84% of users expect a SMS response in five minutes according to an online survey by 160 Characters that looked at how different messaging platforms elicit differing response times.

The survey looked at the messaging habits of end-users across email, instant messaging and SMS in personal and work environments.

The results highlight the ongoing preference for using SMS as a key communication tool, especially when an immediate or near immediate response is required. Most people would respond to a personal SMS (84%) in less than 30 minutes according to the results of the poll while only 56% would respond in that time to a work related message.

While it is true as one respondent commented that the response time "depends on the context and the person sending/receiving the mail", differences emerge between the broad context of messages and between business and personal use. For example:
WAITING FOR YOUR EMAIL
26% of respondents would take between two and five hours to reply to a personal email and 31% would wait till the next day to reply.

With so many work related emails, one respondent noted that "The important ones get an immediate response; the others take about an hour."

However, 26% said it would take them two to five hours to reply and 22% would keep you waiting till the next day. At least this was better than the response time to personal email with 31% waiting for the next day.
MMS STILL TOO SLOW
No one admitted to not using SMS for personal reasons but 12% still don't use it at work. However this compares to 60% who would never use MMS for work related communications with long delivery times cited as the main reason.
Instant Messaging (IM)
Mobile IM still has some way to go for both business and personal use with 42% not using mobile IM for personal reasons and 54% not using it for business.

This compares to the PC where only 15% don't use PC based IM for personal and 27% not using in business.

For those that do use Mobile IM, 57% expect a reply within 5 minutes for a personal message while only 18% expect a business reply in that time.
IM IN SMS CLOTHING
There seems to be a trend to launch mobile Instant Messaging under the guize of an upgraded SMS. Mike Grenville, chairman and founder of 160 Characters said: “There is a temptation for Operators to merge messaging types as networks become more sophisticated. These results show that consumers are well aware of the different features of each messaging type and that they are comfortable choosing the message type most suited to the context of the message. “