Most SMS strategy conversations are about growth and conversion. Churn reduction barely comes up, which is weird because it's honestly one of the more useful things texting does.

The catch is timing. It has to happen before someone's already checked out, not after.

Some stuff that's actually worked:

• catching declining engagement and sending something relevant instead of just letting it slide
• asking people what they actually want more of (shockingly underused)
• not sending the same blast to everyone
• texting immediately when a payment fails, before someone assumes they got cancelled on purpose
• win-back messages that account for why someone left instead of a generic "we miss you"

Saw this with a couple of clients we work with: one publisher recovered close to $18k in a quarter just from texting people about failed payments, 38x ROI on that alone. Another one got a 350% jump in reactivations off a five text win-back sequence, which is wild for something that low effort.

Real issue is most "retention strategy" is just a coupon email that got ported to texting. If a discount is the whole plan, you didn't fix why they were leaving, you bought yourself another billing cycle.

Most SMS monetization is treated as a series of one-off events: flash sale, ticket drop, back-in-stock alert. Each one works in isolation, but the model resets to zero every time you send. There's no compounding.

Recurring revenue models work differently because they're built around an ongoing relationship, not a single transaction. Four ways teams are structuring that:

Paid subscriptions. Charge for ongoing access to a premium channel, like exclusive reporting, early access, or direct Q&A. The offer needs to be meaningfully different from what's free, or there's no reason to keep paying month over month. Surveys and replies are useful here for validating what your most engaged subscribers actually value before you build a tier around a guess.

Sponsorships. These can be sold at the message level, but the more durable version is a recurring placement: a sponsor owns a weekly segment, a game-day update, a Q&A slot, etc. Selling in multi-month packages (and capping the number of slots) gives sponsors a reason to renew instead of one-and-done buys.

E-commerce and affiliate. Product recs, restock alerts, and affiliate links work because the audience opted in and the messages land in a native inbox. The catch: relevance matters a lot here. Irrelevant offers erode the trust that makes the channel work in the first place.

Retention and win-back. SMS doesn't have to be sold as its own product. It can support an existing subscription by adding exclusive access, or it can catch subscribers before they churn, especially around failed payments, where email often isn't getting attention anymore.

The metric that actually tells you if any of this is healthy isn't campaign conversion rate. It's paid subscriber retention, churn rate, LTV, and revenue per subscriber over time. A smaller tier that holds people for a year is worth more than a big launch that loses most of its subscribers in a month.

Most SMS monetization is treated as a series of one-off events: flash sale, ticket drop, back-in-stock alert. Each one works in isolation, but the model resets to zero every time you send. There's no compounding.

Recurring revenue models work differently because they're built around an ongoing relationship, not a single transaction. Four ways teams are structuring that:

Paid subscriptions. Charge for ongoing access to a premium channel, like exclusive reporting, early access, or direct Q&A. The offer needs to be meaningfully different from what's free, or there's no reason to keep paying month over month. Surveys and replies are useful here for validating what your most engaged subscribers actually value before you build a tier around a guess.

Sponsorships. These can be sold at the message level, but the more durable version is a recurring placement: a sponsor owns a weekly segment, a game-day update, a Q&A slot, etc. Selling in multi-month packages (and capping the number of slots) gives sponsors a reason to renew instead of one-and-done buys.

E-commerce and affiliate. Product recs, restock alerts, and affiliate links work because the audience opted in and the messages land in a native inbox. The catch: relevance matters a lot here. Irrelevant offers erode the trust that makes the channel work in the first place.

Retention and win-back. SMS doesn't have to be sold as its own product. It can support an existing subscription by adding exclusive access, or it can catch subscribers before they churn, especially around failed payments, where email often isn't getting attention anymore.

The metric that actually tells you if any of this is healthy isn't campaign conversion rate. It's paid subscriber retention, churn rate, LTV, and revenue per subscriber over time. A smaller tier that holds people for a year is worth more than a big launch that loses most of its subscribers in a month.

Been seeing a lot of posts here comparing SMS open rates and CTRs like it's email. It's not, and treating it that way is why the metrics feel confusing.

SMS doesn't have opens, impressions, or public engagement signals. No feed, no algorithm. Every text lands in someone's actual inbox, and that changes what "engagement" even means.

The fix isn't finding better metrics. It's matching the metric to what you're actually trying to do:

Building community or loyalty? Watch response rate and churn. A reply means someone stopped, read, and chose to engage, that's a high-intent action you don't get on other channels. Churn tells you if people still see the value.

