When did texting overtake calling for customer service?
In 2025, texting officially overtook email as the number one way consumers prefer to reach businesses for customer service (Sakari, 2025). Not a phone call. Not a contact form. A text.
And the engagement numbers aren't close. SMS messages have a 98% open rate compared to email's 20%. The average text is read within 3 minutes of being received. When a business sends a text, 45% of people respond — versus just 6% for email (Business.com).
Meanwhile, 75% of consumers say they'd rather text a business than call it (SMS Comparison). That's not a generational quirk. That's three quarters of your customer base raising their hand.
Why do customers prefer texting over calling a business?
There's a reason this shift happened so fast, and it has everything to do with how we now interact with AI.
When ChatGPT launched, it quietly rewired expectations. Suddenly anyone could type a question and get a useful, instant, accurate answer. No hold music. No "your call is important to us." Just: you asked, here's the answer.
People started expecting that everywhere. From their doctor's office. From their HVAC company. From the pest control crew they found on Google at 9pm.
The businesses that meet that expectation are winning. The ones still routing everyone to a voicemail box are quietly losing customers who never bother to explain why they left.
What this looks like for a real service business
Picture a cleaning company owner named Carlos. He runs a small but growing operation — four employees, solid reviews, booked out two weeks in advance most of the time.
But Carlos has a problem he doesn't fully see yet. When someone texts his business number, they get nothing. He checks it when he can — sometimes same day, sometimes the next morning. By then, half of them have already booked someone else.
Carlos isn't doing anything wrong. He's just running a 2016 operation in 2026.
The businesses eating into his market right now aren't bigger or better. They just respond faster. They have an AI handling texts the moment they come in — answering questions, quoting availability, booking appointments — while Carlos is still out with his crew.
Curious what that instant response looks like? Try our demo →
Does WhatsApp matter for US businesses?
In the US, SMS is the dominant channel. But increasingly — especially in cities with large Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and immigrant communities — WhatsApp is how people communicate.
Over 2 billion people use WhatsApp globally. In Brazil it's the default. In major US cities it's growing fast. If your business serves those communities and you don't have a WhatsApp number, you're invisible to a significant chunk of potential customers.
Polu.ai handles both SMS and WhatsApp from a single platform. Your customers reach you however they prefer. Your AI responds instantly on either channel, 24 hours a day.
Is it too late to add texting to my business?
Not even close. Most of your direct competitors still haven't set this up.
Every major communication shift has rewarded early movers. The businesses that got on Google Maps early, that built email lists early, that showed up on social media before it was crowded — they built advantages that compounded for years.
AI texting is in that window right now. The cost is low. The customer behavior that makes it work is already fully in place.
Your customers want to text you. They're just not sure you'll text back.
Show them you will.
See how Polu.ai works →
Get started → polu.ai/register
Related: Missed Calls Are Costing Small Businesses $126K a Year — Here's Why
Sources: Sakari (2025), SMS Comparison, Business.com via Infobip, Validity, SimpleTexting (2025)