Key takeaways
- Start by measuring raw conversions: track how many subscribers redeemed the offer and make the offer exclusive to SMS to ensure accuracy.
- Review shortened-link clicks to measure engagement and to test landing-page effectiveness.
- Check compliance with Canada’s Anti‑Spam Legislation (CASL): transparency, clear opt-out instructions, help messages and alternative contact details are key.
- Monitor opt-out rates: some churn is normal, but a large spike indicates a problem worth investigating.
- Document qualitative lessons (timing, frequency, split tests) to improve future SMS campaigns.
Introduction
If you spend any time reading this blog – or offerings from any other trusted industry source – then it should come as no surprise that SMS marketing is one of the most powerful was to connect with a target audience. However, simply assuming that everything went right after a campaign isn’t the best way to ensure that you always get the most out of this process. With this in mind, here’s the top five questions that you need to ask yourself in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a campaign once the hard numbers start rolling back in from your audience.
How Many Mobile Viewers Actually Converted?
As the experts from Business Mag explain, there’s no better place to start than with a look at how many raw conversions your SMS campaign acquired. Naturally, extenuating circumstance and other outlining factors can affect this raw data, but it’s hard to go wrong with taking a look at how many subscribers actually redeemed your brand’s offer.
By making this offer exclusive to your SMS audience alone, and avoiding the temptation to use a generic coupon or discount code that any person can redeem, you can ensure that this statistic accurately represents the reaction from your SMS audience. If, after enacting this safeguard, you end up with a conversion rate that sits at a minimum of 12 to 15 percent, then you can rest easy knowing that your audience responded positively to this specific run of SMS content.
If You Included Shortened Links, How Many Clicks Did You Generate?
Similarly, it’s also a good idea to question just how many clicks your shortened links generated during this series of marketed text messages. As long as you’re using a link shortener like bit.ly, reviewing how many clicks your campaign has acquired should be a breeze thanks to the built-in tracking functionality found within these tools.
Outside of tracking how your links did within this SMS content, examining this data can also serve as the basis for testing the effectiveness of individual landing pages that are tethered to each phase or portion of your campaign content. Having this kind of data on your side now can do wonders as you begin to optimize and refine the supporting landing pages of your next big SMS push down the road.
Did You Play By the Rules When It Comes to SMS Compliance and Viewer Rights?
Much like staying in line with Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) in the inbox, Matt Baglia of Business 2 Community points out that your brand will also want to gauge how well it handled privacy and subscriber rights during its most recent SMS campaign. Otherwise, don’t be surprised when you not only run afoul of your audience, but also CASL and any other relevant governing bodies.
The big points to keep in mind on this front are transparency and user choice. Did your messages clearly expound upon the subject matter of your texts and the right of the user to opt-out at any time? What about providing access to additional information via help messages and non-SMS contact details? It’s best to answer these questions before you start firing off texts, but if your brand didn’t utilize this kind of foresight, you’ll want to make sure you answer these questions during your campaign wrap-up procedure.
How Many Opt-Outs Occurred During This Campaign?
Speaking of opting-out, you’ll also need to look over these numbers as you spend some time evaluating the success of your SMS campaign. Naturally, there’s no way to completely eradicate opt-outs; no campaign is capable of keeping every user perfectly engaged. However, facing down the loss of a large percentage of your audience during any phase of this SMS outreach program can illuminate a serious issue or concern that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
What Other Lessons Did You Learn?
Finally, there’s nothing wrong with sitting down and simply asking yourself, “What other lessons did I learn from this campaign?” Did you uncover a better approach to message timing or frequency? What about the effects of split testing two different types of SMS content? This kind of open and honest evaluation can do wonders for your brand as it continues to leverage the inherent power of SMS marketing.
In reality, these five questions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to evaluating the success of your SMS campaign. Based on the particulars of your organization and audience, there are so many other concerns or queries that can arise during this discussion. However, with these questions leading the way, you’ll have everything you need to get this conversation going and ensure that your next campaign reaches even newer heights with your brand’s target audience.
FAQ
Measure raw conversions by counting how many subscribers redeemed the campaign offer. Make the offer exclusive to your SMS audience (avoid generic coupons redeemable by anyone) so the conversion count accurately reflects your SMS response.
A conversion rate of at least 12–15 percent indicates a positive response from your SMS audience.
Use a link shortener with built‑in tracking (e.g., bit.ly). Review the click data to see how many clicks each link generated.
Use the click counts to compare performance across links and landing pages. That data becomes the basis for testing and optimizing individual landing pages tied to phases or portions of your campaign.
Confirm transparency and user choice: that messages clearly stated the text subject matter and users’ right to opt out and that help messages and non‑SMS contact details were provided. You should also check alignment with CASL and other relevant governing bodies.
Some opt‑outs are normal, but a large percentage of opt‑outs during any phase signals a serious issue to investigate. Review timing, message content and frequency to diagnose causes.
Document anything you learned about message timing, frequency and the results of split tests. Open evaluation of these factors helps refine future campaigns.
