Report: 88 percent of consumers want text conversations with brands

Consumers are willing to share personal information in exchange for value, resulting in a rise in popularity in interactive sms marketing, according to the annual State of Conversational Commerce Report by Attentive, a platform specialised in “business-to-consumer communication”.

8,000 consumers from the US, Canada, the UK and Australia were questioned about the matter, reporting that 91 percent have already participated in a brand’s sms program or are interested in doing so. 88 percent disclosed that they would interact with brands in a two-way conversation about a product, while 87 percent would reach out to resolve a checkout issue.

Once signed in to a brand’s sms subscription, 87 percent of the asked US consumers are likely to purchase an item. They would even go as far as sharing personal information in order to receive free shipping, complimentary gifts or personalised recommendations.

Between last year and this year, consumers’ interest has significantly shifted from convenience to discounts as the reigning factor when it comes to spending money. The survey found out that 61 percent of the US respondents spent between 50 and 500 dollars on a product that was personally advertised to them through sms, which reveals new marketing strategies for high-end brands to communicate with their customers through different channels.

This type of conversational commerce seems to offer brands the possibility to close a revenue gap by offering the client wide options of shopping experiences as well as personalised, prompt attention whilst being direct and measurable.

Marketer’s budgets are staying consistent to 2022 or are even growing, according to Attentive, using channels that are proven to show results to focus on retention and new customer acquisition.

“Sms is a direct revenue-driving channel”, as described in the release, and is globally adopted by consumers. 79 percent of marketers make use of this channel to strengthen the relationship with existing customers and 73 percent of marketers can confirm its success through increased revenues. 52 percent of them are planning to increase their sms marketing budget, making it the highest number in comparison to other paid channel’s budgets.

Sara Varni, CMO at Attentive, explained: "Brands are recreating the in-store experience online, which enables consumers to take an active role in starting a conversation. These two-way conversations naturally lend themselves to invaluable zero-party data collection that amplifies marketers’ efforts.