PB DATA LABS
What 170 million real-world text messages reveal about replies, timing, and unsubscribes.
Many businesses treat SMS like email, sending promotional messages to large lists. The PB Data Labs report shows this might not be the best strategy. Messages that invite or encourage a reply consistently outperform traditional broadcast messages. When customers respond to a text message, the interaction shifts from marketing to conversation, and starts driving real value. The report explores how businesses can send messages that initiate conversations, rather than simply deliver promotions.
Because text messages are often read shortly after delivery, timing has a major impact on engagement. The analysis revealed clear differences in reply behavior depending on the hour a message is sent. Certain times of day consistently produced stronger engagement while maintaining low unsubscribe rates.
Businesses send many different types of SMS messages, including 1-on-1 chat, broadcasts, keyword replies, and more. Each message type produces different engagement patterns. In fact, the report shows that some types of messages generate up to 17X the reply rate of others. Understanding these patterns can dramatically improve messaging performance.
Strategies to optimize your text marketing:
Download the report to see what 170 million real-world text messages reveal about how customers interact with businesses via SMS.
PB Data Labs was created to help businesses better understand how customers interact with SMS messaging. Instead of relying on assumptions or small datasets, PB Data Labs analyzes messaging behavior across millions of real-world interactions.
