What Is SMS Marketing and Why Is It the Best Way to Reach Shoppers Today?

Today, most people use their mobile devices as their main connection to the internet. About 60–65% of all web traffic globally comes from mobile phones. More importantly for online stores, mobile shopping makes up over 70% of all e-commerce traffic. This strong focus on mobile devices means your communication strategy must work perfectly on these devices.

While mobile shopping is growing fast (expected to hit $2.51 trillion globally by 2025), it also comes with a challenge: people often leave items in their cart. Cart abandonment—how often people leave items they meant to buy—is much higher on mobile phones (85.65%) than on desktop computers (around 69.75%).

The fast, attention-grabbing nature of text messaging is perfect for fixing this problem. If a customer leaves their cart, a quick text message can cut through the noise and bring them back right away. This makes SMS a vital tool for regaining lost revenue.

How Much Better is Text Marketing Compared to Other Ways We Reach Customers?

The great results from text marketing come from two key things: speed and visibility. Unlike emails that can sit unopened, text messages demand attention and are usually viewed instantly.

What are the Biggest Benefits of Using Text Messages for My Business?

The measurable advantages of using the text message channel are huge when compared to other digital tools:

• Highest Open Rates and Speed: Almost all (about 98%) of SMS messages are opened. This is one of the highest rates of any communication channel. Even better, most people (82% to 90%) open the text message within the first three to five minutes of getting it. Your brand message is almost guaranteed to be seen right away.
• High Conversion and Response Rates: SMS marketing has a very strong conversion rate (the chance that someone will do what you want, like buying something). This rate is often between 21% and 40% for general campaigns. Also, the average response rate (how often someone texts back) is about 45%. This response rate is nine times higher than what you usually see with email campaigns.
• Amazing for Getting Back Lost Sales: Text messaging is especially valuable for urgent, high-value tasks like recovering abandoned carts (when a customer leaves items behind). While emails for abandoned carts only convert about 5%–10% of the time, SMS recovery campaigns can get recovery rates as high as 58%.
• High Return on Investment (ROI): The mix of quick engagement and high sales rates leads to a big Return on Investment (ROI)—that’s the profit you make back compared to what you spent. Industry reports show that SMS marketing can deliver up to 7100% ROI, which is nearly double the 3600% ROI typically seen with email marketing.
• Cost and Efficiency: Sending one text message is cheap compared to older ads (like TV or radio). But it’s important to know that SMS is typically charged per message, while email is charged per subscriber. Because sending texts more often quickly raises the cost, you must use the channel very wisely. The high conversion rates are needed to make the per-message cost worthwhile.

How Does Text Marketing Compare to Email and Push Notifications?

For your marketing plan, you need to compare SMS performance against other key channels, such as email and push notifications. While email is great for sharing long information, SMS and push notifications are best for speed and quick action.

Comparing Digital Marketing Channels

How Should My Business Strategically Use Text Marketing?

Getting the best results from text marketing means having a strategy that gives the customer clear value through both sales messages (promotional) and necessary updates (transactional).

What are the Best Kinds of Texts to Send?

A successful text marketing campaign uses messages for sales and for necessary updates.

Promotional Texts: Sales and Limited-Time Offers

These texts are designed to cause immediate action by offering something special and urgent.

Flash Sales: Announcing a quick sale (like 2 hours) with a special code just for text subscribers.

Back-in-Stock Alerts: Telling customers right away when a popular, sold-out item is available again.

VIP Access: Giving special, early access links to new products for your best customers. One business that sold wine achieved 120x ROI and 21% conversions by using texts for special offers.

Transactional Texts: Updates and Customer Service

Transactional SMS is essential, non-marketing information that builds trust and helps customers without needing a person to answer a phone. These messages only require basic permission, not the stricter written consent needed for promotional texts.

Order Confirmation: Sending a text right away to confirm a purchase.

Shipping Updates: Giving real-time tracking links and delivery updates. This is a key step that makes customers happier.

Customer Support: Quick messages that a support ticket has been opened or resolved.

Using transactional SMS wisely helps you save money and improve the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)—how much profit a single customer brings to your business over time. By automating routine texts, like “Where is my order?,” you reduce the number of customer support calls, which improves business efficiency by nearly 80%. Also, sending a text before or after an email can increase the email’s open rate by 20% to 30%, showing that texts and emails work best when used together.

What Important Legal Rules Do I Need to Follow for Text Marketing?

Because text messaging is so direct, strict legal rules exist to protect customers from unwanted messages. This means that everyone on your text list must have given you clear permission.

What are the Main Rules from the TCPA and GDPR About Getting Permission?