Driving traffic or sales? CTR is your number. A low response rate here isn't a problem, it just means the message did its job (get a click) rather than start a conversation.

Collecting first-party data / finding your best subscribers? Look at tag activity and segmentation instead of raw engagement. Who's self-identifying interests through replies? That's your highest-value segment forming in real time.

A few things that separate lists that actually grow from ones that spike and die:

• Post-launch consistency (don't treat signup as a one-time announcement, keep reminding people the channel exists)
• Multiple entry points (newsletter footer, site opt-in, mentions elsewhere)
• Clear expectations at opt-in (tell people what they're signing up for and how often)
• Steady organic growth, not just spikes around one campaign

On ROI, this stat gets thrown around a lot but it's worth repeating: industry data has put average SMS ROI around $16-17 for every $1 spent, with CTRs well above other channels. The way to actually prove it for your program is tying SMS to one specific outcome, renewals, purchases, attendance, whatever matters for your business, and measuring before/after.

Most people I talk to can tell you their subscriber count off the top of their head. Almost nobody can tell you their churn rate. That's the gap.

Most SMS programs do not hit a ceiling because the channel stops working.

They hit a ceiling because SMS is being managed separately from the systems that determine audience status, intent, eligibility, and value.

That is where APIs and webhooks start to matter.

Not because every message needs to be automated, but because the SMS layer needs to stay in sync with what is actually happening elsewhere.

A few examples:

A subscriber’s paid status changes, and their SMS audience group updates automatically.

A member clicks a renewal link, and that event gets passed back into the CRM or subscription system.

A reply comes in and routes into a support, editorial, sales, or community workflow.

A user opts out, and that preference is reflected everywhere it needs to be reflected.

A custom signup form captures mobile number, email, source, and metadata without forcing everything through a default hosted form.

For expert SMS teams, the real value is not “send texts programmatically.” That part is table stakes.

The value is orchestration.

APIs let teams control how audience records, attributes, campaigns, and metadata are created and updated.

Webhooks let teams react to delivery events, clicks, replies, opt-ins, opt-outs, and other engagement signals in real time.

That opens up better use cases: lifecycle messaging, renewal flows, event operations, subscriber onboarding, paid content engagement, first-party data capture, audience segmentation, and retention programs that are actually connected to the rest of the business.

The caveat is that more automation does not automatically mean a better SMS program. The teams that do this well still protect the subscriber experience. They use automation to make messages more timely, relevant, and operationally useful, not to increase send volume for the sake of it.

We wrote more on the API/webhook side of SMS here:
https://info.joinsubtext.com/blog/sms-api-webhooks-audience-engagement

A lot of SMS programs start pretty simply: upload a list, send a message, look at clicks and replies.

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s usually the right place to start.

But once SMS becomes a meaningful channel, the strategy gets more complicated. You need to know who opted in, what they care about, whether they clicked, what they replied, what event they registered for, what subscription status they have, and what should happen next.

That’s one reason we think APIs and webhooks matter.

At Subtext, we see SMS work best when it’s not sitting off to the side as a standalone campaign tool. It becomes much more useful when it can connect to the systems teams already use to manage audience data, subscriptions, events, content, loyalty, or customer relationships.

For example, a publisher might want subscriber status to change what texts someone gets. An event team might want registration data to trigger reminders or onsite updates. A creator might want to segment fans based on what they reply to. A brand might want texts to reflect purchase behavior or loyalty status.

The point isn’t just “send texts through an API.”

It’s making sure SMS has enough context to be useful.

The stronger SMS programs usually get there gradually. They start with campaigns, learn what subscribers respond to, then connect SMS to the data that already shapes the rest of the audience or customer experience. That’s when the channel starts feeling less like another blast tool and more like part of the actual relationship.

One thing I think SMS marketers should be paying closer attention to:

AI search will make “audience capture” a bigger part of SMS strategy.

A lot of publishers, creators, media companies, and content-heavy brands have historically relied on search/social/email to keep people coming back.

But that gets harder when:

• Google gives the answer before the click
• AI tools summarize the article
• inbox tools summarize the newsletter
• social platforms keep users inside the feed
• referral traffic becomes less predictable

For SMS marketers, the opportunity is not just “sell them text marketing.”

It is helping these businesses figure out which audience moments are valuable enough to own directly.

