Texting now boasts a 98% open rate (compared to 25% for emails) and, with 90% of texts being opened within the first 3 minutes they’re received, it’s no surprise that Americans are making the shift to texting for business purposes. The Burner team recently conducted a survey among American workers to uncover just how much texting is dominating the business communication landscape and how workers really feel about texting for business.

Texting is an easy way to conduct business quickly, but it’s important to remember that using your personal number can be disruptive and even dangerous when it gets into the wrong hands. In fact, 79% of American workers reported they receive text messages from senders they don’t know on a weekly basis and 15% receive more than 20 texts per week from unknown senders.

Texting for business is also creating challenges for women in particular, sparking stressful or uncomfortable situations among colleagues. About 62% of American working women reported they sometimes feel uncomfortable with the idea of providing their personal cell phone number to business contacts.

While it’s frustrating that we have to worry about our privacy when giving our numbers away in a professional setting, as texting for business increases across the board, if you don’t adjust now, you might get left behind.

Luckily, Burner helps business people protect themselves by keeping their work number separate from their personal one and offering robocall protection from our integration with Nomorobo. That way, workers can adhere to this shift in communication without being placed in an awkward or precarious situation.

See the full survey results below:

40% of American workers say that giving up texting would be most disruptive to their lives
79% of American workers receive text messages from senders they don’t know on a weekly basis and 15% receive more than 20 texts per week from unknown senders
30% of workers receive texts at inappropriate hours and 11% have received an inappropriate message from a business contact
More than half of American workers (58%) sometimes feel uncomfortable with the idea of providing their personal cell phone number to business contacts
62% of American working women sometimes feel uncomfortable with the idea of providing their personal cell phone number to business contacts
Almost half of American workers (46%) respond to texts within 5 minutes
More than half of American workers (55%) text with people they do business with (clients, colleagues, customers) at least once a week
66% of American workers feel it is appropriate to use texting for business and work-related conversations
70% of American workers say that at least some of their business matters have moved from email to text in the last 5 years
Half of American workers (50%) are most likely to use texting when trying to reach a work colleague urgently or after hours
Emails are less urgent than texts. Only about 11% of American workers respond to emails within 5 minutes.