SMS Delivery Insights: How Message Delivery Impacts Customer Engagement
27 September 2024
Nicole Esters
Imagine you crafted the perfect SMS marketing campaign, but your messages never reached your audience. Yes, that’s a nightmare everyone has, and it is frustrating, right? Here is where SMS delivery comes into the picture.
Let’s understand that the best sms campaign fails if the text message delivery is poor. When sending messages, you must be sure that your messages are being read. It is because an undelivered SMS = a missed opportunity. Therefore, it is vital to track text message delivery.
Now, how to do it? The simple answer is investing in an SMS marketing platform that provides in-depth SMS delivery reports. It is a prudent decision that marketers and business owners should make.
This article will discuss what is SMS delivery, how it impacts customer engagement, and strategies to turbocharge your message delivery.
Let’s first start with understanding what SMS delivery is.
What is SMS Delivery?
SMS delivery is a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) showing the percentage of your messages delivered to your intended recipients without interruption or delay. SMS has around 98% open rate, showing the number of people receiving and viewing your messages.
High delivery rate = You are reaching the right people at the right time, with the right message.
On the flip side, low delivery rate = Invalid numbers/delivery issues/ carrier filtering
How do you calculate the SMS delivery rate?
Here is the simple formula to calculate the SMS delivery rate: SMS delivery rate % = (SMS delivered/ SMS sent) * 100
For example, if you have sent 1000 messages and 900 messages were delivered, your SMS delivery rate would be (900/1000) *100 = 90%.
The million-dollar question is, what is the good SMS delivery rate?
Read on to get its answer.
SMS services are fickle in nature, so achieving a 100% delivery rate would be impossible. There is a chance that your message will get lost because of technical difficulties or other reasons.
So, aiming for a 90% and 100% delivery rate would be a good ballpark.
Check out this general guideline. However, keep in mind that it serves as only the reference point.
A good SMS delivery rate can vary according to industry, message strategy objectives, and target audience. Therefore, it is vital that you understand the benchmark for your industry and continuously try to improve it.
| Excellent | Above 90% | It shows you have a well-maintained contact list with accurate numbers, minimal spam filtering issues, and solid relationships with network carriers. Therefore, your SMS constantly reaches to your target audience. |
| Good | 70% to 90% | Your messages are reaching the majority of your audience. However, there may be some issues exist, such as an outdated contact list, occasional network congestion, or minor carrier filtering. |
| Average | 50% to 70% | It indicates data accuracy problems like invalid numbers or blocked messages due to spam filters/carrier restrictions. |
| Below Average | 30% to 50% | Shows significant issues like you are sending messages to outdated numbers or invalid numbers or your messages are being flagged as spam by carriers. |
| Poor | Below 30% | Indicates major issues like lack of consent, your messages violating carrier or regulatory guidelines, etc. |
Why does SMS Delivery Matter for Customer Engagement, and How does it Impact it?
The text message delivery rate is imperative as it directly affects the performance of your SMS marketing campaign. Knowing the delivery rate helps you diagnose why your SMS marketing campaign is not performing well and why your customers are not engaging. You can analyze the technical aspects of your text message campaigns through delivery rate.
How?
If your SMS delivery rate is high but your SMS marketing campaign is not performing well, the reason could be low-quality message content, wrong sending time, missing/wrong CTA, etc. On the flip side, if your message delivery rate is low and your SMS marketing campaign is not performing well, the reason could be the quality of your subscriber list or SMS carrier.
In short, SMS delivery matters even if you don’t have to pay for the undelivered SMS message. It is because an undelivered message = a missed opportunity. Knowing the SMS delivery rate helps you optimize your conversion rate. Digging into these metrics helps you create more engaging messages that help you improve customer engagement.
Let’s say you have worked hard to grow your subscriber list, but if your subscribers are not getting your message, they won’t convert from SMS. It will directly impact your SMS marketing campaign’s ROI.
Now that you know the reason why SMS delivery is important and how it impacts customer engagement, let’s understand the factors that affect message delivery success.
