How to Track Your SMS Marketing Success：Key Metrics and KPIs You Need to Know

Why SMS Marketing Metrics Matter

SMS marketing is vital for global business outreach, leveraging the mobile phones of over 5 billion users worldwide. Boasting unparalleled reach and open rates exceeding 90%, SMS presents a significant opportunity. To optimize campaign impact, closely track performance metrics, including list growth, revenue, and engagement. Data-driven insights help refine your strategy and benchmark success against industry standards.

Consistent monitoring of SMS KPIs reveals patterns and weaknesses, enabling adjustments in frequency, audience targeting, and content formats. This metrics-focused approach facilitates continual improvement. Accurate analytics pave the way for a thriving SMS marketing program, delivering impressive ROI. This guide explores essential metrics, analysis frequency, tools, and optimization strategies for maximizing your SMS marketing success.

List Growth Metrics

The size and growth rate of your SMS list is a key indicator of the overall health and performance of your SMS marketing program. Here are two important list growth metrics to track:

New Subscribers

• Measure the number of new subscribers added to your SMS list over a specific time period. This could be daily, weekly or monthly.
• Compare new subscriber growth week-over-week or month-over-month to identify trends.
• Look at which campaigns attract more new subscribers and try to replicate their success.
• Benchmark your new subscriber growth rate against industry averages for your market. On average, SMS marketing programs see 1-2% list growth per month.

List Size Percentage Increase

• Calculate the percentage your total list size has increased over a given timeframe.
• Aim for steady, sustainable list growth vs quick bursts that may not be maintained.
• Month-over-month list size percentage increase is a good metric to track ongoing growth.
• Benchmark your % increase against other top performers in your industry. 5-10% per month is a good target.
• Watch for declining growth rates as a sign you need to test new lead gen strategies.

Tracking new subscriber acquisition and the overall expansion of your SMS list size shows how well your program is growing and gaining new mobile audiences. Set goals, analyze trends, benchmark performance, and optimize efforts to drive ongoing healthy list growth.

Revenue Metrics

The revenue generated from your SMS marketing campaigns is a crucial metric to analyze. This allows you to calculate the return on investment (ROI) of your text message marketing efforts and determine the profitability of the channel.

To measure revenue, track the following:

• Total revenue generated from sales, conversions, leads, or other actions directly attributed to your SMS campaigns. Ensure this data is tracked at the campaign level.

• The total cost associated with sending the SMS messages, including any software costs and SMS message fees.

• ROI of each campaign, which is calculated by this formula:

  ROI = (Revenue - Cost) / Cost

A good SMS marketing campaign should generate a positive ROI. If not, you may need to adjust your approach.

• Compare the revenue and ROI from SMS marketing to your other channels like email, social media ads, SEO, etc. This allows you to see which marketing platforms are most profitable.

Benchmark your SMS marketing revenue metrics against industry averages for your niche. For most industries, SMS marketing yields \(8-\)12 in revenue for every $1 spent. If your ROI is lower, aim to optimize your campaigns to increase it.

Analyzing the revenue and return from your SMS efforts provides the hard data you need to determine the value of text message marketing and optimize your approach. Track these metrics closely to maximize the profitability of your SMS strategy.

Engagement Metrics

Engagement metrics allow you to measure how well your SMS marketing messages resonate with your subscribers. There are a few key engagement metrics to track:

Open Rates

The open rate shows the percentage of total recipients who open your SMS message. This helps you gauge how many people actually view your text messages. An open is counted when the message is expanded on the mobile screen.

Benchmark open rates vary greatly by industry, but a good target open rate is 30-50%. If your open rate falls below 30%, it may indicate issues with targeting or content relevance.

Click-Through Rates

The click-through rate (CTR) measures how many recipients tap on any links you include in your SMS campaigns.

CTR indicates how compelling your call-to-action is. For SMS marketing, a CTR of 5-15% is considered decent. Anything above 15% is excellent.

