Text messages have a 98% open rate. Whether you are addicted to your mobile phone or if you are an old-world romantic who dreams of handwritten letters, you can’t deny the reach of mass text messages. The vast majority of Americans (96%) now own a cellphone of some kind.  As a business owner, this means that you have a shot at convincing almost everybody to become your customer. And that’s a huge opportunity.

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Why is texting so effective?

Using text messaging will accomplish the primary goal of marketing, which is to get your customer’s attention. Sure, you could email, put up billboards, or paper the neighborhood with fliers, but the reality is that nothing gets our attention quite like the notification dings on our phone. (When I say dings, I don’t mean it literally. My phone has been on silent since 2012.)


The extremely high open rate is proof that texting is, in fact, the most preferred channel of communication for everybody. Think about it, even with our friends, family or people we want easy access to, we use text messages on a daily basis to communicate. 

In this video, Aaron Novella discusses how he was able to use Birdeye Messaging in real-time to increase communication and engagement while exceeding his client’s expectations.

Comparing text messages with other channels of communication

The best practices of customer interactions are changing fast. Today, it is up to the business to meet the customer where they are. Text messaging marketing is the most personal way to reach out to a customer. It is:

  • Less intrusive: Your customers can check the message any time they want.
  • More flexible: A short message with gifs or a long text with info, whatever your need, you can communicate it via a text message. Text messages are also a channel that appeals to all ages. Teenagers, seniors, and everyone in between, texts have universal appeal.
  • More convenient: Your message goes straight to their phone inbox. Unlike emails that get lost in spam, text messages are more easily accessible. You can be sure that the receiver will definitely open and read it.

Text messages vs phone calls

Today, we are always in the middle of something. Either stuck in a commute, in a meeting or enjoying some well-deserved downtime. This is why nobody wants to make or answer calls if they can help it. As a business owner, you should attempt to make communication with you as easy and stress-free as possible. Phone calls are considered disruptive and time-consuming.

Imagine you own a dental practice that is now changing work hours. If you were to call each one of your patients, it might go something like this. Your patient is in the middle of something when they get a call from an unknown number. Is it spam? They are unlikely to stop everything that they are doing just to answer a call from an unknown number. This means your vital piece of news isn’t conveyed to all your patients.

Phone calls are a drain on a business’s time and resources as well. Maybe you can make 30 phone calls on a good day. It is still going to take you a few days or weeks to talk to all your contacts. But with mass text messages, you can send one single text blast to all your contacts. They get a notification and can look at the message whenever they have time to. This gets your message across effectively and also saves you a lot of time. 

Text messages vs emails 

Emails are super professional. However, think about how much spam we get in our emails. This is why the average open rate for an email is just 17.8%. When you compare that with the 98% of a text message, you see why text messages are so important for communication today. 

Having said that, if you have some serious piece of news (change of address, change of leadership) sending an email alongside a text message is a good strategy. However, for the more informal and regular communication (promotional or seasonal deals), it’s best to go with text messages, since they are more accessible and less intrusive.

Text messages vs chat 

While phone calls and emails are relatively old school, online chat is a new and effective way to reach your customers. There are different options within website chat too — Livechat, Webchat, and Chatbots. Together, they are a comprehensive platform for your customers to reach you.

However, mass text messaging is a great way for you to reach your customers. It is important to keep channels of communication open, both ways. 

Otherwise, your customers will be able to reach you but you will not be able to communicate with them easily en masse or in a group. We’d recommend having both — chat and text messaging — to create a winning communication strategy.  

What can I use mass text messages for?

Here are a few different ways that you can use mass text messaging.

  • Promote a sale or discount- Got a great deal that you want to tell your customers about? You can reach easily via text.
  • Get customer feedback- Want to know whether your customers are satisfied with your services? Send out a survey request that they can take on their smartphones.
  • Get more registrations on events- Are you hosting an event or workshop anytime soon? Promote it by sending a link where they can register.
  • Update your customers on news- Is your business changing its hours of operation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Make sure that your customers are aware.

How to send out mass text messages?

While the idea of mass text messaging is appealing, it can also sound intimidating. But don’t worry. It’s actually very simple. Using Birdeye’s Interactions dashboard, you can send bulk messages to all your contacts with just a few clicks. 

The dashboard also helps you create and manage your contacts easily. Every time you communicate with a customer or a prospect, their contact is automatically created. You also manually upload contacts. You can integrate Birdeye with your existing customer relationship management platform or customer data to have all contacts stored in one place. This way, you’ll be able to reach all of your contacts when you send out a text.

Plus, it’s easy to manage your customers’ responses. The Birdeye dashboard allows you to keep track of all of your customer conversations in one place and gives you automatic notifications through both Google Chrome and the Birdeye Mobile App. That way, you’ll never miss a customer message.

How does Birdeye help

Using Birdeye, you can now quickly launch mass text messaging campaigns. Be it to launch a new sale or an event invite, using customer Interactions from Birdeye it’s now really easy to contact all your customers.