Brief:

• Texting is a faster communication channel than email for sales and marketing, with 75% of people saying they read text messages in two minutes or less, per survey results that Lunar, which offers Salesforce consulting services, shared with Mobile Marketer.
• Texts also generate quick responses, with 25% of survey respondents reporting that they reply to a text in less than one minute and 67% replying in under two minutes. About eight of 10 (78%) people said texting is the easiest communication channel that will urge them to respond.
• Almost half (48%) of survey respondents said they take at least 10 minutes to view an email.

Insight:

Lunar's study suggests that marketers should adopt texting to expedite conversations with existing and prospective customers, as long as the mobile messages aren't distracting, intrusive or too frequent.

"Businesses need to realize if they're not communicating with clients and sales prospects via text, they're inadvertently extending their sales timeline and reducing the amount of sales they could be closing," Lunar President Jon Robinson said in a statement around the survey.

Other research shows mixed attitudes toward calling or texting businesses for marketing purposes, indicating that messaging is in its early stage of consumer adoption when it comes to interacting with companies. Fifty-seven percent of consumers said they prefer phone calls over other forms of electronic communications when contacting local businesses, per a survey by phone technology provider Ooma and Sapio Research. The research found that 35% of Gen Zers favor phone calls because they're faster and more efficient, and phone calls are the preferred way to contact businesses in categories like healthcare, beauty, automotive and legal and tax services. However, 56% of consumers and 53% of small business owners report wanting to use text messaging with each other more often, according to a separate survey by cloud software platform Zipwhip.

Marketers have developed a variety of methods to transform text messaging into a marketing tool that can enrich communications with more visual content. Lighting retailer Lamps Plus in March started letting customers seek help from store employees by sending text messages to specific store locations. The platform gives Lamps Plus employees the ability to send photos and videos from the store directly to customers, who can then get a more detailed look at products before making a purchase. Customers also can send photos of their home interiors to get tips about which products would complement their furnishings, deepening customers' connection with the brand and expediting the path to purchase.