Higher Education: Top 12 Statistics on Why Universities & Colleges Should Be Texting Students

For many colleges and universities, texting is viewed as yet another channel to connect with students and are reluctant to put in the initial legwork to get an SMS texting campaign started. However, texting is delivering faster and more effective responses than phone calls, traditional mail and email. The possibilities for higher education organizations to incorporate texting into their communication strategy are staggering. Here are a few of the top statistics on why integrated text messaging is the right channel for your college or university.

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).

Download “Higher Education: Top 12 Statistics on Why Universities & Colleges Should Be Texting Students” Whitepaper.