It's a new year and that means new text marketing trends in 2024. Get our firsthand insights on what your customers want and how to give it to them here.
We’ve rung in the new year, and now SMS newcomers and veterans alike are on the lookout for SMS marketing trends for 2024.
Make no mistake, those trends can and will change the way you interact with your customers, your workflows, and your success over the next year.
That’s why we here at SimpleTexting conducted a survey of business owners and consumers to get a data-driven understanding of how, why, and how often people are texting these days.
That survey is on its way to you, but I’ll be honest. I saw the raw data and asked to share it early. I’ll give you the highlights of that data here to help you make a game plan for the coming year.
This one is music to the ears of anyone who’s struggled with their engagement metrics when sending out texts.
This year, the number of businesses whose average click-through rates sit above 35% grew by almost 62% between 2021 and 2024.
This is partially because SMS has now been around for a number of years and we’re all getting a better sense of how to use it.
It’s also likely due to the fact that, year by year, SMS is becoming a universally in-demand and spam-free channel. This means your customers want to hear from you via text and they trust your messages enough to interact with them.
What this means for you:
If you’re teetering on the fence about whether text messages will really reach your customers successfully, this is your sign that they will.
No surprise here. Gen Z is growing up (a fact that makes my aging self cringe a bit) and they’re fans of texting.
According to our report, Gen Z are the generation subscribing to SMS marketing at the highest rates. 85% of Gen Zers opted in to get texts from businesses in 2023 –– a 19% increase from our last report.
All that to say, it will pay to learn how to talk to a younger demographic. Keep this in mind as you research and put together your texts.
What this means for you:
This is a good reminder to keep your texts age-inclusive as much as possible.
That means it’s okay to play with emojis and a fun tone (as long as it fits your brand voice). Not to mention that tuning into and communicating about Gen Z’s concerns, like sustainability, mental health, and ethical product sourcing will pay off.
Although we often think of healthcare as a more “traditional” business model, healthcare practices have been adopting SMS for years with no signs of slowing.
In the present day, healthcare topped the list in our survey as the sector with the highest SMS marketing adoption rates at 86%.
That’s just the business side. Healthcare consumers also reported the highest opt-in rates in our data.
What this means for you:
If you work in healthcare, SMS is now the norm. Your customers and patients want you to text them, and you can be sure that your lists will grow if and when you adopt texting.
As a dentist, we don’t really learn a lot of things about business. That word itself, ‘user experience’ was not in my vocabulary. But it’s important, right? Yes, we’re a dental office, and we’re providing medical treatment for people. But at the same time, we’re also a business, and interaction with our business is important for our users or patients.
Dr. Gurpreet Sidhu, D.D.S.
Owner, Lighthouse Dental Centre
While use cases like promotions and other one-way message types will still have a place in your text marketing strategy, the numbers show that they don’t top the list anymore.
Customer satisfaction surveys and feedback were reported as the use case with the highest conversion rate by 18% of the businesses we surveyed.
What this means for you:
Your subscribers want to be involved in your messaging strategy and your brand.
If you haven’t already, build surveys and feedback requests into your texting cadence at regular intervals.
This not only fits into the current trend, but it gives you valuable information you can use to refine and improve your future campaigns.
📖 8 SMS Survey Examples (Plus How to Create a Text Survey Step-by-Step)
On the heels of the previous point, promotional texts will play second fiddle to transactional texts this year.
Appointment and reservation reminders (73%) and package tracking or order status (66%) texts are the use cases consumers say they’re most likely to opt in for.
Now, that’s not to say you should scrap your sale announcements. It’s simply a reminder that your customers are looking for information that’s personal to them and immediately useful.
What this means for you:
If you don’t already offer these formats (and if they’re appropriate for your business), consider adopting them.
Also, this is an excellent way to keep perspective around the fact that your content calendar doesn’t have to sell and promote at all times. Sometimes, transactional texts are the best way to be of genuine service to your customers.
You likely saw this coming, but artificial intelligence (AI) is set to take a bigger role in creating the text messages business owners send.
When asked which emerging trends or technologies they planned to add to their text marketing strategies in the future, business owners chose AI above all others (at 40%).
That’s for a very good reason. Not only does AI take some of the work of texting off your plate, but it can also lend some inspiration when you’re suffering writer’s block and need suggestions.
What this means for you:
It’s likely time to find a favorite AI tool. Like most businesses, SimpleTexting loves AI. We even built an AI message generator into our platform. So, if you’re looking for an easy place to start exploring texts by AI, try it out.
In the past, some businesses considered texting to be a cornerstone of their customer-facing operations and others saw it as a tool — nice to have, but not terribly impactful.
In 2024, the former perspective will win the day.
In our survey, 63% of consumers agreed that businesses that text provide them with a better customer experience than those that don’t.
I’ve worked in text marketing for years now, and I’ve personally witnessed the value of the “human touch” in SMS marketing and communications. AI certainly has its place in helping you craft some of your texts, but don’t let that ease of use make your texting program robotic or impersonal.
Texting is inherently an intimate form of communication, and using it properly can make your customers feel seen, valued, and taken care of.
What this means for you:
Be mindful of the fact that a strong, nurturing customer experience is the goal of your SMS program (not just better click-through rates).
Keep your messages personalized, consistent with your voice and brand, and timely when responding to requests.
All these things will keep your customers satisfied and returning to you.
On a similar note, texting is becoming less of an individual function and more of a vital piece of businesses’ overall workflow thanks to integrations.
As of 2024, 78% of businesses integrate their text marketing with other marketing tools like Hubspot, Mailchimp, and Salesforce.
Texting is like your favorite sauce at your go-to takeout place. It might be the standout feature there and the thing that makes the meal, but it really shines when combined with other components.
Not to mention, integrating SMS with tools you already use can take a lot of work off your plate and enable you to get more creative with your marketing flows.
We’ve seen businesses:
And much, much more.
What this means for you:
Integrations are about to be your best friend. We’ve always believed in them. That’s why we offer integrations with literally thousands of tools from email software to calendar apps and beyond.
Take a close look at your regular workflows as they connect to your SMS strategy and look for places where one less tool or task could be useful. Chances are, there’s an integration for that.
Based on what Salesforce tells us, we can customize the first automated text in SimpleTexting for the type of client, the information package they receive and connect them with the appropriate person to speak to.
Sara Fairman
Corporate Trainer and Salesforce Administrator, Canadian Fertility Consulting
Dani Henion is the content team lead at SimpleTexting and is continuously looking for ways to make text messaging strategies and tips more accessible to SMBs. When she's not writing or planning new SMS content, you'll find her decorating elaborate sugar cookies or thrifting in Atlanta.
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