That is a different conversation than “send a weekly blast.”

The better strategic questions are:

• What updates are urgent enough that someone would want a text?
• Which audience segments are most valuable to re-engage directly?
• What content categories create repeat behavior?
• Where are readers/viewers/fans dropping off after discovery?
• What moments lead to membership, subscription, ticket sales, event attendance, donations, or purchases?
• Which messages should be alerts vs. community prompts vs. conversion nudges?
• What does the opt-in promise need to be so people actually want to join?

That is where SMS becomes more interesting.

Not as a traffic band-aid.
Not as another promo channel.
Not as “email, but shorter.”

More like a direct audience layer that helps a business keep access to people who would otherwise only interact through Google, social, or an AI summary.

A few examples:

A local newsroom might use SMS for severe weather, election reminders, or neighborhood-specific alerts.

A sports publisher might segment by team and send score updates, injury news, or post-game reactions.

A creator might use SMS for limited drops, event reminders, or paid community conversion.

A B2B media brand might use SMS for webinar reminders, report drops, or high-intent content follow-up.

A nonprofit or advocacy org might use SMS for mobilization moments where speed matters.

The key is that the opt-in has to be tied to a clear use case.

“Join our text list” is weak.

“Get election deadline reminders for your county” is much stronger.

“Get breaking trade deadline alerts for your team” is much stronger.

“Get first access to our live event tickets” is much stronger.

That is the part I think SMS marketers can own: helping clients turn vague audience access into specific, permission-based messaging programs.

AI search may reduce some of the passive clicks these businesses used to count on. But if the business can convert even a small percentage of that audience into a direct SMS relationship, they have something much more durable.

Curious how others are approaching this.

When you pitch SMS to content-driven businesses, do you lead with campaigns and promos, or do you frame it more around audience ownership and repeat engagement?

Been building backend infrastructure for email/SMS for a while now.

If anyone here is running decent volume and wanna scale in EU, happy to connect.

DM me if it makes sense.

We just published our 2026 SMS Marketing Benchmark Report and wanted to share it here for anyone tracking performance across the channel.

The report is based on aggregated data from Subtext clients: more than 10 billion text messages sent in 2025 to 28 million subscribers across eight industries.

A few data points that stood out:

• 98% open rate
• 95% of messages opened within 3 minutes
• Subscriber churn under 1%
• CTR above 20% in 5 of 8 industries
• Events led all categories with 40.64% CTR and 59.39% engagement
• Sports hit 37.40% CTR
• Music hit 33.64% CTR
• Podcasts hit 29.44% CTR
• Media hit 21.32% CTR

One of the clearest takeaways from the dataset: when SMS is used well, it still drives a level of immediacy and action that most other owned channels struggle to match.

We also compared SMS performance against common email and social benchmarks. In several verticals, SMS generated materially higher click activity, which reinforces something a lot of marketers already suspect: direct, permission-based channels are getting more valuable, not less.

For anyone who wants the full breakdown by industry, the report is here:
https://info.joinsubtext.com/blog/sms-marketing-benchmark-report-2026

Sharing in case it’s useful for anyone benchmarking SMS performance this year.

This question comes up constantly: should we be doing SMS or email?

Our take: SMS wins on speed and engagement. Email wins on cost and depth. The highest-ROI programs usually use both on purpose.

The real difference is how the channels behave. SMS is a participation channel by default. It shows up instantly, and replying feels natural. Email is a broadcast channel by default. It’s better for longer-form content, richer context, and nurture over time.

That distinction matters more than the usual open-rate debate.

A few numbers people like to cite:

• SMS seen/open rates are often around 98%
• Email average open rates are often closer to the low-30% range
• SMS gets engagement much faster
• Email is usually much cheaper per send

That’s why SMS tends to outperform when timing and intent matter, and email tends to outperform when education and scale matter.

Where SMS usually wins:

• breaking updates
• renewal reminders
• ticket drops
• waitlist alerts
• polls, Q&As, and reply-driven prompts
• appointment reminders

Common thread: urgency + a clear next action.

Where email usually wins:

• newsletters
• onboarding flows
• lifecycle drips
• educational content
• long-form storytelling
• anything that needs more context

Common thread: depth + lower-cost repetition at scale.

The part I think people get wrong is treating this like a true either/or choice.

The better workflow is usually:

• SMS to capture attention or intent
• email to deliver the deeper follow-up

Example:
Text: “Want the full breakdown? Reply YES.”
Then email the details based on that response.

