I heard recently that there are over EIGHT TRILLION text messages sent every day. Yes, TRILLION with a T. That means we are sending over 15 million texts every minute, and according to OneReach.com, the average text is responded to in 90 seconds versus the average email in 90 minutes. Text messages have a 98% open rate while email has only a 20% open rate (but I’m sure you always open emails from us, right?).
The funny thing is that while texting is not new technology, the finance industry has been incredibly slow to leverage it. I know, not a big surprise for the banking world to be behind on tech but most folks would think this one to be a bit of a no brainer. As my wife put it so eloquently, “My dentist sends me text messages, why can’t you?”.
I blame the lawyers and regulators. Don’t get me wrong, they play a valuable part in protecting investors but in doing so can make access to technology a complex and costly task. Then get together all the layers of compliance of a large bank or brokerage and you can see how quickly progress skids off the rails. When it comes to text messaging, the difficulty has been the ability to monitor and retain those messages, both to and from clients, in a secure and compliant manner. It’s actually easier said than done, which as a result has left the vast majority of the financial world without the ability to text beyond sending a one-way one-time pin access code.
Well, after completing an extensive amount of research and testing along with our technology partners, we are excited to announce that Spurstone is launching text messaging starting today! We know that convenience and ease of communication are critical to our clients, so we are looking forward to once again taking the lead in delivering industry leading technology and further enhancing the Spurstone experience.
If you’d like to text with the Spurstone team, simply give us a call and we’ll send you a personal welcome text message to “opt in”. We might even send you a 😉…