Reasons Why SMS Undelivered
If your text message is undelivered, the problem could be at your end, the mediator (SMS provider), or the recipient’s. Here are a few common reasons that can cause SMS undeliverability.
1) Invalid Phone Number
There is a significant difference between an unassigned number and the wrong number. If you send a text message to the wrong phone number by mistake, your message will be delivered to the wrong person. However, when the phone number is invalid, it is an unassigned number that will never receive your text message. Ensure you use 5 or 6-digit shortcodes, toll-free numbers, or A2P 10DLC registered numbers for your text message marketing. Besides, there might be a chance that you are sending messages on a landline number instead of a mobile number. So, check the number using the DNC check landline remover tool and improve your text message deliverability.
2) Carrier’s Gray Routes
In simple terms, gray routes mean message delivery routes utilizing unauthorized networks. So that there is no need to pay the third-party network operators for transmitting an SMS.
3) Spam Filters
Usually, this issue does not occur if you follow the compliance and send messages that meet the compliance standards. However, spam filters can block your message if you send an SMS without including opt-out instructions or send too many messages from the same phone number too quickly. If you use spam trigger words such as FREE, MONEY, WIN, etc., there is a high chance that content filtering algorithms consider it as spam and block your message.
4) Issue With Receiving Device
There could be three scenarios:
-
- You have sent a message to the roaming device, so it won’t report that the message has been received.
- Your target customer’s phone number is connected to the device, and the device cannot receive SMS. Therefore, it shows your message is undelivered.
- There is a chance that the receiver’s phone is switched off. In that case, your message will also not be delivered.
5) Network Issues
Sometimes, technical network issues arise depending on the mobile phone’s carrier, such as weak signals, drops, cell phone carriers, or other technical glitches. It could lead to SMS delivery failure.
Common SMS Error Codes
Not all message you send will successfully reach to their target audience. What could be the reason that we have already discussed in the above section. Each reason is associated with a specific error code. In this section, we have explained it briefly.
| Error Code | Types Of Error | Description |
| 006 / 61 | Delivery Error | SMS expired |
| 20 | Delivery Error | Network error |
| 80 | Delivery Error | The destination is temporarily unavailable |
| 10 | Validation Error | Invalid message |
| 40 | Validation Error | Invalid source number |
| 50 | Validation Error | Invalid destination number |
| 70 | Permanent Delivery Barriers | The destination is permanently unavailable |
| 300 | Technical Error | Invalid destination |
| 301 | Technical Error | Network timeout |
| 302 | Technical Error | Routing error |
| 400 | Format Error | Invalid number format |
| 401 | Format Error | Encoding error |
| 402 | Format Error | Empty message |
| 30 | Compliance Error | Spam detected |
| 500 | Compliance Error | Unauthorized sender ID |
| 501 | Compliance Error | Spam detected |
| 502 | Compliance Error | Opt-Out violation |
| 600 | Carrier Error | Carrier rejection |
| 601 | Carrier Error | Content blocked |
| 602 | Carrier Error | Carrier network issue |
Key Metrics to Monitor in SMS Delivery
Before designing the SMS marketing campaign, businesses must decide the objective of the campaign. It will improve the chances of a successful SMS marketing campaign. To measure the success of SMS delivery, here are a few key metrics you need to determine.
1) Engagement Rate
The first metric that you need to measure is the customer engagement rate. If the customer engagement rate is high, it clearly indicates that you are meeting the objectives.
On the other hand, if you notice that people are not interacting with the message, there is a high chance that the campaign is not going in the right direction. If the engagement rate is constantly decreasing, it suggests that there is a high chance that your campaign is not reaching its full potential.
Calculate the engagement rate using this formula.
Engagement Rate = (Sum of all interactions/ Total number of text recipients) * 100
2) Delivery Rate & Delivery Latency
This metric shows that your message has reached your target audience and how long it takes to deliver it. If the delivery rate is high, there is a better chance that your message will end up in your potential customers’ inboxes. If the message has not reached its destination, there could be many reasons behind it, which we have already discussed in the above section. You can calculate the delivery rate and delivery latency rate using this simple formula.