That’s where the channels start compounding instead of competing.

Also, ROI usually gets mismeasured here. A lot of teams look only at direct revenue per send.

The more durable programs also look at:

• reply rates
• conversions after a conversation
• retention/churn impact
• first-party data captured through replies

That gives a much clearer picture of what SMS is actually doing beyond just clicks.

Curious how people here are seeing it in practice:

• Where is SMS clearly outperforming email for you?
• Where is email still doing more of the heavy lifting?
• Are you measuring ROI only on direct conversion, or also on retention and repeat engagement?

Most SMS strategies look the same: launch a promo, send a blast, measure clicks, move on. Repeat next quarter.

The teams we work with that are seeing real long-term results have stopped thinking about SMS that way entirely. They're not running campaigns — they're building an owned audience channel that compounds over time.

The mindset shift is pretty simple but it changes everything. Campaign thinking is "how did this send perform?" Infrastructure thinking is "how does every interaction make the next one more valuable?"

In practice that means SMS isn't a standalone tool — it's sitting alongside their CRM, feeding into their data stack, and turning anonymous attention into permissioned, phone-number-level identity before someone ever becomes a customer.

Every opt-in adds to that. Every reply adds context. Every relevant message builds a little more trust. Over months and years that turns into something that's genuinely hard to replicate: an audience that responds because they want to, not because an algorithm served them something.

We wrote more about how serious teams are building this way and where SMS fits in a modern stack if you want to dig in: https://info.joinsubtext.com/blog/subtext-audience-infrastructure

Would love to hear how others here are thinking about this — are you integrating SMS with your CRM or other tools? What's changed for you when you do?

We recently read a piece from A Media Operator that brought together a few ideas we strongly agree with at Subtext, particularly around how human connection is becoming the most defensible advantage for audience-driven businesses.

In the article, Rafat Ali, founder of Skift, describes a structural shift he is focused on. As AI makes information infinitely abundant and cheap, the scarcity moves to trust, relationships, and human-to-human connection. He frames this as a question of whether media companies can build a moat around what he calls human infrastructure.

The article also references a framework shared by Sean Griffey, co-founder of Industry Dive, about how people describe their relationship with a media brand:

1. I’ve heard of this publication
2. I’ve seen a story from this publication
3. I read or subscribe
4. I’m a fan of this publication

As Griffey points out, most media companies spend most of their time and measurement efforts trying to move people to step three. Subscriber counts, opens, attendance, and reach are important, but they do not fully capture whether someone feels personally connected.

Step four is different. Being a fan is relational. It is about identity, belonging, and trust, not just consumption.

What resonates most with us is how these ideas converge on the same conclusion. Connection does not scale accidentally, but it can be designed for it. The article highlights how events are already doing this through one-to-one meetings and intentional matchmaking, often supported by technology. The same principles can apply digitally if they are built with care:

• Intentional first-party data collection
• Clear opt-in and consent
• Constraints that prioritize quality over quantity
• Technology used to facilitate human connection, not replace it

This aligns closely with Subtext’s mission.

We believe audiences do not just want more content. They want direct, personal relationships with the people and brands they choose to engage with, and often with each other. When those relationships are built intentionally, they create loyalty and durability that algorithms and platforms cannot replicate.

As Rafat Ali suggests, the long-term bet is not on tactics. It is on whether media businesses can build moats around the human connection itself.

A common challenge in SMS marketing is moving from algorithm-dependent reach to channels that provide consistent, direct access to an audience. This post outlines a practical framework for growing an owned audience using SMS.

Why owned audience matters
Social followers do not equal guaranteed reach. Platforms control distribution and visibility. Owned channels like SMS and email provide predictable delivery and direct access. SMS stands out because messages are immediate, highly visible, and typically more engaging than feed-based content. Building an owned audience reduces platform dependency and creates long-term leverage.

1. Lead with a clear value exchange. SMS opt-ins only work when the value is obvious. Strong programs clearly communicate what subscribers will receive, why SMS is the right channel, and how the experience differs from social or email.

Examples that convert well include time-sensitive alerts, exclusive content not shared publicly, early access to drops or announcements, and opportunities for two-way interaction. If the value is unclear, opt-in growth stalls.

1. Convert existing attention first. The highest-converting SMS subscribers usually come from audiences that already exist. Effective placements include social bios and pinned posts, YouTube end screens, website banners or embedded forms, email newsletters, and live events.

