Higher Education: Top 12 Statistics on Why Universities & Colleges Should Be Texting Students
Here are a few of the top statistics on why integrated text messaging is the right channel for your college or university.
POPULARITY
1. Email has a 20% open rate, while text messages soar at a 98% open rate (Source: Mobile Marketing Watch).
2. 90% of all text messages are read in under 3 minutes (Source: Connect Mogul), and the average is less than 5 seconds
(Source: SlickText).
3. On average, college students spend 94 minutes per day texting (Source: Journal of Behavioral Additions).
4. Text messages have a 45% response rate, while email has a 6% response rate (Source: Velocify), with the average time
taking 90 seconds to respond to a text verses 90 minutes for an email (Source: CTIA).
5. 86% of students reported that texts prompt them to complete a task they haven’t done yet (Source: Castleman and Page).
6. 85% of students reported that texts informed them of something they hadn’t realized they needed to do (Source:
Castleman and Page).
GROWTH OPPORTUNITY
7. 30.8% of prospective students who signed up to receive text updates applied, verses 10.9% of all prospective students
(Source: St. Mary’s University).
8. 42% of accepted students who signed up to receive text updates paid a deposit, verses 26% of all accepted students
(Source: St. Mary’s University).
9. Georgia State University reduced summer melt by 21.4%, and increased enrollment by 3.9% by utilizing ‘smart text
messaging’ (Source: eCampus News).
DESIRABILITY
10. 76% of millennials would rather lose calling capability than texting, as texts are “more convenient” for their lifestyle
(Source: OpenMarket).
11. 84% of students reported they found text reminders useful in helping them get everything done for college (Source:
Castleman and Page).
12. 77% of students say they’d like to receive relevant information from colleges via text (Source: Cappex).