Customer Sentiment: What People Think About SMS Communication

Each text message dispatched by a business brings the potential to educate, entertain, or exasperate. Although SMS as a channel is highly effective, it elicits mixed emotions from customers. They have a wide variety of feelings about it, ranging from valuing its instant nature and unstoppable rise to really being concerned about the downside of it. They see it as a potential gold mine for businesses, but also as a space that isn't well-regulated and that could lead to even more consumer frustration.

SMS Communication in a Business

Mobile and instant messaging comprises of the use of short message service (text messaging) to involve clients, consumers, or employees in the business. It refers to the exchange of messages for business communication purposes, including advertising solicitations, customer inquiries, notifications, transactional information, follow-up, and feedback.

Companies use SMS because it as fast, with 98% and above open rates on mobile devices, and it directly get to the intended customer. Companies of all sizes can now use SMS thanks to the rising trends of automation and personalization. Due to its ease of use and availability as a tool, it forms a key element in all communication efforts in today’s world.

Why is it Important to Understand Customer Sentiment for Future Strategies?

Customer sentiment analysis is the act of gaining insight into the emotions, opinions or attitudes of customers regarding a business, the business’s products, services, or even the business’s communications. This understanding is crucial for shaping future strategies because it tells businesses what the customer really wants, what they do not like about the existing market environment, and how they view the brand.

An analysis of positive and negative attitudes allows to predict the consumers’ attitudes to value gestures on the part of businesses, create appropriate sales pitches, and adjust customer service to make the clients more satisfied and loyal. The addition of customer insights improves the logical business strategy in communication with the customers, the product in the line, and the general customer experience.

It also enables the business to manage risk factors since issues are dealt with even before they occur, as well as capitalize on opportunities generated in fortifying relations. Customer sentiment analysis helps organizations adapt their policies to the dynamic market situation so that they do not fail to meet the needs of the customers.

Finally, this is the only way that businesses will be able to adapt to meeting the needs of the customer as well as maintain high levels of retention in the target market while keeping the brand and its audience engaged in the long run.

What are The Customer Sentiments Towards SMS Communication?

The modern world cannot imagine its work without fast and immediate business communication, and that is why SMS marketing has become a great tool for businesses. At the same time, customers share different attitudes towards such methods. While everyone embraces the capability in a way that Short Message Service- SMS provides close to personal call Centrex, others may consider frequent and irrelevant short messages as intrusions. Appreciating these resultant mixed feelings is important for businesses in order to harness the powers of SMS in furthering customer relations.

Instant gratification

Mobile customers like SMS because they know it gets to them very fast and the open rates are high. Indeed, text messages are opened within minutes, perfect for emergency or similar alerts such as the delivery notice or the reminder about an appointment. This nearness guarantees that businesses interact with their customers in real time.

Personalization of delivery is closely related to the issue

They added that a truly personalized SMS service is very effective. People are always more receptive to content that has been personalized by showing based on their previous engagement, choice, or purchase. Personalization goes a long way in enhancing the level of engagement, thus the loyalty of customers is built.

Too many messages cause frustration to the recipients

This is likely to become irritating and annoying for customers if these messages are sent too frequently or are messages they are of little use to. The end consumer may be overwhelmed with too many text messages, and the consequence is that they opt out or simply disregard subsequent messages. Read this guide to learn how often businesses should text customers.

Timing is everything

Businesses could also find that the timing of the SMS messages plays a key role in analyzing customer sentiments. Timing a message in the morning or evening before going to bed may be really irritating to the customer. Because timing goes hand in hand with delivery, businesses need to be aware of when they contact others.

Messages must be relevant

Unrelated or vague messages that do not capture the customer’s attention will demotivate him or her. Customers would want brands to send them relevant content that is in some way related to their likes, past purchases, or even their actions. Thus, at the last stage, when customers get an impression of the content being repetitive, they have been known to log out.

Admiration of precise opt-out provisions

Customers find it useful to close and open their SMS with ease. Businesses must give clear and simple objections for the process to match the customers’ preferences, so they do not overstep their boundaries and make customers feel intruded.

Privacy concerns

Most customers are wary of providing their phone numbers to companies because of some privacy issues and probably security. These issues can be demystified and trust with customers can be established when organizations agree on how the submitted information shall be utilized.

Non-intrusive over direct

This is especially true for a type of communication that is generally regarded as less invasive than a telephone call, such as the Short Messaging Service or SMS. However, when businesses misuse this channel or do not pay attention to customers’ preferences, the latter can view an SMS as an interference they do not like. In terms of customers, they prefer messages that are informative, yet not very obvious.

Mobile-first expectations

Customers have become so selective in how they want to be reached today; for example, today’s customers may prefer that businesses communicate with them using text messages rather than through emails or through phone calls. Among them, the most preferred method to reach the target audience in terms of immediacy is considered to be SMS, that is used to convey messages that have to be urgent in terms of their visibility.

Preferred Communication Channels: What Customers Want

Modern customers expect multichannel communication tailored to their context. Here's how SMS compares to other channels:

Channel	Strengths	Best Use Cases
SMS	Fast, direct, high open rates	Reminders, alerts, urgent promos
Email	Long-form, traceable, visual content	Newsletters, invoices, and detailed updates
Phone Calls	Human interaction, problem resolution	Urgent or complex customer service
Live Chat	Real-time support within apps or sites	FAQs, support, and onboarding
Social Media	Public feedback, casual interaction	Community building, brand visibility
Mobile Apps	Integrated services and push notifications	Account updates, loyalty rewards, and offers

How to Monitor and Improve Customer Sentiment via SMS

To build a successful SMS communication strategy, businesses must constantly evaluate performance and adjust accordingly. Here are effective methods to monitor sentiment:

• Response Rates: Measure how many recipients reply to or engage with your messages. A high rate often indicates relevant and valuable content. 
  

• Opt-Out Rates: An increase in unsubscribes signals that something isn’t resonating—be it frequency, timing, or relevance. 
  

• Direct Feedback: Use post-purchase or post-interaction SMS surveys to gather feedback. Short polls or ratings can offer actionable insights.  

• Keyword Analysis: Scan replies for keywords like “annoying,” “stop,” or “thanks” to detect patterns in sentiment. 
  

• Engagement Metrics: Track click-through rates, conversion rates, and time-on-page for linked content to gauge real interest. 
  

• A/B Testing: Experiment with message variations—timing, tone, offer—to learn what performs best across audience segments. 
  

• Social Media Listening: Monitor mentions of your brand or SMS campaigns on social platforms. Public feedback can highlight trends not visible in your SMS dashboard. 

Conclusion

Customer sentiment is the backbone of any successful SMS strategy. Listening, learning, and adjusting to your audience’s expectations ensures that your messages are welcome, not annoying.

Platforms like Falkon SMS help brands build smarter campaigns by offering advanced personalization, delivery optimization, and engagement analytics. With the right tools and strategy, SMS can be both powerful and customer-friendly.