If your CTR is low, try testing different offers, copy, and landing pages. Shortening links with a URL shortener can also help increase CTR.

Reply Rates

Reply rate shows what percentage of recipients engage by responding directly to your SMS message.

This metric demonstrates how interested your subscribers are in conversing and interacting. For SMS marketing, an average reply rate is 5-10%.

High reply rates mean you have very engaged subscribers. You may be able to use two-way messaging to collect feedback or provide more information to interested leads.

How Often Should You Analyze Your SMS Metrics?

To get the most out of your SMS marketing data, you need to analyze your metrics on a regular basis. Here are some best practices on frequency:

• Review metrics weekly for active SMS marketing campaigns. This allows you to monitor performance in real time and quickly spot any issues or opportunities to optimize. Look at opens, clicks, conversions, etc. for each active campaign sending messages that week.
• Analyze metrics monthly for your overall SMS marketing program. Calculate averages and totals across all campaigns to understand your typical performance. Compare month-to-month trends.
• Schedule quarterly in-depth analyses to uncover deeper insights. Look for patterns and anomalies in your data that may warrant larger strategic changes.
• Conduct an annual SMS marketing audit examining the entire year’s worth of data and results. Assess achievements, areas for improvement, and progress towards goals.

The frequency of analysis depends on your goals. But at a minimum, checking your SMS marketing metrics weekly and monthly is crucial to make data-driven decisions to improve your performance over time. Consistent analysis, rather than sporadic, is key to optimizing your SMS strategy.

Conduct Quarterly SMS Marketing Reviews

A quarterly business review (QBR) is essential for evaluating your overall SMS marketing performance and identifying opportunities for optimization. Here are some key questions to ask during your quarterly SMS marketing reviews:

• Are we hitting our target list growth and revenue goals? If not, what changes can we make to get back on track?
• How do our open rates, click-through rates, and other engagement metrics compare to industry benchmarks?
• Which campaigns and message types are performing well? How can we apply these learnings to future efforts?
• What new segmentation, targeting, or personalization strategies could we test to improve results?
• Is there a certain day/time or type of content that generates better engagement?
• Are there any technologies like SMS bots or integrations that could enhance our capabilities?
• What regulatory or compliance changes do we need to be aware of that may impact our program?
• How can we use SMS marketing to better support seasonal promotions or upcoming initiatives?
• Are there any emerging SMS use cases or best practices we should pilot?

Regularly analyzing your data and asking probing strategic questions is key to unlocking opportunities for optimization and growth. The QBR provides a forum to step back and review program performance from a big picture perspective.

Key SMS Marketing Metrics to Track

Interaction Rate

The interaction rate is the percentage of total subscribers who engage with your SMS messages by opening the message or clicking on any links. To calculate:

Interaction rate = (Opens + Clicks) / Total SMS Sent

A good interaction rate is anywhere from 20-50%. If your rate falls below 20%, it indicates your messages may not be resonating with subscribers. Consider testing different offers, content types, timing and personalization.

Delivery Rate

The delivery rate is the percentage of total SMS messages sent that successfully reach subscribers’ phones. To calculate:

Delivery rate = SMS Delivered / Total SMS Sent

Aim for at least a 90% delivery rate. Anything below 85% warrants investigation into why messages are not getting to subscribers. Work with your SMS provider to identify and fix issues lowering deliverability.

Unsubscribe Rate

The unsubscribe rate is the percentage of subscribers who opt-out of receiving future SMS messages. To calculate:

Unsubscribe rate = Unsubscribes / Total Subscriber List

Keep your unsubscribe rate below 2% monthly. A spike may indicate subscriber fatigue from too many messages or dissatisfaction with your content. Analyze your messaging strategy and ensure you have explicit consent.

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate measures the percentage of SMS recipients who complete a desired action like visiting your website, making a purchase or scheduling an appointment. To calculate:

Conversion rate = Conversions / Total SMS Sent

Aim for at least a 5-10% conversion rate. If lower, test different offers, CTAs and landing page optimization to lift conversions. Compare conversion rates across various SMS campaigns to find your best performing messages.

