SMS Isn't Dead; It Just Got "Smarter"

Vibes’ 2026 Mobile Consumer Insights Report, based on data from November 2025, presents findings that shake the assumption above to its core. The report shows that, far from not wanting messages from brands, customers actually want to receive well-crafted messages more often. In fact, the share of consumers who prefer to hear from brands “once a day” rose from 13% to 22% in a single year. Understanding this paradox presents a vital opportunity for CX & CRM leaders in Türkiye.

What matters isn’t “how many” messages you send but their “content” and “context.” The SMS channel, traditionally used only to announce discounts, has now become a service channel in the customer’s eyes: 50% of consumers want to follow loyalty program updates through this channel, and 45% want to track shipping and account activity there. In other words, what consumers perceive as “spam” and complain about isn’t communication itself but noise that lacks context and is purely sales-driven. If your message tells customers where their package is or what their points balance is, that message is no longer an ad; it becomes an assistant that makes life easier.

Perhaps the report’s most striking finding for Türkiye concerns “app fatigue” and the rise of digital wallets. In Türkiye, every retailer spends millions of lira getting people to download its own mobile app. Yet the Vibes data shows that 72% of consumers would like to give up their physical wallets entirely and use only a digital wallet. Even more critically, more than 1 in 4 consumers say that if they can keep their loyalty card in a digital wallet such as Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, they would choose that over downloading the brand’s own app. This is a game-changing insight for brands in Türkiye: rather than trying to force customers into your app, getting into the digital wallets they already use increases engagement by 76%.

On the technology side, RCS (Rich Communication Services), the evolution of SMS, is no longer a luxury but is becoming the standard: 81% of consumers prefer RCS messages, which offer images, videos and swipeable product catalogs, over plain text. Especially for visually driven consumers, being able to choose a product or tap a “buy” button right inside the message, without going to an app, dramatically affects conversion rates.

The mobile experience has gone far beyond simply “sending notifications.”

Customers expect communication that is personalized (based on past purchases), visually rich (RCS) and integrated into their wallets (Wallet). When CX and CRM leaders in Türkiye stop seeing SMS as a cheap bulk-messaging tool and position it as a strategic trigger at the center of the loyalty loop, they will see the impact on purchasing that the report points to (78% of consumers say they have made a purchase because of a brand’s message) reflected in both customer satisfaction and revenue.