Delivery Rate = (Number of SMSs received/ Total Number of SMS sent) * 100
Delivery Latency Rate = ( Total time taken for message to travel from source to destination + total time taken for the destination to send the response back to source + time taken by destination to process the message )
3) Opt-Out Rate
If you want to measure the success of your SMS marketing campaign, one of the best ways is to find out the opt-out rate. If people are unsubscribing, there is something seriously wrong with the marketing campaign. To calculate opt-out text message rate, you need to use the below formula.
Opt-out rate = (Total Number of Unsubscribes/ Total Number of SMS delivered) * 100
4) Conversion Rate
Another factor that you need to measure is the conversion rate. Conversion rate means how many customers are taking the desired action. If customers read your messages but do not take the desired action, the conversion rate will decrease. It is the most important metric you need to measure because if the conversion rate is not high, your campaign will not succeed. Here is the simple formula to calculate the conversion rate.
Conversion Rate = ( Number of people who took desired action / Number of recipients) * 100
5) Subscriber Growth Rate
Last but not least is the subscriber growth rate, which helps determine whether the SMS marketing campaign is successful or not. If the opt-in rates are high, your campaign will be going in the right direction. However, if not, it is high time to do the inspection. Use this formula to calculate subscriber growth rate.
Subscriber Growth Rate = (Number of Subscribers Now - Starting Subscribers/Starting Subscribers) * 100
Best Practices & Tips for Improving SMS Delivery for Customer Engagement
Previously, we have written many blog posts that include tips and practices that you need to remember when crafting compelling SMS copy. Therefore, we are covering a few tips and tricks to achieve an improved SMS delivery rate and customer engagement in brief.
- Ensure all your contacts’ phone numbers are valid. To do so, keep your contact list up-to-date. If any phone number is non-functioning, remove it from your database. Also, we request that your customers provide you with their updated contact information.
- If you expect an increased delivery rate, clear and error-free communication is necessary. So, ensure your message copy is grammatically correct without spelling or punctuation mistakes. While writing messages, maintain a professional and respectful tone and include a clear CTA and way to opt out.
- Use an SMS marketing platform like Textdrip that offers features like SMS automation, bulk texting, two-way texting, personalization, segmentation, and message scheduling, and comply with TCPA and 10DLC to craft professional text message.
- Personalization can impact delivery rate and customer engagement. So, whenever you craft a message, keep your recipient’s preferences and needs in mind. Use their name and recommend relevant content so they are more likely to open and read your message.
- Segment your audience based on criteria like location, purchase history, preferences, etc. Then, send messages tailored to each segment. This will increase the relevance of your SMS content, and you can enjoy improved SMS delivery rates.
Get Ready to Achieve Improved Text Message Delivery Rate With Textdrip
In a nutshell, if you want to maximize the impact of your communication efforts, it is essential to understand, measure, and improve your SMS delivery rate. Textdrip offers the tools and support to implement efficient SMS marketing campaigns and achieve better results with improved delivery rates.
The platform offers features such as drip campaigns, bulk texting, MMS marketing, SMS automation, quick responses, scheduled messages, and much more at affordable SMS marketing pricing that will help you improve your text message delivery rates.
So, follow the above-discussed tips and connect with us today to book a free demo or register for a free trial.
FAQ's
| How do DND (Do Not Disturb) lists affect SMS delivery? |
When Messages are sent to numbers on DND lists, they are automatically blocked. So it’s advisable to update your contact list Regularly and respecting DND regulations ensures better delivery and compliance.
| Can sender ID impact SMS delivery rates? |
Yes, recognizable and trusted sender IDs increase the likelihood of message delivery and engagement. So it’s recommended to avoid using generic or suspicious sender names.
| What is SMS throttling, and how does it impact delivery? |
SMS throttling limits the number of messages sent in a given period to prevent overload or spam. It can affect delivery speed but helps maintain compliance and avoids carrier restrictions.
| What are SMS Delivery Reports? |
SMS Delivery Reports show whether a message was delivered, failed, or pending, helping monitor campaign performance and optimize delivery.
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