In comparison to the e-mails: 

Using e-mail is also one of the best ways to do marketing. But on the comparison, it has found that SMS service fairs far well than the e-mail marketing service. 

• We know that 98% of the SMS get the attention of the receiver and read by the receiver, while only 20% of the e-mails get read by the receivers, rest gets deleted unread. (Techjury)
• Only 10% of the total SMS is regarded as spam and deleted or segregated unread, whereas, for the e-mail, almost 50% of the e-mails get tagged spam and do not even enter the primary inbox. (Techjury)
• It has observed that a person is likely to respond to an SMS within 90 seconds if they do have to while for an e-mail the average response time is 90 minutes. (Techjury)
• Regarding performance and results, SMS marketing results are 7 times better than e-mail results. (Techjury)

More companies prefer SMS marketing: 

It has observed that companies like to undertake SMS marketing services rather than other means of marketing tools, as the former is easy to handle and yielding better results.

• More than 20% of the leading market groups prefer to use SMS marketing for the growth of their business. (Techjury)

• Around 75% of the users are willing to receive promotional SMS. (Techjury)
• 6 out of 10 persons receiving the SMS promotional contents make a positive impression of the company that sends the marketing messaged to them. (Techjury)
• Around 50% of the discount coupons sent by SMS result in direct sales for the company in the US. (Techjury)
• 9 out of 10 persons who are already using the SMS loyalty program tend to gain and use benefits from the schemes given to them. (Techjury)
• As many as 78% of shoppers use mobiles during the process of shopping. (Techjury)
• When people see the brand names in the SMS text, they trust and open the link more easily. (Techjury)
• Almost half the customers like to revert to the SMS received to solve any query with the customer care center. (Techjury)

Forecasting: 

With the growing trend and success of the SMS marketing service, there are a few speculations in the market towards the positive side.

• By 2025 there will be around 6 billion people who will have access to the SMS facility. (Techjury)
• By 2025 the usage of smartphones expects to increase by 77% of the total population. (Slicktext)
• By 2025 more than 61% of the population will have access to the internet. (Slicktext)

Country-wise access: 

The average expenditure of a person may vary in different countries.  Especially when we talk about non-essential things like mobile, the number of mobile access is different in each country.

• In North America, around 80% of the population has access to mobiles. (Slicktext)
• In Russia, it has the highest population with access to mobiles and SMS service, which stands at 89%. (Slicktext)
• In terms of sending SMS, China is number one, with more than 1,081 million people using the service. (Slicktext)
• In India too, there are a large number of people who use this service, and the usage stands at 730 million. (Slicktext)

Response to SMS service: 

SMS services are seen to be getting a lot of positive responses and turning into sales rather than just wastage of money. People tend to read and respond to SMS much faster than any other form of communication. So, the existing users are willing to put in more as it reaps results. 

• 98% of the SMS attention and people open it and that too within an average of 90 seconds. (Slicktext)
• As many as 45% of people willingly reply to the brand-related SMS they receive. (Slicktext)
• 61% of companies still do not use SMS marketing services. (Slicktext)
• In Northern America, around 52% of businesses use SMS marketing. (Slicktext)
• 73% of the existing companies that are using the SMS marketing service are preparing to increase their budget for the same. (Slicktext)

SMS and MMS: 

The usage of text messaging in all forms together is a big chunk of the marketing industry. 

• 88% of the people having a mobile use it for texting. (Slicktext)
• 92% of adults in the US use text-enabled phones. (Slicktext)
• As many as 98% of smartphone users still use texting services. (Slicktext)
• Only 14 % of companies use texting services. (Slicktext)
• 85% of the customers not be disturbed by a call; they prefer a text message. (Slicktext)
• Around 70% of the customers like to use text messaging to get their problems solved. (Slicktext) 
• 68% of customers use texting in case of billing issues. (Slicktext)
• 64% of customers use text service to get or update a reservation. (Slicktext)
• 64% of customers believe that a company that texts them values their time and respects privacy. (Slicktext)
• 45% of customers prefer to use a brand with texting service over the others. (Slicktext)
• By 2020, 85% of the interaction taking place between a brand and a customer would be non-verbal. (Slicktext)
• 70% of interactive messages result in profitable business. (Slicktext)

Industry-wise usage: 

The usage of SMS marketing varies with industry. The usage of SMS service depends much on the target customers and how they want to reach them. 

