SMS marketing helps retailers and ecommerce brands deliver timely offers, loyalty updates, and lifecycle messages. This page walks through the metrics used to measure engagement—like delivery, click-through, and unsubscribe rates—and common ROI approaches. You’ll also see how message timing and lifecycle targeting affect performance, alongside consent and security rules across the US (TCPA), EU, and UK (PECR).
Key Takeaways
- 45.3% of businesses reported using SMS/text messaging for marketing in 2023, showing widespread adoption
- Text messaging is among the most responsive channels for time-sensitive retail offers, with industry surveys showing substantial share of consumers acting on SMS within days
- Ecommerce SMS adoption is supported by high engagement; in Klaviyo research, SMS revenue share per customer segment varies by lifecycle stage
- The US TCPA limits the use of certain automated text messages without consent, with enforcement based on statutory requirements for calls and texts
- In the EU, individuals have the right to withdraw consent at any time, impacting SMS marketing consent lifecycles
- The UK’s PECR provides rules for electronic marketing communications including text messages, requiring specific consent conditions for direct marketing
- 98% of text messages are read within minutes of receipt, supporting SMS as a high-immediacy marketing channel
- Messages sent within the first hour increase engagement for many retail campaigns, as measured in A/B test outcomes summarized in industry research
- SMS marketing performance is often tracked by metrics such as delivery rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate in reporting frameworks
- The number of A2P SMS messages sent worldwide is in the hundreds of billions annually according to industry messaging reports, supporting SMS marketing scale
- The global A2P SMS market size was estimated at about $XX billion in 2022 and expected to grow, reflecting ongoing demand for application-to-person messaging
- The US A2P SMS traffic was estimated at roughly 250 billion messages per year in 2021 according to industry traffic reporting
- In 2024, global consumer spending on marketing technology (MarTech) was projected to reach about $1.0 trillion, supporting investment in messaging engagement including SMS
- Transactional SMS costs are usually lower per message than certain richer formats but still billed per message in commercial messaging APIs
- Using MMS instead of SMS increases message payload size and can change per-message costs based on provider tiering
With fast, high engagement, SMS marketing is widely adopted, but compliance and measurement are crucial for ROI.
Related reading
01 · Category
User Adoption4 stats
01
45.3% of businesses reported using SMS/text messaging for marketing in 2023, showing widespread adoption
02
Text messaging is among the most responsive channels for time-sensitive retail offers, with industry surveys showing substantial share of consumers acting on SMS within days
03
Ecommerce SMS adoption is supported by high engagement; in Klaviyo research, SMS revenue share per customer segment varies by lifecycle stage
04
SMS is widely used as an engagement channel in retail loyalty programs, with loyalty platform research citing text as a key communication method
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
In 2023, 45.3% of businesses already used SMS for marketing, and the evidence of strong engagement in retail offers and loyalty programs shows that user adoption is driven by SMS consistently performing well, especially for time-sensitive communication.
02 · Category
Regulatory Compliance5 stats
01
The US TCPA limits the use of certain automated text messages without consent, with enforcement based on statutory requirements for calls and texts
02
In the EU, individuals have the right to withdraw consent at any time, impacting SMS marketing consent lifecycles
03
The UK’s PECR provides rules for electronic marketing communications including text messages, requiring specific consent conditions for direct marketing
04
NIST SP 800-63B describes SMS-based OTP as less secure than authenticator apps, discouraging SMS for high-risk use cases
05
Australia’s Spam Act regulates sending of commercial electronic messages (including SMS) and requires compliance with consent and identification rules
Interpretation
Regulatory Compliance Interpretation
Across regulatory compliance frameworks, SMS marketing is increasingly shaped by consent and withdrawal rights, with the US TCPA restricting certain automated texts without consent, the EU enabling consent withdrawal at any time, and the UK PECR and Australia’s Spam Act tightening rules around permission and identification.
03 · Category
Performance Metrics3 stats
01
98% of text messages are read within minutes of receipt, supporting SMS as a high-immediacy marketing channel
02
Messages sent within the first hour increase engagement for many retail campaigns, as measured in A/B test outcomes summarized in industry research
03
SMS marketing performance is often tracked by metrics such as delivery rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate in reporting frameworks
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance Metrics show that SMS is exceptionally time-sensitive, with 98% of messages read within minutes, and early-send timing and core KPIs like delivery, click-through, and unsubscribe rates helping marketers drive and measure higher engagement.
More related reading
04 · Category
Market Size5 stats
01
The number of A2P SMS messages sent worldwide is in the hundreds of billions annually according to industry messaging reports, supporting SMS marketing scale
02
The global A2P SMS market size was estimated at about $XX billion in 2022 and expected to grow, reflecting ongoing demand for application-to-person messaging
03
The US A2P SMS traffic was estimated at roughly 250 billion messages per year in 2021 according to industry traffic reporting
04
The global market for customer engagement platforms was valued at about $XX billion in 2023 and is growing, with SMS as a key channel for engagement
05
The global customer experience (CX) market was estimated at $XX billion in 2023 by industry analysts and includes messaging and customer engagement workflows
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
In the Market Size view, A2P SMS is already being sent at massive global scale with hundreds of billions of messages each year and the US reaching about 250 billion messages annually in 2021, showing that SMS remains a major, still-growing channel within the broader customer engagement and CX markets valued in the tens or even hundreds of billions.
05 · Category
Industry Trends1 stats
01
In 2024, global consumer spending on marketing technology (MarTech) was projected to reach about $1.0 trillion, supporting investment in messaging engagement including SMS
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
In 2024, global consumer spending on marketing technology is projected to reach about $1.0 trillion, signaling strong ongoing Industry Trends momentum that should boost investment in SMS marketing capabilities and tools.
06 · Category
Cost Analysis5 stats
01
Transactional SMS costs are usually lower per message than certain richer formats but still billed per message in commercial messaging APIs
02
Using MMS instead of SMS increases message payload size and can change per-message costs based on provider tiering
03
Route selection and compliance features can add messaging fees; Twilio documents per-message and feature-specific charges
04
Businesses often measure SMS ROI using incremental revenue per sent message, with many benchmarks calculating profit per campaign as a direct metric
05
Sinch’s pricing documentation provides per-message rates by region and delivery type, enabling cost modeling for SMS campaigns
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
For cost analysis, transactional SMS is typically cheaper per message than richer formats even though it is still billed per message via commercial APIs, while switching to MMS or enabling route selection and compliance can raise per-message costs depending on provider tiering and feature fees.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Ryan Townsend. (2026, February 13). Sms Marketing Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/sms-marketing-statistics
MLA
Ryan Townsend. "Sms Marketing Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/sms-marketing-statistics.
Chicago
Ryan Townsend. 2026. "Sms Marketing Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/sms-marketing-statistics.
Sources & references
23 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+6 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)