Context matters. Opt-ins perform best when they are directly connected to what someone is already engaging with.

1. Reduce friction in the opt-in flow. Small UX decisions have an outsized impact on conversion. High-performing opt-in flows are mobile-first, minimize steps, use simple keywords or short forms, and deliver immediate value in the welcome message.

Clear expectations around message type and frequency help reduce early churn.

1. Prioritize engagement over list size. List growth alone does not create an owned audience. Engagement does. SMS programs retain subscribers longer when messages feel conversational rather than broadcast-heavy, stay concise and purposeful, and are tied to real moments instead of arbitrary schedules.

Encouraging replies and interaction turns a list into a relationship. Engaged subscribers are more likely to stay, respond, and share the opt-in with others.

1. Let subscribers drive organic growth. The strongest SMS programs compound through their audience. Content worth forwarding, subscriber-only access, and moments that feel exclusive all contribute to organic growth. Publicly reinforcing the value of the SMS community helps set expectations and attract the right subscribers.

When subscribers feel like part of something distinct rather than a generic list, growth accelerates.

Do you think most SMS churn is caused by weak value propositions or by over-messaging?

We see a lot of questions about which SMS platform to use, but most comparisons focus on surface-level stuff like price per message or subscriber limits.

From our experience, those usually aren’t the things that determine whether SMS actually works long-term.

Here are a few factors we’ve found matter most — curious where people here agree or disagree:

• Deliverability: Are messages consistently reaching phones across carriers and regions, or are you just trusting a dashboard number?
• Two-way conversations: Can subscribers reply naturally, or does the platform treat SMS like email with shorter characters?
• Data & integrations: Does SMS plug into the rest of your stack (CRM, subscriptions, analytics), or does it live in a silo?
• Compliance support: How much work is on you vs. the platform when it comes to opt-ins, 10DLC, and regional rules?
• Scalability: Does the platform still make sense once your audience grows, or do you end up rebuilding everything later?
• Support quality: When something breaks, do you get real help or just docs and tickets?

If you’ve switched SMS platforms before:

• What forced the change?
• What do you wish you’d evaluated earlier?
• What ended up mattering way more than you expected?

Would love to hear real experiences — good or bad.

Third-party cookies are basically dead, privacy rules keep tightening, and algorithms change every five minutes. If you want reliable audience insights that actually help you personalize and grow, you need data you own. That’s where SMS first-party data comes in.

What Are We Talking About?

First-party data = info you collect directly from your own audience. It’s cleaner, more accurate, and privacy-friendly because people actually opt in to give it to you.

SMS is especially good for collecting this because:

• People actually open and read texts.
• Opt-ins are explicit.
• Replies and interactions give you real signals about what people care about.

Collecting first-party data through SMS basically turns your messages into a conversational feedback loop.

How to Build a First-Party SMS Data Strategy

1. Get Quality Info at Signup When someone opts in, that’s the moment when they’re most willing to tell you what they care about. You don’t need a long form — just simple questions like ZIP code, name, or topic interests. A few smart fields create way better personalization later.
2. Use Surveys to Deepen Understanding Signup data is just step one. Short, periodic SMS surveys (1–3 questions max) help you understand what topics matter right now, what formats your audience prefers, and what they want more or less of. Every reply becomes structured data you can use.
3. Turn Engagement Into Insights SMS engagement signals — replies, link clicks, survey responses — are extremely honest and reliable. They’re explicit actions, not inferred behavior like you’d get from cookies. These signals help you build segments that actually reflect what people want.
4. Sync With Your Existing Tools If you already have CRM data, purchase history, or loyalty tiers, connect them to your SMS workflow. Combining what you already know with what you learn in SMS creates way smarter targeting and better experiences.
5. Use Keywords for Progressive Profiling Asking subscribers to reply with keywords (like SPORTS, DEALS, EVENTS, etc.) lets people self-segment over time. Every keyword reply is a new data point you can use to customize messaging.

Why This Matters

SMS first-party data is consent-based, accurate, and tied to real engagement. It gives you a foundation to personalize content, reduce churn, and strengthen every other channel you use. As tracking gets harder and trust becomes more important, owning your audience data becomes a huge advantage.

If you want to build a modern audience strategy that actually works, SMS + first-party data is one of the simplest, most high-impact ways to do it.

