A alysis fi ds a media SMS campaig click ate of 5.5% a d eveals which ma keti g p actices a e associated with st o ge e gageme t
2026 SMS Ma keti g Be chma ks: Media Click Rate of 5.5%
NASHVILLE, Te ., Nov. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A ew SlickText study a alyzi g mo e tha 400 millio text messages fou d that the media SMS ma keti g campaig achieved a click ate of just 5.5%, co t asti g sha ply with widely cited i dust y figu es suggesti g click ates of 20% o highe a e commo . While some of those be chma ks come f om busi esses epo ti g thei ow pe fo ma ce, SlickText’s fi di gs a e based o measu ed campaig data. O ly about o e i eight campaig s su passed a 20% click ate, while the top 10% achieved ates of 23.9% o highe . The esea ch also eveals which ma keti g p actices a e associated with st o ge e gageme t.
The fi di gs a e pa t of The State of SMS Ma keti g E gageme t – 2026 Editio , a ew study f om SlickText based o actual campaig pe fo ma ce athe tha su veys o self- epo ted esults. The esea ch exami es how e gageme t va ies by i dust y, message le gth, li k placeme t, pe so alizatio , campaig timi g, audie ce size, a d othe facto s, offe i g ma kete s evide ce-based i sights to evaluate a d imp ove thei SMS campaig s.
Sho te messages ge e ally ea ed highe click ates. Messages of 100 cha acte s o fewe achieved app oximately 50% highe click ates tha messages co tai i g 141–160 cha acte s, although exceedi g 160 cha acte s showed o co siste t pe alty.Li k placeme t matte ed. Li ks placed i the fi st half of a message achieved app oximately 45% highe click ates tha li ks positio ed ea the e d.Popula tactics showed limited be efits. Emojis had o statistically sig ifica t impact o clicks a d fi st- ame pe so alizatio showed a modest, statistically i sig ifica t lift i click ate a d was associated with a statistically sig ifica t 26% i c ease i opt-out ates.La ge audie ces we e associated with lowe e gageme t. Each doubli g of campaig audie ce size was associated with app oximately 13% lowe click ates.MMS campaig s had lowe click ates tha SMS. Multimedia messages had app oximately 17% lowe click ates, although they may d ive co ve sio s without equi i g ecipie ts to click a li k.
“SMS ma keti g has o sho tage of advice about what wo ks, but much of it has ‘t bee tested agai st eal-wo ld pe fo ma ce data,” said Matt Baglia, Fou de a d CEO of SlickText. “We fou d that some seemi gly small decisio s a e associated with mea i gful diffe e ces i click ates, while othe tactics that get a lot of atte tio show little measu able be efit. Ou goal was to give ma kete s c edible be chma ks, a clea e u de sta di g of what actually moves the eedle, a d p actical ecomme datio s they ca use to imp ove thei esults.”
The study a alyzed mo e tha 400 millio messages ac oss a sample of ea ly 75,000 campaig s se t th ough SlickText betwee Octobe 1, 2025, a d Septembe 30, 2026. Click ates we e calculated usi g delive ed messages f om campaig s with usable t acked li ks, excludi g automated clicks f om li k p eviews a d secu ity sca e s. Whe e app op iate, esea che s compa ed campaig s f om the same se de to bette isolate pe fo ma ce diffe e ces. As a obse vatio al study, the fi di gs ide tify associatio s athe tha p ove causatio .
The complete epo t, The State of SMS Ma keti g E gageme t – 2026 Editio , i cludi g detailed fi di gs, i dust y be chma ks, methodology, a d ecomme datio s fo ma kete s, is available at:
https://www.slicktext.com/ esea ch/sms-ma keti g-be chma ks
SlickText has powe ed ove 124,000 text message p og ams si ce 2011. Headqua te ed i Nashville, Te essee, SlickText helps busi esses build valuable custome elatio ships th ough pe so alized mass texti g, automated wo kflows, a d two-way messagi g. Eve y accou t i cludes list g owth tools, wo kflow automatio , a sha ed i box, a d i -depth a alytics — backed by U.S.-based suppo t.
Dyla Wa dma keti g@slicktext.com
A photo accompa yi g this a ou ceme t is available at https://www.globe ewswi e.com/NewsRoom/Attachme tNg/d79f47d9-810a-497a-a435-89bdcac0e02a
