Text messaging platform Text Request has released the 2023 State of Business Texting Report which highlights the biggest trends, challenges, and opportunities in this area. The report dives deep into more than 1000 survey responses and gives insights into the world of business texting and all that comes with it.
"One of the keys to more than doubling our revenue this year has been our proactive approach to understanding how businesses and consumers use texting technology. This report is an important piece of that because it gives us a clear view of what's happening in the industry and where we should direct our business customers so they achieve the most success possible," said Text Request CEO, Brian Elrod.
Below we look at the top trends and common myths surrounding business texting.
Top 3 trends to expect in 2023
According to the report, the following three trends are expected to bloom in 2023.
1. "Conversational Commerce"
One of the biggest trends coming up is that consumers will turn to shopping over texts, making way for "conversational commerce".
The respondents said they prefer to receive payment reminders as well as pay bills through text. In line with this, businesses are becoming more comfortable with taking payments through text, allowing "text to pay" to take center stage in the upcoming months.
Statistics show that:
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69% of consumers want payment-related texts
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46% of consumers want to send businesses sales-related texts.
2. Texting is more convenient than calling
The report shows that people's preferred form of communication is texting. The main reason behind this is the freedom to respond whenever you can instead of rushing to answer a call.
In addition, 80% of people who have exchanged texts with businesses have had a pleasant experience, setting the bar even higher for companies that want to communicate over text.
Statistics show that:
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88% of people want to receive appointment scheduling texts from businesses
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77% of people want to text for customer service
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70% of people say texting is the fastest way to reach them
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67% of businesses started texting to get faster responses.
3. More and more businesses will turn to texting
Even though it is a new trend, business texting is expected to bloom in 2023 due to its rising popularity and large investments in telecommunications infrastructure for delivering messages.
Statistics show that:
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98% of people texting would recommend it to another business
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42% of those not currently texting in their organizations are actively working to implement it, or are planning to implement it this year
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The average business that is texting is doing so for 3+ use cases, more than in past years.
Debunking common business texting myths
The business texting world is full of myths, and the report highlights some of them:
1. Texting is only for B2C, not B2B
B2B buyers expect their own B2C experience. People tend to forget that business buyers are also consumers outside work and 80% of them have previously texted with a business.
Some use cases that can be applied to B2B as well are:
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Appointment scheduling during sales, customer service, and hiring processes
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Payment reminders and collections (bill pay)
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Customer service and general communications
2. Marketing is the sole purpose of business texting
A big misconception is that texting is solely used for marketing purposes.
Only 29% of people said that their business uses texting for marketing, while the main use case is customer service such as conversations about accounts, support, appointments, etc. Therefore, businesses use texting to deal with customers' needs more than for promotion.
3. Texting is only for the younger generations
The survey busts this myth and proves that all generations text almost equally:
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Adults 26-65 years old read the same number of texts
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An equal percentage of adults from 36-65 say texting is the quickest way to reach them
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50% of adults 65+ years old say texting is the quickest way to reach them
- Adults 46-55 years old are actually the most likely demographic to read more texts faster.
