98% SMS Open Rates Are a Myth
For years, the SMS marketing industry and text messaging vendors have repeated the same line:
“Text messages have a 98% open rate.”
You’ve heard it in sales pitches, blog posts, webinars, and slide decks.
Here’s the truth:
That number is bologna.
Not because SMS marketing doesn’t work. It does. SMS is one of the most powerful tools nonprofit marketers have.
But because that statistic has never been provable — and the industry keeps repeating it anyway.
When marketers trust numbers that can’t be proven, they end up making decisions on guesswork.
And that's sad.
Let’s break it down.
You Can’t Actually Measure an SMS Open Rate
Email has tracking pixels. SMS does not.
There is no built-in way for carriers or phones to report:
- whether a text message was opened
- when it was opened
- how long it was viewed
Those signals simply don’t exist in standard SMS messaging.
The famous “98% SMS open rate” was never a hard metric. It was a behavioral guess that got marketed like a scientific fact.
And there’s another issue.
Even if you could detect opens, they wouldn’t tell you much.
People open messages all the time just to:
- swipe a notification away
- clear their inbox
- reply STOP
- mark something as spam
That isn’t engagement.
An open is a mechanical action. A click is an intentional decision.
If marketers care about results, we should measure intentional decisions.
Why the Original 98% SMS Statistic Is Outdated
Even if the old assumption was once directionally true, modern mobile technology has changed how people receive and view text messages.
I’ll concede this: when the stat first started circulating in the early 2000s, texting was new, and SMS behaved more like an instant alert than a crowded marketing inbox.
But the ecosystem that created the 98% stat no longer exists.
That's for sure.
Smartphones Now Filter Notifications
Modern smartphones are designed to protect user attention.
Features like Focus Modes, notification summaries, silent delivery, and app permissions mean many SMS messages are:
- delivered quietly
- batched with other alerts
- buried in notification stacks
- pushed to the dreaded "unknown sender" inbox
A delivered message is no longer guaranteed to grab attention.
Delivery is not the same as visibility.
Carrier Spam Filtering Reduces Message Visibility
Carriers and operating systems now aggressively screen unwanted SMS traffic.
This includes:
- reputation scoring
- unknown sender filtering
- automated spam detection
Some commercial messages never reach a user’s primary inbox. Others arrive with warning signals that reduce trust and engagement.
These systems didn’t exist when the 98% open rate claim became popular.
But they do now.
Messaging Behavior Has Fragmented Beyond SMS
Personal conversations have largely moved into app-based messaging platforms.
That changed what people want out of SMS.
Text messages no longer get automatic attention just because they arrive.
Attention is earned through relevance and timing. Through known senders and trusted brands.
The behavior that supported the original statistic evolved.
And the industry kept repeating it anyway.
SMS Marketing Success Isn’t About Opens — It’s About Clicks
Even if you could prove the 98% number (which you can't), it still wouldn’t answer the question nonprofit marketers actually care about:
Did the message drive action?
Nonprofit SMS campaigns exist to generate:
- donations
- registrations
- volunteer sign-ups
- event participation
An open rate does not tell you whether any of that happened.
A click-through rate (CTR) does.
Click tracking shows you:
- who acted
- which messages worked
- how your audience responds
That is real performance feedback.
Vanity metrics feel good.
Outcome metrics make you better.
We Guarantee a 15% Click-Through Rate on SMS Campaigns
If click-through rate is what matters, platforms should stand behind measurable performance.
We do
If your SMS campaign doesn’t achieve at least a 15% click-through rate, we’ll give you 10,000 free text messages and a strategy session to help you improve it.
Not as a gimmick
As a statement of confidence
Strong nonprofit SMS marketing should drive measurable engagement. If it isn’t, something can be improved:
- message clarity
- timing
- audience segmentation
- offer strength
- call to action
We’ll help you diagnose what’s wrong and fix it.
Because stats don’t raise money.
Results do
Stop Chasing SMS Marketing Myths
The nonprofit sector doesn’t have time for recycled statistics that sound impressive but don’t change outcomes.
SMS marketing is a powerful channel. That’s exactly why it deserves honest measurement.
If a metric can’t be proven and doesn’t help you make better decisions, it isn’t analytics.
It’s folklore.
And nonprofit marketers deserve numbers that move their mission forward.
Don't Take Our Word For It
If SMS is going to be part of your fundraising strategy, it should deliver results you can prove.
That’s why we stand behind performance.
If your campaign doesn’t achieve at least a 15% click-through rate, we’ll give you 10,000 free text messages and a strategy session to help you improve it.
No folklore. No vanity metrics. Just measurable engagement.
If you want to see how this works in practice, book a demo, and we’ll walk you through it.
About the Author
James Martin is founder of Rally Corp, helping nonprofits mobilize supporters with human-centered text messaging and mobile engagement. With 20+ years in marketing, he shares insights on the Your Rally Point Podcast and rallycorp.com.