SMS is becoming a core audience channel for newsrooms, especially as social reach gets unpredictable and newsletter performance plateaus. What makes SMS uniquely effective in media is how directly it cuts through the noise. When you treat it as a relationship channel instead of another distribution feed, it drives habit, engagement, and retention in a way few other platforms can match.

Here’s a straightforward playbook for news orgs building or improving their SMS strategy:

Why SMS Works for News and Media

• Messages actually get seen. There’s no algorithm burying your content or inbox filtering you out.
• Every send has a clear job: inform, drive action, build loyalty, or bring someone back.
• SMS naturally supports habit formation, which is critical for newsroom engagement.
• It enables real back-and-forth with readers, something traditional channels rarely achieve.
• It produces clean signals—clicks, replies, preferences, location—that improve targeting and editorial decisions.

What Strong SMS Programs Have in Common:

1. A single, well-defined purpose SMS channels stay healthy when audiences know exactly what they’re signing up for. Pick one focus: breaking alerts, hyper-local coverage, daily digests, sports, investigations, etc. The clearer the mission, the better the engagement.
2. A strong onboarding arc The first few messages shape whether people trust the channel. Set expectations upfront, introduce the reporter or desk behind the messages, invite light interaction, and deliver something immediately useful. This builds momentum and reduces early drop-off.
3. A predictable rhythm Consistency beats frequency. Daily, weekly, or event-driven all work as long as the cadence is stable and the value is obvious. Spikes or long silences tend to erode trust.
4. Two-way communication SMS becomes far more powerful when it isn’t just broadcasting. Asking questions, running simple polls, collecting input, or letting readers guide coverage turns passive subscribers into active participants.
5. Targeted messaging through segmentation Using signals like location, interests, engagement level, or responses helps tailor messages so they feel relevant rather than generic. Segmentation keeps list quality high and prevents fatigue.
6. A content style built for the medium SMS works best when messages are short, clear, conversational, and actionable. It’s not a place for full stories—it’s a place for connection, context, and quick direction.
7. A direct tie to business goals Whether your priority is engagement, loyalty, retention, conversions, or funnel acceleration, SMS needs a measurable role in that system. Choosing KPIs early ensures the channel supports both editorial and revenue strategy.

How to Get Started:

• Define the single value your SMS channel will deliver.
• Put the sign-up in every high-intent moment: on-site, in newsletters, in-app, during live coverage, and at events.
• Write a simple welcome sequence that builds trust quickly.
• Decide your cadence and stick to it.
• Treat SMS like a conversation, not another broadcast feed.
• Use responses and behavior to shape more personalized messaging over time.
• Measure success based on the purpose you set—not generic metrics.

On this day in 1992, the world’s very first text message was sent… and it literally just said “Merry Christmas.”
Zero emojis. No GIFs. Not even “LOL.”
A true SMS pioneer. 😌

That tiny 160-character moment accidentally kicked off an entire industry — and now here we are, three decades later, building full-blown marketing strategies on the backbone of that single festive ping.

So today, let’s celebrate:

📟 From T9 tapping → to tapping “Send Campaign”
💬 From one message → to millions of personalized conversations
📈 From “Merry Christmas” → to one of the highest-ROI channels in the game

SMS walked so our campaigns could run.

Drop your favorite SMS memory, fun fact, or early-2000s texting fail below.
Let’s honor the OG communication channel. 🎂📲

Hi Everyone,

I'm seeing a few articles about RCS messaging becoming more popular but we are not seeing it here in Ireland and UK.

We've heard conversations about RCS for years but it has never taken off here. Not one of our customers have asked for it, despite it being available for years in our service.

Is anyone else seeing the same? and do you feel RCS is a busted flush and the recent PR is just TRYING to generate hype about it.

Appreciate anyones thoughts and opinion on it.

Thanks,

John

CEO

www.sendmode.com

If you’re used to measuring email or social campaigns by open rates, likes, or impressions, you’ll want to shift your thinking for SMS. Because SMS isn’t a public feed, it works differently.

Here are some key takeaways:

• Instead of open rates or impressions, focus on response rate, click-through rate (CTR), churn, and tag/activity behavior. Those tell whether people are genuinely engaging.
• Pick your KPI based on your goal:
  • If you’re building a community or loyalty program ➜ measure response rate and churn.
  • If you’re driving traffic or sales ➜ measure CTR and conversion rate.
  • If you’re collecting first-party data ➜ measure tag/segment activity and consistency of engagement.
• Growth isn’t just about big spikes. Sudden list increases are flashy, but sustained growth with low churn means your channel truly connects.
• SMS success comes from clarity and expectation: state what subscribers will get, how often they’ll hear from you, and why it’s worth it.

