New Survey Finds 65% of Consumers Made a Purchase From a Brand’s Text Message in 2025

Vibes, the mobile-first engagement platform and North American RCS messaging leader, has announced the findings from its ninth annual comprehensive Mobile Consumer Insights survey for 2026. The full report is available to download here.

Every year, Vibes surveys a broad range of over 1,100 mobile-centric consumers with the intention of understanding what their relationship with their smartphones looks like today; how this has changed over multiple years; how they prefer to interact with brands on their phones, and how these interactions impact their path to purchase.

Key findings in 2026 include:

• 78% of consumers say they have made a direct purchase from a brand’s SMS or MMS text message (up from 75% last year), with 65% having done so within the past year

• 81% of consumers showed a marked preference for RCS messaging over SMS

• Consumers now prefer redeeming offers via text message more than email and apps – with 41% preferring text, 39% email, and only 20% via a brand’s mobile app.

• This is the first time in Vibes’ nine annual surveys that text messaging has surpassed email.!

Vibes’ survey also illuminates just how rapidly mobile wallets for coupons, offers and loyalty cards have gone mainstream over the past three years.

76% of consumers now say they are “much more likely” to engage with brands that provide a mobile wallet option for offers & coupons, which is up from 60% in 2025. 75% of consumers also said they are much more likely to engage with a brand that offers a mobile wallet loyalty card, up from 57% in 2025.

This growing adoption of mobile messaging and digital wallets clearly opens an opportunity for brands looking to drive more foot traffic, given 98% open rates for SMS, MMS and RCS. Moreover, the excitement speaks to the ability to directly attribute the ROI that a digital wallet drives for their business.

Tellingly for 2026 message trends, 81% of consumers even showed a marked preference for RCS messaging over SMS, with particular enthusiasm shown for RCS product carousels, and the high-quality images & video visuals available within RCS messages.

“These results tell us that the shift away from mobile apps for transactions is accelerating,” said Alex Campbell, Vibes’ Co-Founder & CIO. “RCS will only accelerate this faster. Any brand that uses messaging will be well-positioned to shift their focus away from their app, and into the surging RCS messaging and mobile wallet channels.”

Vibes has made the full report available for download here.

Missed our 2025 annual report? You can download it directly here.

Contact Information

Michelle Stansbury

Media Contact

Little Penguin PR (for Vibes)

michelle@littlepenguinpr.com