New OpenMarket Survey Reveals Millennials Would Rather Lose the Ability to Call than Text

 A new survey by Openmarket reveals that 75 percent of millennials would rather lose the ability to talk on the phone than the ability to text calling texting more convenient and less disruptive than calling

OpenMarket, a leader in enterprise mobile engagement, today announced the results of its nationwide survey[1], which polled 500 millennials on their communication preferences. Findings reveal millennials have an overwhelming affinity for texting. In fact, when given the choice between only being able to text or call on their mobile phones, a surprising 75 percent of millennials would rather lose the ability to talk versus text. Survey respondents say texts are "more convenient" and on their own schedule (76 percent), texts are "less disruptive than a voice call" (63 percent), they "prefer to text vs. call" in general (53 percent) and because they "never check voicemails" (19 percent).

With 77 million millennials in the U.S. – nearly a quarter of the U.S. population – OpenMarket sought to gain a deeper understanding of millennials' communication preferences to provide enterprises insight on how to best communicate and engage with this text-savvy audience. This is especially important as 75 percent of millennials surveyed find text reminders helpful, yet only 30 percent are receiving them from companies they do business with regularly.

"As the survey results reveal, companies have a massive opportunity to connect with millennials by communicating via text messaging," said Jay Emmet, General Manager for OpenMarket. "Whether it's sending them an alert that their package has arrived or offering customer support via texts instead of calls, using SMS allows companies to communicate exactly how and where millennials like. Nearly half of millennials are more interested in receiving texts from businesses now than they were two years ago, proving that SMS is becoming more essential for connecting with this growing segment of customers."

Other survey findings include:

• Of the 30 percent of millennials that receive texts from companies, the majority (75 percent) find text reminders for appointments, deliveries, payments, promotions, and surveys helpful.
• Specific types of alerts they receive are product offers and coupons (62 percent), account activity payment reminders and potential fraud alerts (59 percent), order alerts or delivery notifications (56 percent), general appointment reminders (51 percent), security authentication prompts (32 percent), and satisfaction surveys (22 percent).
• Millennials find text alerts helpful because they're "an effective way to be reminded on their own time" (60 percent), "one less thing to have to remember" (57 percent) and "the most convenient way to be reminded" (55 percent).

OpenMarket and its cloud-based mobile messaging solutions support over 400 enterprises globally, including four of the top 10 most respected global brands[2]. Its Mobile Engagement Platform allows global enterprises to easily create and deploy smart, interactive mobile engagement services globally with connectivity to over 200 countries. Enterprises can access the platform via a web-based GUI or directly via service APIs. The platform supports features such as personalization, scheduling, logic and decisioning, list management, user segmentation, and reporting. By using OpenMarket's platform, enterprises are able to mobilize operational processes, optimize internal and external communications, improve customer experiences, drive brand awareness, and generate new revenue.