There are many ways in which we can communicate with each other, but not all of them are equally effective. Fifty years ago, mail and phone calls were the preferred methods, however today we have text messages and emails that dominate. And of those two, text messaging is by far the most popular especially among millennials.
If you’re in business, it’s a good idea to look into incorporating automated text messaging into your communication strategy if you’re not already doing so.
Why It’s So Important To Communicate
Good communication is crucial because it helps to build relationships and trust between people and businesses. Being able to communicate effectively also helps companies build successful and productive teams and moves the company forward so they can grow. Lastly, good communication fosters transparency, which also helps to build trust.
If you’re in business, it’s imperative that you explore how to better communicate with customers and staff if you want to succeed and grow.
The Rise & Fall of Email
According to Forbes Magazine, email was the preferred method of communication for the past 20 years, and it’s said that professionals spent about 6 hours each day opening and replying to emails, however, thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones, email is dying and has been supplanted by text messaging especially by the younger generation.
Texting Dominates
When ever its mass text or individual, texting isn’t just the preferred method of communication in America, but around the globe. According to research from 21 countries, 75% of cell phone users say they use text, and that includes developing countries too. Texting is so dominant now that research indicates that text messages have a 98% open rate which is astounding compared to the 20% open rate of email. Now, that’s not to say your business should ditch email; rather you need to incorporate both texting and email into your communication strategy if you want to be effective.
Research shows that between texts and emails, texts have a higher open rate, a higher response rate and have a broader reach thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones.
Text Is Direct
One of the significant benefits to texting is that it’s seen as a more direct way to reach your customer and that the message has a greater chance of being acted upon as opposed to an email that might sit unopened in the inbox for days. In fact, email is now like snail mail in that we get it and set it aside to deal with later and then sometimes forget about.
Use Both
All this praise for text messaging isn’t to say that you shouldn’t ever use email— far from it. Email is useful for when you want to send a lengthy, formal message while texting is useful for friendly reminders, promotional offers and general information that needs to be seen immediately.
The point is that your business should be engaging in both forms of communication and should use the strengths of each to get the most out of your communication strategy.