While data-based messaging services such as WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage, and Rich Communication Services (RCS) have grown in popularity, most Kenyans continue to use Short Message Service (SMS).
Despite its 160-character limit, this tried-and-true messaging service remains a popular and reliable means of communication. A valuable tool in today’s diverse communication landscape, SMS works seamlessly on virtually any mobile phone.
From 12.2 billion messages, Kenyans saw a significant increase to 14.1 billion messages. The fourth quarter of 2023 saw this increase in traffic. Due to the extended school break and the holiday season, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) reports a 15.6% increase in SMS traffic.
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Out of all the messages sent, approximately 12.3 billion were online, and Kenyans only managed 1.7 billion. With 89.5%, Safaricom captured the vast majority of the traffic. With 10.4% of the traffic, Airtel was the second biggest player, which implies that Kenyans use just two networks for sending SMS texts.
Nearly half of all Kenyans (47.3 percent) used WhatsApp in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a recent CA survey. The number of people using smartphones has also increased dramatically in the country. As of right now, 33.6 million smartphones are in use in Kenya. Compared to the 31.8 million feature phones, this figure is higher. Fewer than 2% of Kenyans use the messaging app Telegram despite the fact that it has over 900 million users worldwide.
However, texting continues to be popular. In the context of the holidays, this might imply that companies promote special deals to customers through bulk text messaging services.
There may be a lot of young Kenyans who are still using feature phones since the spike happens during school holidays. The months in which schools in Kenya are closed for holidays show a steady increase in the data. The number of people subscribing to SMS bundles has gone up.
Why SMS is important
Because every mobile phone comes with its own native SMS app, the reach of SMS is practically endless. Short message service (SMS) has become an effective marketing, support, and customer communication tool with 5.1 billion mobile service users worldwide (67% of the global population).
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With the help of an SMS gateway, businesses in Kenya can save money by sending bulk SMS messages to their customers’ contacts. Users in the business world are able to compose messages on the bulk SMS platform. As soon as they are prepared, the bulk SMS gateway dispatches them to the specified Kenyan recipients.
The average open rate of a text message is 98%, which is much higher than the open rate of an email (19.8%). Because of this, SMS campaigns can be a great way to increase engagement and drive conversions. Since the receivers of your message are alerted practically immediately, text messaging is an assured method of contacting clients.
With more and more people having access to mobile phones, businesses in Kenya can reach a large demographic at a low cost, driving growth in the country’s SMS advertising market.