Did you know that 4.2 billion people across the globe use text messaging as a regular means of communication? It’s no surprise, then, that SMS has become a powerful and highly effective tool for businesses to solidify their brand and stay connected with existing customers. If you’re not yet leveraging this tool for your company, you are most certainly missing out. Here are 6 compelling reasons why you should start using SMS for your business today.

It’s instant. When you send an email, it will sit in the recipient’s inbox until he or she has the time to sit down and open it – that is, if it doesn’t get rerouted to the spam folder first. When you send a text, on the other hand, 95% of the time it’ll be received and read within 3 minutes. Furthermore, the average response time of a text is 90 seconds. With SMS, you’ll get instant, two-way communication with your target audience.

It’s everywhere. According to research conducted by Morgan Stanley, some 91% of Americans alone keep their mobile devices within reach 24/7. Some even sleep with their phones! And because just about all mobile phones on the market today are SMS-enabled, anyone who has one has the capability to send and receive texts. In other words, if you want to reach your customers, SMS is the way to do it!

It’s more effective. One of the biggest challenges businesses face today is improving the chances of getting their content in front of the right people at the right time. Social media is only effective if it’s timed perfectly. Email, as mentioned previously, is also time-dependent and with today’s advanced filters, getting messages to reach the inbox is becoming harder by the day. SMS messages have a 99% open rate, making them much more effective than other means of communication.

It’s preferred. The last thing you want to do is annoy your audience and turn them off. According to Pew Research, nearly 1/3 of all Americans prefer text messaging to other forms of communication. And that’s not exclusive to personal connections either. From a business standpoint, 78% of people say SMS is their favored way to communicate with brands. Text also happens to be the highest rated method for customer satisfaction.

It’s cost-effective. Every single conversation someone from your company has with a customer equates to several dollars in expenses. Because live chat via SMS is faster and much easier, the costs associated with each conversation drops to pennies. And since more than half of all consumers say they’d rather initiate and receive customer support over text messaging versus other available options, the cost savings can really add up.

It improves retention rate. The goal of business communication is to keep your customers as happy and engaged as possible so you can keep them coming back for more. Since 90% of consumers prefer to be texted rather than called, you’ll already be ahead of the game. The more effort you put into improving customer satisfaction rates, the more loyalty you’ll gain over time.

The numbers don’t lie. SMS is fast becoming one of the most powerful and effective business communication tools today and if you’re not taking advantage of the many benefits, such as the ones listed here, you are most definitely missing out. Ready to experience it for yourself? Request a demo today!