SMS Marketing Statistics

Smartphone Adoption Hits 75%

2015 Smartphone Ownership Statistics

comScore is reporting that smartphone ownership in the United States has hit 75%, which means that 182 million Americans now have a smartphone. These statistics on smartphone ownership were gathered during the three months ending in December 2014, which is up 4% when compared to the three months ending in September 2014. What’s most remarkable is that we covered here on the Tatango blog, when smartphone ownership in the United States, according to Nielsen, hit a mere 40% in July of 2011.

Why is this great news for businesses looking to utilize SMS marketing? We here at Tatango believe that as mobile phones get smarter, the effectiveness of SMS marketing increases. We’re not alone in this thinking either, as Placecast has found that when you send the exact same SMS promotion to a smartphone user and non-smartphone user, the smartphone user is three times more likely to purchase because of the promotion.

Why are SMS messages sent to smartphones so much more effective, than SMS messages sent to non-smartphones? While the SMS messages sent to smartphones & non-smartphones are the same, with smartphones you’re able to direct recipients to an experience outside of 160 characters of plain text. With a smartphone, a simple hyperlink within an SMS promotion can be extremely powerful, taking that recipient to a whole host of different mobile experiences. A few of these mobile experiences could include the following…

  • Watch your mobile video.
  • Take your mobile survey.
  • Shop your mobile website.
  • Download your mobile app.
  • Download your mobile coupon to Apple or Google Wallet.
  • Follow you on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

One question we get asked at Tatango all of the time is with the increase in smartphones, will SMS become less popular? It’s a valid question, as SMS is only 160 characters of plain text, and is extremely basic when compared to the amazing things that smartphones now allow consumers to do. What’s interesting is that as smartphone usage has increased in the United States, so has SMS usage. It’s now reported that 91% of the smartphone users actively use SMS messaging, which makes it one of the top activities performed on a smartphone.

How does that compare to other forms of messaging, now available on smartphones? According to a May 2012 report, only 55% of smartphone users use alternative messaging methods on their smartphones, such as Facebook, Skype, Twitter, iMessage, or Blackberry Messenger. Why? According to the study, the main factors for SMS having higher popularity on smartphones than over the top (OTT) messaging services were speed, reach, and reliability. Makes sense, the average text message has a 99% open rate and is opened within 3 minutes of being received on a mobile phone.

Being that 75% of your customers now have smartphones, what can you do?

If you already have an SMS marketing campaign, make sure that you’re utilizing hyperlinks within your SMS promotions. You can use the list above to get started thinking about what mobile experiences will help your business both engage your customers and drive meaningful revenue.

If you don’t already have an SMS marketing campaign, now is the time to start one. Did you know that 44% of consumers want SMS promotions sent to their smartphones? With such a high percentage of consumers wanting SMS promotions, and now the ability to include hyperlinks within those promotions, the return on investment for starting an SMS marketing campaign has never been so high.

Ready to start your own SMS marketing campaign, or need help thinking about how to effectively integrate hyperlinks within your SMS promotions? Contact the SMS marketing experts here, or call us at (888) 517-6345.


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