Nearly three-quarters of all U.S. adults actively text message
Published September 07, 2010
While teens are most commonly associated with communicating through text messages, a recent study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that older consumers are increasingly using the channel. The research shows that mobile devices are becoming increasingly important to multichannel marketing campaigns.
According to the report, the majority of adults use text messages to communicate with others. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (72 percent) send and receive texts on a daily basis, which is up 7 percent over 2009. Additionally, they tend to receive up to 10 messages per day.
Meanwhile, consumers are spending more time with their mobile devices, which could enable marketers to more effectively reach them. Sixty-five percent of respondents indicated they slept with their cell phones next to their beds. These consumers tend to view their phones more positively than those who do not sleep with their phones.
With smartphone penetration rising, many brands have been looking for new ways to reach consumers through their cell phones. This has led many marketers to adopt location-based applications, which ABI Research anticipates will account for $1.8 billion of mobile ad spend in 2015.