How to Benchmark and Evaluate Ongoing SMS Campaign Performance

Benchmarking your SMS marketing metrics is crucial for understanding how your campaigns are performing compared to industry standards. Follow these best practices for benchmarking and evaluating your ongoing SMS marketing efforts:

Create a Measurement Plan with KPIs

• Determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are most important for your SMS marketing goals. Common metrics to track include open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, revenue generated, and more.
• Set specific goals and benchmarks for each KPI that you want to achieve. For example, aim for an open rate of 90% and a click-through rate of 25%.

Record Data for Each Campaign

• Use your SMS marketing platform to record data on the performance of each individual campaign you send.
• Track opens, clicks, unsubscribes, complaints, conversions, revenue, and any other relevant metrics.

Calculate Averages to Determine Typical Performance

• After running several campaigns, calculate the average for each of your KPIs. This will reveal your typical SMS marketing performance.
• For example, you may find your average open rate is 80% and CTR is 15%.

Compare Your Metrics to Industry Benchmarks

• Research SMS marketing benchmarks for your industry. Compare your calculated averages to the industry standards.
• This allows you to evaluate if your campaigns are under or over-performing compared to competitors.
• If below industry averages, identify opportunities to optimize your campaigns to boost performance.

Consistently evaluating your SMS metrics and benchmarking against standards will help uncover areas for improvement and optimization. Set goals, record campaign data, calculate averages, and aim to reach or exceed industry benchmark levels.

Tools for Tracking SMS Marketing Performance

To properly track and analyze the performance of your SMS marketing campaigns, you need the right tools. Here are the key tools you should have in place:

SMS Marketing Software

Dedicated SMS marketing software should be the foundation of your tracking efforts. Look for a platform that offers:

• Built-in analytics and reporting
• Customizable dashboards
• Ability to track opens, clicks, conversions
• Segmentation of subscriber groups
• A/B testing capabilities

Consider uSpeedo as your SMS marketing wingman, uSpeedo is a cloud communication provider, multichannel automation platform for APIs, service & marketing across SMS, Email and WhatsApp.

Spreadsheets

In addition to your main SMS platform, use spreadsheets like Excel to compile and organize campaign data. Build templates to record metrics like:

• Send times
• Number of messages sent
• Open and click-through rates
• Revenues driven
• Costs

Spreadsheets allow you to analyze your data, spot trends, and calculate KPIs.

Business Intelligence Tools

Business intelligence (BI) tools take your SMS marketing data to the next level. Options like Google Data Studio, Tableau, and Looker allow you to:

• Visualize your data through dashboards and reports
• Identify trends and insights
• Create forecasts and projections
• Monitor KPIs

The visualization capabilities make it easier to digest campaign performance and share insights with stakeholders.

By leveraging SMS software, spreadsheets, and BI tools, you’ll be equipped to fully measure and optimize the impact of your text message marketing campaigns over time.

Optimizing Based on Data

Once you’ve collected and analyzed your SMS marketing metrics, the next step is to use that data to optimize your campaigns. Look closely at your metrics to identify any areas that need improvement or opportunities to try new strategies.

For example, if you notice low open and click-through rates, try testing different promotional offers or more personalized message copy. The data may reveal certain customer segments that are more likely to engage, allowing you to target them more effectively. Or you may discover higher conversions from messages sent at a specific time, so you can adjust your sending cadence.

Continue tracking your KPIs as you test changes to see if they have a positive impact. Some variations may not improve metrics at first, so give them time before drawing conclusions. Persistently refine and iterate based on the data to maximize performance.

Setting benchmarks and goals can help you quantify progress and give a defined target as you work to incrementally improve your SMS marketing over time.

The key is to not get complacent even if your metrics look good. There’s always an opportunity to test new strategies and technologies to engage your subscribers in new ways. View data analysis and optimization as an ongoing process, and you’ll be able to continually improve the impact of your SMS marketing program.