For years, a small group of DTC wineries has produced oversized marketing results by using text messaging to stay in touch with customers.
And so far, in 2022, the results reported by SMS wine marketers have grown even more.
That’s why VinterActive and SimpleTexting worked together to collect the insight of 1300 consumers, business owners, and wine marketers on how SMS messaging has impacted their business.
Our goal in sharing these statistics is to educate wine marketers about the unprecedented opportunities now available to wine merchants that use text messaging in their mix.
Key SMS Wine Marketing Statistics
SMS wine marketers reported a 99.6% message delivery rate so far in 2022
SMS wine marketers averaged a 14.7% click-thru rate so far in 2022
In 2022, 70% of consumers opted in to receive texts from businesses
61% of consumers say they want the ability to text a business
Across all industries, 55% of companies now text their customers
In 2022, only 8% of DTC wineries reported the use of text marketing
Key Consumer Insights
According to survey results, 1 in 3 consumers check their text notifications within one minute of receiving a text, and 85% of consumers check their texts within 1-5 minutes of receiving a text.
Looking at consumers by age, younger generations are the speediest at checking their text messages throughout the day. 44% of Gen Z consumers check their text notifications within one minute of receiving a text – that’s 27% faster than the national average.
What do reply rates look like when comparing text vs. email?
Today’s consumers typically reply to an email within a few hours (35%), and for 16% of consumers, it can take a day or longer to engage.
Looking at the time it takes consumers to reply via text, more than half (51%) reply to a typical text message within 1-2 minutes, and 33% reply within 5-10 minutes.
These stats bode remarkably well for businesses interested in two-way messaging to build stronger relationships with customers, prospects, and employees.
Consumers open their text messages much more frequently than their email, and 98% of them aren’t just opened – they’re read. According to survey results, 53% of consumers check their text messages 11 times a day or more – only 29% of consumers check their email at the same rate. What’s more, consumers are more likely to have push notifications turned on for text notifications than email.
With digital marketing channels like social media, you could have the most incredible messaging in the world – but algorithms only show your content to a fraction of your followers. And with email, you can spend a lot of time on design and copy that ends up in a spam folder or just plain ignored.
That’s why texts are the ultimate DTC marketing medium. They’re easy to send and are almost always read by an audience that’s happy to receive them.
On average, consumers check their text messages more than any other app on their phones – even more than social media.
77% of respondents say that checking, sending, and answering text messages is the activity that they’re most engaged with on their phones throughout the day, followed by checking social media (64%), consuming news or entertainment (50%), and listening to music or podcasts (49%).
Emailing and making phone calls trails behind, only topping mobile gaming and shopping.
Customer interest in SMS marketing is also growing more and more each year. In our 2021 SMS marketing report, 62% of consumers had subscribed to receive texts from businesses.
In 2022, 70% of consumers reported they already subscribe to some form of SMS marketing, setting a new record with 12% growth over 2021. Most text marketing consumers (55%) currently subscribe to receive texts from 1-5 businesses, often for things like shipping notifications, appointment/reservation reminders, special offers, and promo codes.
On the whole, consumers are most likely to receive texts from businesses in the e-commerce and retail space (52%), followed by healthcare (49%), banking/finance (47%), and travel (26%).
E-commerce and retail channels can work symbiotically using text messaging for order notifications, shipment tracking, sales/promotions, and post-purchase reviews. E-commerce businesses see 98% open rates and 36% click-through rates because consumers can quickly and easily find special offers in their text messages, rather than sifting through websites, email inboxes, and social media feeds for the best sales.
In addition, younger generations are warming to text-to-buy options with the brands they trust most, removing the need for traditional mobile checkout. 20% of Gen Z consumers say they’re likely to use a text-to-buy functionality where they can purchase their favorite products directly through a business text.
Most consumers value two-way conversations with businesses. 61% say they want the ability to text a company back for things like appointments, reservations, event reminders, and customer service.
And perfect for the wine industry, baby boomers want to text businesses back more than any other generation!
When asking today’s consumers, “how would you like to contact a business when you have a question,” 41% say through text, 35% through email, and 23% through phone calls.
Consumers value mobile messaging support because it’s both responsive and convenient. While emails and phone calls can have larger-than-life wait times, texting lets consumers quickly get in touch with their favorite businesses with minimum delay.
Key Business Insights
In 2021, 42% of business owners and digital marketers texted their customers using a text messaging service. In 2022, 55% of businesses reported texting their customers, a 27% annual growth rate in SMS marketing adoption.
In addition, 60% of business owners who text their customers plan on increasing their SMS marketing budget in 2022, partly because they see growing opt-in rates and more sales conversion rates attached to marketing campaigns that include SMS.
Over 1 in 3 business owners (38%) use text marketing to boost sales and offer promotions. The sense of urgency synonymous with texting works particularly well for marketing efforts like special offers and time-sensitive promotions.
SMS click-through rates (CTRs) are noticeably higher than email marketing CTRs – another reason today’s businesses use SMS marketing together with email. Most business marketers report SMS click-through rates between 20 and 35% – compared to the 1-to-10% CTRs reported by businesses using email marketing.
Finally, we asked why many companies are now investing in SMS marketing. The largest portion of business owners and digital marketers (35%) said they chose SMS marketing because it’s so easy to use.
2022 Mid-Year Wrap-Up
All in all, the future continues to look bright for SMS wine marketing in 2022.
On average, 70% of consumers already receive texts from businesses, SMS click-through rates remain strong, and wine consumers want to engage in two-way messaging with the brands they love most.
With most of this year’s selling season still ahead, SMS wine marketing offers the easiest way for most DTC wineries to boost their bottom line by using text messaging to grow sales and customer satisfaction.
Interested in learning more about SMS wine marketing? We can get you started with text marketing in just 10 minutes. And better yet? You can try it out for free. It couldn’t be simpler!