What is SMS Campaign ROI?

SMS Campaign ROI (Return on Investment) measures the financial return generated by SMS marketing campaigns relative to their cost. The basic formula is: (SMS Revenue − SMS Costs) ÷ SMS Costs × 100. An ROI of 28x means for every $1 spent on SMS, $28 in revenue was generated.

SMS costs typically include: platform subscription fees, per-message sending costs, phone number fees, and subscriber acquisition costs. Revenue includes all purchases attributed to SMS campaigns, whether through link clicks or text-to-buy replies.

SMS consistently ranks among the highest-ROI marketing channels for DTC brands — driven by its 98% open rate, immediate delivery, and (with text-to-buy) dramatically higher conversion rates than other digital channels.

Calculating SMS ROI requires tracking both sides of the equation. On the cost side: sum your platform fees, per-message costs, and any spending on list growth (paid acquisition, incentives, tool costs). On the revenue side: sum all purchases attributed to SMS campaigns.

The revenue calculation depends on your attribution model. For link-based SMS, you'll use click tracking and attribution windows — which introduces some uncertainty. For text-to-buy, attribution is direct: every reply-based purchase is unambiguously tied to SMS. This makes text-to-buy ROI calculations more reliable.

Key benchmarks: the average SMS marketing ROI is reported between 20–40x. AudienceTap merchants average 28x ROI. Individual results vary: Fellow Drops achieves 32x ROI, Pull & Pour Coffee Club achieves 35.3x ROI, Tinker Coffee achieves 13.9x ROI.

ROI is the metric that determines budget allocation. When you can demonstrate that SMS generates 28x ROI, the case for increasing SMS investment is clear. When the comparison to email ROI (typically 36x but with higher volume and lower per-message revenue) or paid social ROI (typically 2–5x) is made, SMS's position as a high-efficiency channel is evident.

Text-to-buy fundamentally improves SMS ROI because it dramatically increases the revenue numerator while the cost denominator stays similar. Sending a text costs roughly the same whether it contains a link or is a text-to-buy offer — but the revenue generated by text-to-buy is 12x higher per message.

For DTC brands evaluating marketing channel investments, SMS campaign ROI should be calculated and compared against other channels on a per-dollar-invested basis. Most brands find SMS outperforms on efficiency even if it's smaller in absolute volume.