumb with the disappointment of Mark Cavendish not getting a road race medal at the Olympics?
Before we dismiss this as twaddle, the research deserves closer investigation though as it is comes from OFCOM, the much loved regulator for communication industries. They found that the average UK consumer now sends an average of 50 texts a week, an astonishingly high figure and twice as many as four years ago.
Not surprisingly, it’s the 18 – 25 age groups that are the most active, with 96% of people in this category using some form of text based application to communicate with friends or family on a daily basis. In total, over 90% use SMS and nearly three quarters use social networking sites. In stark contrast, talking on the phone really has become less popular, with just 67% of people talking daily and 63% talking face to face.
Anyone considering SMS marketing now has yet more evidence that they should get involved. The popularity of SMS as a universal communication channel only seems to be growing and mobile marketers have a great opportunity to tap into its undimmed popularity.
Despite this popularity, most businesses in the UK have yet to use SMS Marketing in any meaningful or strategic way. We estimate that around 27% of UK companies use SMS marketing as a communication channel and even fewer doing so on a regular basis.
If you’d like to find out how mobile marketing might work for you, feel free to set up a test account. There are no set up costs or hidden nasties and you’ll receive some free text credits so you can test your ideas before buying any text credits. We’re always happy to chat through your mobile marketing plans, so please call us if you’d like. Our details are on our contacts page.