Not so long ago, a cell phone was the most innovative technology in the world. The ability to open a mobile phone and make a call anytime anywhere was surprising. Lately, we’ve gone through a regression point. People avoid making calls. Why is that, and what does it replace?
People want to send text messages
Although voice calls are unlikely to become extinct soon, people, which make up an overwhelming share of the mobile market, prefer not to speak on the phone. More specifically, they prefer the text message.
According to a recent OpenMarket survey, when given the option between making a call and sending text messages from their mobile phone, 75% of People decided to send text messages instead of talking.
People prefer corporate SMS messages rather than phone calls that they find intrusive. According to Nielsen data from a few years ago, the monthly average of the minutes used by People dropped from around 1,200 per month in 2008 to 900 minutes per month in 2010. Over the same period, SMS messages from adolescents aged 18 to 24 more than doubled, from just 600 a month to about 1,400 messages a month.
For more than eight years, People have been increasingly turning their backs on calls and preferred to send text messages. If you have a business that can be primarily dominated by the idea of Baby Boomer, the affinity to text messaging may seem bizarre. After all, phone calls are quick and easy.
However, you must move away from your prejudices and think about them from the perspective of your customers. People are unique and know precisely what they want, and what they like is to send text messages. For moving forward, it is advisable to move in that direction.
Four reasons why People love SMS
Before delving into how you can tailor your marketing strategies to address the popularity of text messaging, take a look at why people have fallen in love with text messaging. You need to understand the logic behind this preference so that you can target the right people with the most effective marketing strategies.
Comfort and ease of use
People are about simplicity and usability. This generation has grown with more technology than any previous one. They are keen to think about which technology offers maximum comfort, and the simple answer is SMS.
It is not so much that the millennia feel a strong dislike when talking on the phone. They still talk to each other, but they would instead do it with their parents and close friends. It is not a way of communicating positively with the interaction with the brand. Instead, they feel that unwanted profession calls are nothing more than a nuisance to sellers on the phone.
Easy to notice
Phone calls can be hard to remember for people. “When did you say we should meet?” “Was it 113 or 131?” “What is the cost of the ticket?” Hours after a phone call, such details disappear. With text messages, however, everyone has a transcription of the conversation that can be easily retrieved. One person can come back and see that the schedule of a meeting is at 5:30, the address of the person is 113, or the tickets are for $25. The recipient has less to remember everything.
Less exhausting
Text messages are less tiring than phone calls. It is possible that the latter may require the person to present the answers at this point or to recall the specific questions they would like to ask. On the contrary, a text message gives the recipient time to think and respond in their own time. It is an organized experience that requires less general pressure.
Companies answering machine
Because People prefer not to answer calls from numbers they do not know, most company calls have no answer. Therefore, companies sometimes leave a voice message. And the People hate the answering machine.
Voice messages take too long to recover and to understand each other. They are impersonal, intrusive and sometimes confused. Worse, if the recipient on the answering machine has needed information, such as an address, a callback number, etc., the person must write the information on a piece of paper. With an SMS, essential data has already been in black and white so that the recipient can see and use it. That’s why SMS surpasses voicemails for the majority of people.
How can companies react?
Does this raise the question as a company of how to respond appropriately to people and their preference for texting? The only sensible answer is to fulfill their desire through marketing strategies that highlight the text of the conversation.
According to our research, 75% of people find it useful to receive text messages as reminders of appointments, payments, deliveries, promotions, and surveys. Almost two customers in three millennia would like to receive product offers and coupons. More than half think it’s wise to receive texts related to account activity, order notes, and other general reminders.
You may not be familiar with text messaging, but it’s not something you can ignore if you hope to win millennia by the way you like it best. SMS is a powerful marketing channel and businesses need to respond by adopting strategies that benefit from text messaging and the many benefits of using this technology.
