A Successful SMS Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide from Planning to Measurement

What an SMS campaign is and why it's so effective

An SMS campaign is a planned send of text messages to a defined group with a clear business goal — whether that's growing sales, boosting brand awareness, retaining customers, or sharing information. Unlike social media marketing, which depends on algorithms, SMS goes directly to the customer with a 98% open rate.

But a high open rate alone isn't enough. The difference between a campaign delivering 2,000% ROI and one that wastes money is in planning, execution, and measurement. This guide takes you through it step by step.

Step 1: Define goals and KPIs

Ask yourself

Before writing a word, define:

• What's the goal? Sales? Site traffic? Store visits? Awareness?

• To which audience? All customers? A specific segment?

• What's the offer? Discount? New product? Event? Information?

• What counts as success? 10 sales? 100 clicks? 50 bookings?

KPI definition

Set measurable metrics before starting:

• Delivery rate: target 97%+

• Click rate (CTR): target 8–15%

• Conversion rate: target 3–10% (depends on offer)

• Campaign revenue

• Cost per acquisition (CPA)

• Unsubscribe rate: target under 2%

Step 2: Build and segment the list

List cleaning

Before every campaign, make sure the list is clean:

• Remove duplicates

• Remove numbers that asked to be removed

• Validate numbers (remove inactive ones)

• Make sure there's consent for all recipients

Smart segmentation

Don't send the same message to everyone. Split by:

• Purchase behavior: bought recently / hasn't bought 60+ days / VIP

• Preferences: product category, preferred channel

• Demographics: age, location, gender

• Funnel stage: new customer, returning, veteran

The more tailored the message, the higher the conversion rate.

Step 3: Write the message

Core principles

• Short and sharp: 70 characters in Hebrew = one message. Every extra character = double cost.

• Immediate value: lead with the offer, not a long greeting.

• Personalization: name, recent purchase, preference.

• Urgency: "today only," "until midnight," "last 50."

• Clear CTA: "Order now: [link]."

A/B testing

Write 2–3 versions of the message. Send each to 10% of the list, wait an hour, and send the winner to the rest.

What to test:

• Different offer wording

• Different call to action

• With/without emoji

• Different discount percentage

Step 4: Timing

Best times to send

No single answer, but guiding principles:

• General B2C: Sunday–Thursday 10:00–12:00 or 14:00–16:00

• Restaurants: 11:00–12:00 (lunch) or 15:00–16:00 (evening)

• Ecommerce: 19:00–21:00 (after work, before sleep)

• Services: early week (Sun–Mon) 09:00–11:00

When not to send

• Shabbat and holidays (both legally and for experience)

• Before 08:00 or after 21:00 (law)

• On national mourning days

• Immediately after a disaster/emergency

Step 5: Send and monitor in real time

Final checks before sending

✓ Did you send a test message to yourself?

✓ Does the link work?

✓ Do dynamic fields render correctly?

✓ Is the message not cut off?

✓ Is opt-out included?

✓ Is the sender name identified?

Real-time monitoring

After the send, track:

• Delivery rates — if under 95%, there's a problem

• Clicks — activity should begin within minutes

• Unsubscribes — if they spike abnormally, stop and investigate

• Incoming replies — reply fast to questions

Step 6: Measurement and analysis

Main metrics

Delivery rate: how many messages reached their destination out of the total sent.

Click rate (CTR): how many clicked the link of those who got the message.

Conversion rate: how many took the desired action.

Revenue per message (RPM): total revenue / number of messages sent.

ROI: (revenue - cost) / cost × 100.

Analysis and lessons learned

After every campaign, document:

• What worked and what didn't?

• Which segment responded best?

• What would you change?

• Which insights apply to the next campaign?

Step 7: Optimization and continuous improvement

What to improve every campaign

• Wording: run a new A/B test each time

• Timing: try different hours and days

• Segmentation: narrow the audience for better fit

• Offer: try different offer types (% off, ₪ off, gift, free shipping)

• Frequency: find the balance between presence and flooding

Marketing calendar

Plan campaigns ahead around:

• Israeli holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Passover, Hanukkah, Independence Day)

• Global events (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Valentine's)

• Seasons (end of season, back to school, summer)

• Brand events (business anniversary, product launch)

A complete campaign example

Goal: end-of-summer sale — grow sales 30%

Audience: customers who bought summer clothes in the past year

Message: "[name], end-of-season sale! Up to 50% off the summer collection. Until Thursday. Shop now: [link]"

Timing: Sunday 10:00, follow-up Wednesday 14:00

Results: 14% click rate, 8% conversion, 1,800% ROI

Run campaigns with Vibrate

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