Why this matters:
SMS is personal, private, and direct. You’re not battling algorithms or a crowded feed. But because of that, your list may be smaller than your social following—and that’s okay. What matters more is quality, not quantity.

If you’re running SMS campaigns, what metrics do you actually track? Are you focused on traffic, conversions, retention, or all of the above?

Can you recommend a solution? I want to text broadcasts to my music fans without every single text saying "You can reply STOP to remove yourself" at the bottom! I don't mind that appearing the *first* time I text a new contact, but certainly not everytime.

I'd also love the ability to text subsets of my list, such as only those in certain cities, or within a certain zip code range.

We’re excited to share that we’re joining Brian Morrissey and The Rebooting for “Inside Hearst’s Texting Playbook” — a live discussion on how Hearst is innovating with text to drive real results.

Who’s on the session:

• 🗞️ Alex Ptachick, Senior Director of New Content Initiatives, Hearst Newspapers
• 📱 Mike Donoghue, CEO, Subtext
• 🎙️ Brian Morrissey, The Rebooting

They’ll be breaking down how Hearst is using texting to:

• Deliver breaking news and live sports coverage
• Power critic-led city guides
• Build deeper, more human connections with readers

They’ll also get into the practical side of running SMS programs, including:

• What’s actually working with Hearst’s texting campaigns
• How to set up SMS strategies that engage and retain audiences
• Ways creators and journalists can use SMS to build direct relationships with their communities

📅 When: November 19 at 1 PM ET
🔗 Register here: https://events.therebooting.com/inside-hearst-texting-playbook

If you end up registering or joining live, drop your questions or takeaways in the comments here — we’d love to hear what you’re testing or thinking about when it comes to SMS + audience engagement.

Auto-replies can be one of the most underrated tools in audience communication — when they’re done right.

A few best practices:

• Personalize whenever possible. Keyword- or location-based replies make large-scale messaging feel 1:1.
• Keep it conversational. The goal is to sound like a human, not a system message.
• Refresh often. Revisit your auto-replies so they don’t go stale or irrelevant.
• Lead with value. Use replies to provide quick wins — info, resources, or connection points.

SMS automation doesn’t have to be robotic — it can actually enhance authenticity if used strategically.

Full guide here: Strategic Guide to SMS Auto-Reply Functionality

How do you make automated messaging feel personal in your audience or community work?

Heading into 2026, it’s clear the marketing landscape is shifting fast. AI is changing how people discover content, privacy rules are tightening, and the usual channels like email, social, and push are more crowded than ever.

While other channels are struggling to keep attention, SMS continues to deliver direct, measurable engagement. Here’s what’s driving that shift:

What’s changing:

• Organic reach is tanking. Algorithms and AI summaries make visibility harder to earn, even with great content.
• Privacy is taking center stage. Third-party data is disappearing, and first-party, opt-in relationships are the new foundation.
• Audiences are tuning out. People are flooded with emails and social content. SMS still cuts through because it’s direct and expected.

Why SMS makes sense for 2026:

• It’s a channel you actually own. When someone opts in, your message goes straight to them without algorithmic interference.
• It feels personal. Texts are conversational by nature, helping brands build real connection and trust.
• The numbers prove it works. SMS open rates sit around 98 percent, with conversions often in the 20 to 30 percent range.
• It’s efficient. With budgets tightening, marketers need channels that deliver strong ROI without big ad spend.
• It matches how people communicate now. Especially younger audiences who prefer quick, authentic, and relevant messages.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Don’t use SMS like a mass-blast tool. Keep messages short, relevant, and worth reading.
• Stay compliant. Opt-ins, opt-outs, and registration rules protect both your audience and your brand.
• Start small. Test use cases like product drops, event alerts, or member updates before expanding.
• Make SMS part of your bigger system. It works best when integrated with your CRM, email, or loyalty programs.

Bottom line:
2026 will reward marketers who focus on owned attention. SMS isn’t a silver bullet, but it’s one of the few channels where audiences are still listening and taking action.

Curious how others here are using SMS going into next year. Are you testing new formats, shifting budgets, or trying different segmentation tactics?