Americans receptive to text ads, for now

Americans are more responsive to text ads than their European counterparts, according to new figures from M:Metrics.
But that trend isn’t likely to last.
The Seattle-based market research firm found that Spanish consumers reported the most SMS come-ons, with 75% of mobile users saying they had received a text ad in July. Users in Germany received the least text pitches among European consumers, with fewer than one-third getting a marketing message via SMS.
Only 17% of U.S. consumers received a text ad in July, but 12% of American mobile users responded to a sales pitch.
Six percent of users in Spain responded to text ads, and only 5.7% of German consumers replied to the messages. The United Kingdom was the most responsive European market, with 9.2% of mobile consumers responding to an ad.
Response rates among U.S. users are likely to drop, however, as text advertising moves into the mainstream, according to M:Metrics analyst Evan Neufeld.
“The early days of SMS advertising are similar to the advent of e-mail, which was initially a very effective, high-conversion advertising platform,” Neufeld said. “It is not coincidental that the marketplace with the highest prevalence of SMS ads-Spain-also has the lowest level of response, as it is natural to see interaction with ads dip as the novelty factor wears off.”