Not following text marketing laws can lead to huge fines and hurt your brand’s reputation. Compliance is not just a legal step; it’s essential for protecting your business.

US Compliance: The TCPA

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the main US law. For promotional texts (sales and ads), you must have Prior Express Written Consent (PEWC). This means you need documented, clear, written permission from the customer that is separate from a verbal or implied agreement. The main things you must do include:

• Clear Information: Before customers sign up (opt-in), you must tell them what kind of messages they will get and how often they will get them.
• Easy Opt-Out: Every single message must include clear instructions on how to stop getting texts, like “Reply STOP to opt-out”.
• Time Limits: Promotional texts are only allowed to be sent between 8 AM and 9 PM in the customer’s local time zone.

EU Compliance: GDPR and ePrivacy

In European markets, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ePrivacy rules set the standard. Consent under GDPR must be specific and informed (often collected using a box the customer must willingly check). Customers always have the right to ask you to stop sending them marketing texts, and you must respect this right immediately.

SMS Marketing Legal Rules (TCPA & GDPR)

Are There Any Important Texting Rule Changes Coming Soon?

The rules are always changing, so businesses must stay ready:

Easier Opt-Out Rules (Starting April 11, 2025): The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has made changes to how businesses must handle requests to stop getting texts. Businesses must now process opt-out requests faster and more easily.

One-to-One Consent (Delayed to April 11, 2026): This future rule is very important for companies that run many different brands or use partner marketing. It will require separate, individual permission for each specific seller or brand that plans to text the customer. This delay gives businesses more time to prepare their systems.

How Can I Make Sure My Text Messages Are the Best They Can Be?

Once you are sure you are following all the rules, the next step is to make sure every high-cost text message gives you the biggest sales return possible.

How Can I Send the Right Message to the Right Customer?

Great SMS marketing avoids sending the same message to everyone. Smart businesses use customer information to group their lists into segments based on what customers have done before (like targeting only people who have bought shoes) or where they live for local sales.

Writing the Best Message

The words you use in the text message are extremely important. Analysis of over 25 billion text messages showed that the right words could boost sales by up to 19%. In contrast, using the wrong message copy could actually lower sales by as much as 24%. You must constantly test different messages—like changing the kind of offer, the tone, or the product names—to see what works best for your customers.

Why Do Text Messages Have to Be So Short?

Text messages are limited by technical constraints that control how they look and feel.

Keep it Short and Sweet

A standard text message, using normal letters and numbers, has a strict limit of 160 characters, including spaces. This limit was set long ago to make sure texts could be sent quickly and reliably. This short length is actually helpful because it forces you to get your offer and your Call-to-Action (CTA)—the thing you want the customer to do—across immediately.

What Happens if I Use Emojis?

If you use special characters, like emojis, the message automatically switches to a different code (called Unicode). This change shrinks the maximum message length severely to only 70 characters. If your message goes over the limit, it gets split into connected messages, which can be confusing and more expensive.

What is the Best Time and Day to Send My Marketing Texts?

Timing is key to getting high engagement and making sure you follow the law. Promotional texts must always be sent within the legal window (8 AM to 9 PM local time).

Best Times and Days to Send

Based on when customers are most active, the best times for high engagement are usually between 9 AM and 12 PM and again between 5 PM and 9 PM (when people check notifications in the morning, during lunch, or after work). The highest sales rates are often seen toward the end of the week, with Thursday, Friday, and Saturday showing the best results. For example, for online shopping, the best times are usually during lunch (12 PM – 2 PM) or after work (5 PM – 8 PM).

How Do I Pick the Right Tool to Send My Marketing Texts?

The market for SMS marketing software is growing fast, expected to reach $48.2 Billion by 2031. As more businesses start texting, choosing the right platform is the most important factor in how much money you will make back.

Why is Testing My Text Messages So Important?

No matter what tool you choose, you must always test and improve your strategy. Marketers must A/B test their offers—for example, trying a “15% off” code against a “Free Shipping” offer—to see which one causes more sales. You must always track which messages lead to sales so you can improve your strategy over time.

Which Platforms Are the Best Choices for E-commerce?

Platforms like Klaviyo, Attentive, and YotPo are popular choices that give you the tools you need to organize your customer lists (segmentation) and automate messages. However, they are very different in how they handle customer data.

Comparing Top SMS Marketing Platforms for E-commerce

Platforms that offer the best and deepest data integration (like Klaviyo’s 350+ integrations) allow you to use the smart grouping (segmentation) needed for modern online business. If you use basic segmentation, you might send texts too often, which annoys customers, leading to high opt-outs and wasting money. Advanced segmentation ensures your high-cost text messages are sent only when they are most likely to result in a sale.