We talked a lot about how shifts in communication, particularly the rise of mobile devices, are changing the world of business in our eBook The Way We Work: Styles from Pre-Boomers to Millennials, but there wasn?t a lot of focus on the youngest members of Generation Y (a.k.a. Millennials).
A recent infographic from OnlineSchools.com sheds some light on today?s teenager, highlighting the fact that they make up the first generation to have no memory of life before cell phones and the Internet. Here are some of the more interesting points:
- 63 percent communicate with each other by text messaging
- Only 6 percent communicate with each other via e-mail
- Kids ages 12-17 send an average of 167 text messages per day
While these points aren?t necessarily shocking, they do indicate an intense trend that businesses would do well to start thinking about sooner rather than later: the text message.
A Mobile Call to Action
Whether or not today?s teens are a part of your target audience, making a move that aligns with the direction of the future is a smart thing to do now. Mobile is an obvious play, but since the youngest Millenials evidently don?t like e-mail, and only 29 percent prefer social networks as their primary mode of communication, the future of being able to read a newsletter blast or a sponsored ad while on the go might not turn out to be as promising as it appears today.
As an older member of Gen Y, I can tell you that shifting over to text messages has been a really easy and convenient thing to do. Example: I recently moved to a new apartment, so I had to set up a bunch of things all at the same time (cable, PG&E, water, etc.). I was delighted when my Internet provider sent me a text message to remind me that I?d scheduled a technician to come out the next day. ?Is this still a convenient time?? asked the message. ?Reply with Y for yes or N for no.? I imagine had I said no the company would have replied with a link to reschedule my appointment, saving their technician from a wasted trip and myself from the frustration of having to reschedule at the last minute.
If everyone else in my age bracket finds interacting with companies in this way just as easy and effective ? and I?d wager most of them do ? then finding a way to incorporate text messaging in your mobile strategy is even more important than the infographic below suggests. Give it a click for the full size version, or check out OnlineSchools.com?s original post here. And if you?re currently using text messaging to communicate with your customers, tell us how it?s going in the comments below.
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