• In real estate, up to 73% of the companies use SMS marketing services. (Financesonline)

• In the field of the agriculture sector, 65% use SMS marketing. (Financesonline)
• In the entertainment and leisure industry, as the name suggests, all are in leisure mood, so 63% use SMS marketing. (Financesonline)
• In the industry related to construction work, machinery, and homes, as many as 57% of companies prefer to use SMS marketing. (Financesonline)
• The companies related to utilities and energy and extraction use up to 53% of SMS marketing. (Financesonline)
• The industry of airlines, aerospace, or defense use 50% of SMS marketing as a means of marketing for service/products. (Financesonline)
• 50% of business support and logistics companies trust SMS marketing for promotions. (Financesonline)
• Nonprofit making firms also use 50% SMS marketing. (Financesonline)
• 48% of the automotive industry uses SMS marketing. (Financesonline)
• In the education industry, 47% of companies and institutes use SMS marketing. (Financesonline)

Age-wise comparison: 

Usage across different age groups is not the same. Younger people tend to use it more than the elderly. Though many own smartphones these days, but as many as 97% of those people too tend to use SMS services.

• 100% of people in the age bracket 18-29 use SMS service at least once in a week (Learn.g2)
• The people in the age group of 30 – 49 used it 98% times. (Learn.g2)
• The people in the age group 50 and above use it 92% times. (Learn.g2)
• 13% of persons in the age group of 55-64 like to talk rather than read a message. (Learn.g2)
• Millennial women in the age group of 18-34 use phones three times more for sending a message rather than making a call, so they like texting as a preferred means of communication. (Learn.g2)

Inter business usage: 

Apart from contacting customers through SMS, management, and staff of the company required to have better connectivity for improved coordination at all levels. So, for this purpose, also messaging is common in many companies. 

• As many as 39% of all businesses use text messages to send their message to the customers. (Learn.g2)

• As many as 29% of companies have seen that the SMS sent in the timing of 9 am to noon and noon to 3 pm seem to be the most beneficial. (Learn.g2)
• The worldwide Instant Messaging account was 7+ billion in 2019, and it continues to grow 6% per year, and by 2023, the total IM account will be 8.9 billion. (Radicati)

Usage for different services: 

SMS services have been using for many more purposes by the professionals rather than just marketing. It is interesting to note that these are much more useful to all the customers.

• 67% of customers prefer to be given delivery updates through SMS. (Learn.g2)
• 64% of customers like to get order confirmation in the form of an SMS. (Learn.g2)
• 64% of customers want to receive any sort of appointments through SMS services. (Learn.g2)
• 54% of people that set calendar reminders and wish to receive an SMS for it. (Learn.g2)
• 49% of customers prefer to get promotional coupons in the form of SMS. (Learn.g2)

In the field of health care: 

Health care and the medical field is growing at a rapid speed, and it offers many services to the customers. These services require time to time updates and various other service confirmation. For managing appointments, confirmation, alerts, and many other services in Healthcare service, SMS is playing a crucial role and helps to stay connected with the patients and many other services. The following statistics will give a clear picture of SMS and its relation to the Healthcare system.

• 80% of patients prefer to stay in touch with their physician by using a smartphone. (Learn.g2)
• 5% of general physicians send text messages directly to their patients in the year 2018. (Learn.g2)
• 76% of the patients worldwide like to be reminded of their appointment on the SMS. (Learn.g2)
• 45% of pharmacists used text messaging service. (Learn.g2)
• 35% of nurses also used SMS services. (Learn.g2)
• 69% of patients also feel good to be reminded about the dosage and timing of their medications. (Learn.g2)

In another survey, it has found that patients prefer to receive secure texting than any other means of communication.

When a survey conducted on 119 patients,19.6% prefer to have secured text messages than any other communication means. (Medcitynews)

Conclusion:

It has noticed that SMS services are being in use extensively for personal use as well. Many companies in different fields are using the potential of SMS to capitalize on the business. Texting gives instant results, and as a result, more and more companies prefer to use SMS than e-mail alerts or messages.  When we carefully analyze the various digital communication methods, every method has its advantage and disadvantage. However, the Short Message Service is quick and result oriented; hence it is still popular in the advanced digital era, and it will continue to remain here for an extended period, despite all the pressures. 

Reference links:

https://techjury.net/stats-about/sms-marketing-statistics/#gref

https://www.slicktext.com/blog/2018/11/44-mind-blowing-sms-marketing-and-texting-statistics/

https://financesonline.com/sms-marketing-statistics/

https://learn.g2.com/sms-marketing-statistics

https://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Instant_Messaging_Statistics_Report,_2019-2023_Exceutive_Summary.pdf

https://medcitynews.com/2019/02/survey-physician-patients/?rf=1

https://blog.burstsms.com.au/sms-marketing/2019/12/11/62-sms-and-mobile-statistics-for-businesses