SMS Click-Through Rate: How to Calculate, Analyze, and Optimize CTR

SMS is one of the most essential components of mobile marketing. But how effective are your SMS messages? You and your marketing team must often ask yourselves this question if you want to consistently succeed at your SMS marketing campaigns.

Analysis, forecasting, and constant optimization are the three pillars on which any marketing campaign rests, not just those based on SMS messages. While this communication channel has a high engagement rate and an open rate of 98%, tracking key metrics such as click-through rate, conversion rate, and bounce rate is business critical.

Today, we will talk about CTR, in particular, answering important questions like what the ideal SMS click-through rate is, how to calculate it, and how to optimize it for future SMS campaigns.

Let's get started!

What is SMS click-through rate (CTR)?

SMS click-through rate, often known simply as SMS CTR, is a metric that measures the percentage of clicks to a link in an SMS after the recipient reads the text message. In SMS messages, it is possible to attach a URL that will redirect the user to your own business website, landing page, or other external web pages. An SMS message with a link typically looks like this:

Essentially, CTR is an indicator of how persuasive your marketing copy was and whether you were able to interest the potential customer and fully involve them in the sales process. Click-through rate analysis can give you a good idea about possible shortcomings or errors with your marketing text messages. After all, the CTR for your SMS marketing messages affects your website traffic, too.

What is the average click-through rate for SMS marketing campaigns?

Let's take a look at a few numbers.

According to some reports, the average CTR for SMS campaigns can range from 19% to 36%. In some cases, it has been seen to go as high as 46%. From a marketing standpoint, these are very good percentages that could accurately indicate the effectiveness of a business's marketing efforts.

But what do these numbers really mean, and why are they so important? Let's dive deeper.

CTR formula for measuring average SMS click-through rate

Every business strives to see a good click-through rate on their marketing campaigns. But the truth is that deciding on a number for "a good CTR" is almost impossible. For one company, a satisfactory result could be 15%. Another company could be aiming higher than that, maybe for 30%. Mostly, the CTR depends on the goals of a particular company. Your goals may also differ depending on the industry in which your business operates.

A low CTR doesn't mean that the messaging campaign has failed. In the case of individual companies, one conversion click is sometimes enough to cover the costs and meet the requirements of an entire SMS marketing campaign. Most often, this works for large corporations offering unique products that are not available to a wide range of consumers.

For local or smaller businesses, a successful SMS marketing campaign could be one that bears a CTR of 15% or more. Renowned marketer Augustine Fu says companies should focus on their own organic click-through rate and hold it to internal standards instead of comparing it with other companies.

The CTR is expressed as an impression-click ratio. For example, if your brand's messaging reaches 10,000 recipients and 2,000 of them click on the link, your SMS CTR will be 20%.

It is now possible to determine the click-through rate for SMS automatically instead of performing manual calculations. Many SMS providers offer their users access to these kinds of statistics via advanced reporting tools. Alternatively, you can use certain link-shortening services that track actions on reformatted links. Another way to monitor and analyze data about links in the SMS is to connect your company's website to Google Analytics. The platform has link filters to track conversions from SMS.

Three strategies to increase click-through rates in SMS messaging

Let's compare two sample commercial messages.

Example 1

"Hi, [recipient's name]! We would like to inform you that a flash sale is taking place in our store now! Get 30% off your purchase with promo code FLASH30 at checkout. Hurry! Offer valid for 24 hours only! Go to the shopping site [URL]".

Example 2

“Sale at [store name]! Get 10% off your purchase right now. Go to [insert URL] to make your purchase".

According to our experts' opinions, the first message has a chance of gaining more clicks. While the second SMS is quite concise and contains only essential information, it lacks several important elements that encourage the recipient to click on the link.

Below are three ways to increase your SMS click-through rate. These methods work successfully in any business area, so you can safely use them when you send messages for your SMS campaigns.

1. Client ≠ faceless subscriber: Personalize your messages

Remember, your customer is not just a phone number that needs to receive a promotional notification. This is a living person with certain characteristics and behaviors entering into a business relationship with you at one stage or another.

A major factor in how the modern consumer feels about your business is your attitude towards them. Each customer wants to feel special and unique. If you keep your mass SMS messaging campaign generic in the hopes that you can reach maximum audiences, it might not do well with any audience.

To personalize your text messages, you can do the following.

• Collect data about customers that helps you get to know them better

• Segment your target audience and customize your messages according to different groups' shared characteristics

• Use dynamic fields for names or surnames of your SMS subscribers; use company names if you're addressing businesses in your SMS message

Try Decision Telecom's RCS messaging service if you want to interact with customers in an even better format. This A2P messaging channel has features such as a personalized preview for each recipient.

2. Encourage your customer to take action with a CTA

A CTA (call to action) in marketing is a timeless way to motivate a customer to buy, order, call, or take another action, depending on the purpose of the messaging. You can use phrases such as “Buy with a 20% discount” or “Get free delivery” in your SMS messages for encouragement.

Without a CTA, the addressee will most likely perceive the SMS as informational and not give it the attention it deserves. The main condition for using a CTA is that the call should not only be strong and catchy but also correspond to the content of the link to which the subscriber will go.

3. Reinforce corporate identity and branded elements

Often, users do not click on links in a message when they do not know, recognize, or trust the sender. They are afraid that the link will lead to a phishing resource or infect the device with viruses. To overcome this problem, think about brand awareness in advance.

First, choose an alphanumeric sender name that your recipients can recognize you through. If, for some reason, you are unable to do so, then include your company's name in the message. Second, use paid link-shortening services where you can create branded links. Unknown URLs scare users away and lower SMS click-through rates. They can also end up in spam folders.

Summing up

SMS messaging, like any other type of promotion of services and products, is effective only when the business constantly monitors and periodically evaluates the effectiveness of the marketing campaign. This will help save money, time, and effort.

SMS click-through rate is one of the key indicators of a messaging campaign's effectiveness. However, a high CTR is not always what businesses need to strive for. In addition to monitoring your CTR, you also need to focus on the market segment you're targeting, study the performance of your competitors, and clearly formulate the goals and objectives of the SMS marketing campaign.

In the end, you or your marketing team can determine a satisfactory CTR for your business on your own. And so that the click-through rate does not disappoint, you should keep in mind our three tips on boosting customer engagement.