Why 33% of Your Customers Want to Text You (and Most Brands Ignore It)

A third of Gen Z shoppers say they prefer SMS over every other channel a brand can use to reach them, and 72% of shoppers say a text has directly influenced a purchase. Most ecommerce brands still treat SMS as an afterthought bolted onto their email program, sending the same message on both channels and wondering why SMS underperforms. It underperforms because it is being used like email, not because the channel does not work.

Email vs SMS: Where Each Actually Wins

The two channels are not interchangeable. Sending the same content on both is why most SMS programs feel like noise instead of a second revenue channel.

The SMS Flows Most Brands Never Build

Most brands that do have SMS turned on have exactly one flow: cart abandonment. That leaves the highest-leverage moments uncovered:

• Welcome SMS for new subscribers, separate from the email welcome series
• Back-in-stock alerts for the specific product a customer viewed
• VIP or early-access alerts for a restock or drop, sent minutes before the email version
• Shipping and delivery updates, which customers actively want on their phone rather than in an inbox

Why Brands Skip SMS Even Though It Works

Three reasons come up repeatedly, and only one of them is actually a good reason to hold back.

• Compliance feels more complicated than email. SMS requires its own explicit opt-in that cannot be inferred from an email signup, plus clearer rules around consent and unsubscribing. This is real, but it is a one-time setup cost, not an ongoing burden once the opt-in flow exists.
• Cost per message is higher than email. This is the legitimate reason to be deliberate about frequency and targeting rather than sending SMS to your entire list the way you might send an email campaign. It is not a reason to avoid the channel, since the flows that matter most (back-in-stock, shipping updates, time-sensitive drops) are triggered, not blasted, so volume stays naturally low.
• Fear of feeling spammy on a channel that lands directly on someone's lock screen. This concern is valid, but the actual fix is sending fewer, more relevant messages, not avoiding the channel entirely. A brand that sends one well-timed restock alert a month builds trust; a brand that sends nothing at all just leaves that trust, and the revenue behind it, to whichever competitor does bother to text.

How to Start Without Overwhelming Your List

1. Start with two or three flows only: back-in-stock, a shipping update, and one time-sensitive campaign type. Do not try to mirror your entire email flow stack on day one.
2. Reserve SMS for genuinely time-sensitive or personally relevant moments. If the message would work fine sitting in an inbox for two days, it belongs in email, not SMS.
3. Keep frequency capped and let subscribers see it as a rare, useful signal rather than another channel to mute.

Best for: brands with a high average order value or frequent time-sensitive drops, restocks, or flash sales, where a text creates real urgency an email cannot.

How to Know If Your SMS Program Is Actually Working

Open rate does not exist as a reliable metric for SMS the way it barely exists for email anymore, so judge the channel on three numbers instead.

• Click-through rate: SMS typically sees higher engagement than email because the list is smaller and more permission-heavy. A click-through rate noticeably below what your email flows get on the same triggers is a signal the content or timing is off, not that SMS itself does not work.
• Revenue per message sent: track this per flow, not just in aggregate. A back-in-stock SMS and a general promotional SMS will perform very differently, and averaging them together hides which flows are actually worth keeping.
• Opt-out rate: this is the number that tells you if frequency or relevance has gone wrong before revenue drops. A rising opt-out rate after a specific campaign is a direct signal to pull back, not a reason to send a follow-up explaining why you texted.

Review these monthly, per flow, for at least the first quarter of a new SMS program. Most of the underperformance brands blame on the channel is actually one flow with the wrong frequency or the wrong message dragging down an otherwise healthy program.

Building this properly, as one coordinated system instead of two separate channels competing for attention, is exactly what our email and SMS marketing service covers.

Frequently asked questions

How many SMS messages should I send per week?

There is no universal number, but most brands starting out should stay well under one promotional text per week, reserving additional sends only for genuine time-sensitive moments like a restock or shipping update.

Do I need a separate opt-in for SMS versus email?

Yes. SMS requires its own explicit consent and cannot be inferred from an email opt-in, so your signup flow needs a distinct SMS opt-in step.

Should small or early-stage brands bother with SMS?

Yes, but start narrow. Even two flows, back-in-stock and shipping updates, capture real revenue without requiring a large subscriber list or a big content operation.

Can I just reuse my email content for SMS?

No. SMS works best short, direct, and time-sensitive. Repurposing a full email's content and tone into a text is the most common reason SMS programs underperform.

What is a good SMS click-through rate for ecommerce?

SMS consistently sees higher engagement than email because it reaches a smaller, more permission-heavy list, which is exactly why frequency and relevance matter more, not less, on this channel.