Digital Marketing Updated Mar 2026

Measuring SMS Campaign Performance

Key metrics for SMS marketing, how to calculate ROI, and what good benchmarks look like in Tanzania.

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SMS Analytics That Matter

SMS has a 95%+ open rate within 3 minutes. But to get value, you need to measure beyond "sent".

Core Metrics

  • Delivery rate — Target 95%+. Below 85% = list quality issues.
  • Response / conversion rate — Good SMS campaigns in East Africa: 3–8%.
  • Opt-out rate — Keep below 0.5%. High opt-outs = wrong audience or too frequent.
  • Cost per conversion — Total SMS cost ÷ number of conversions.

Tracking Conversions from SMS

  • Unique URL — e.g. yoursite.co.tz/sale-july. GA4 shows traffic from that URL following your SMS send time.
  • Promo code — "Show this SMS for 20% off" — track code redemptions.
  • Unique phone number — Dedicated call number per campaign.

Improving Poor Campaign Performance

If conversion rate is below 1%, check:

  • Audience relevance — are you messaging people who want this?
  • Message clarity — is the offer clear in 160 characters?
  • Timing — Tuesday–Thursday, 9am–11am or 5pm–7pm EAT performs best in Tanzania
  • CTA — "Call 0712 XXX XXX", "Visit link", "Reply YES"
  • Sender ID — branded IDs get higher trust than numeric IDs
A/B testing: Send two different messages to 500 recipients each, see which performs better, then send the winner to the rest of your list.

Ready to start sending?

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