Recent data from consumer insight specialist GFK MRI has found that the Millennials (born between 1977 and 1994) are 57% more likely to recall seeing an SMS ad on their mobile device compared with the average mobile phone user. More importantly, they are 93% more likely to have responded to a text ad or made a purchase through text.

Overall, the study found that about 6.2% of adults with a mobile phone had looked at an ad sent by SMS. In terms of response, 2.65% had used SMS to respond to an ad or make a purchase during the last 30 days.

However, the response rate was not at all even across age groups.

When it comes to Generation X (people born between 1965 and 1976) the data found that they were 19% more likely to have seen an SMS advert and that they were only 6% more likely to have responded to and advert or made a purchase using their mobile device than the average population. Still above average, but nothing like the Millennials.

Unsurprisingly, Baby Boomers (born between 1965 and 1976) were 40% less likely to have looked at an SMS ad and 55% less likely to have responded to an advert or made a purchase using their mobile device.

The study also looked for factors other than age that may influence people’s uptake of SMS ads. In general, they found that those people who use SMS as part of their life – for example to communicate with friends and family or by receiving text alerts – were 66% more likely to have looked at an SMS ad and 70% more likely to have used SMS to respond to an ad or to make a purchase.

And for those consumers who would agree with the statement “the phone is an extension of my personality”, the level of interaction is even higher: they 85% more likely to have looked at an SMS ad and 110% more likely to have responded or made a purchase.

“Since more and more marketers use text as part of their overall messaging strategy, it’s noteworthy that the youngest consumers seem to be the most amenable to looking at texted ads and using text to respond to ads and make purchases,” said Anne Marie Kelly, SVP, Marketing & Strategic Planning, at GfK MRI. “Given that more than four billion text messages are sent each day in the United States, it seems clear that if older adults were going to take to texted ads or text as a response mechanism, they would have already done so. Reaching this group via texting will be a challenge for advertisers.”