SMS-23-Benchmarks

for Ecommerce

The proof is in the data: Use these insights to create better SMS marketing campaigns in 2023.

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See research methodology and key definitions here. Check out the 2022 version of this report here.

Overall Benchmarks

If your shop doesn’t fit into one of the specific industry categories featured in this report, 
these numbers are a great starting point for assessing your 
SMS performance.

Overall Message Benchmarks

Overall-Message-Benchmarks-Table

Overall ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks

Overall ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks Table
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Key Takeaways

Compared to 2022, brands saw higher overall performance from Welcome Series and Keyword Opt-in messages. This suggests they are doing a better job collecting high-intent subscribers and providing good initial experiences via SMS.

On the flipside, brands lost ground with Campaigns, Abandoned Carts, Winbacks, and Post-Purchase messages. As more brands adopt SMS, it is becoming more crucial to tailor message content to specific subscribers and to level up the quality of message creative to capture and maintain subscriber interest.

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Benchmarks by Industry

Each individual industry has a different customer profile, different best practices for reaching those customers, and different expectations for their various marketing efforts. In essence, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. After all, a ski shop and a baby food store probably shouldn’t text their customers the same way. We looked at the top 5 ecommerce industries and analyzed their success with SMS marketing.

Benchmarks-By-Industry

Apparel

From streetwear to swim trunks and evening gowns to athleisure,
apparel brands can gather insights from these SMS benchmarks.

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Apparel Message Benchmarks

Apparel Message Benchmarks

Apparel ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks

Apparel ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks
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Key Takeaways

Apparel brands saw exceptionally strong performance with Campaigns and Post-Purchase automations. Build on that momentum by creating multiple versions of these messages to target specific segments of subscribers—based on products purchased or amount spent, for example.

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Home Goods

It takes a lot to furnish a home! From candles to bedding—and beyond!—all the items that go into decorating or enhancing your home belong here.

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Home Goods Message Benchmarks

Home Goods Message Benchmarks

Home Goods ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks

Home Goods ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks
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Key Takeaways

For brands in the Home Goods category, Campaigns delivered the best results compared to overall performance across all brands. However, performance lagged in Messages per Subscriber and Retention Rate.

Make sure you’re fully capitalizing on Campaign opportunities throughout the year, but also strive to maintain subscriber engagement between sale or launch events. Try using conversational messaging to gather zero-party data and create targeted segments for future campaign sends.

See More Improvement Strategies

Beauty/Cosmetics

Whether you’re in the business of selling lip-kits, hair-styling tools, or skincare products,
this is the data for you.

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Beauty/Cosmetics Message Benchmarks

Beauty:Cosmetics Message Benchmarks

Beauty/Cosmetics ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks

Beauty:Cosmetics ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks
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Key Takeaways

Beauty brands outperform overall ecommerce averages for Keyword Opt-in messages, which suggests they are doing a great job capturing high-intent subscribers. To keep them engaged and generate additional purchases, try leveraging conversational or educational messages to answer questions, learn more about each customer’s needs and interests, and increase product adoption.

See More Improvement Strategies

Food/Beverage

This section is for all purveyors of coffee, snacks, and meal prep products—people need to eat and drink!

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Food/Beverage Message Benchmarks

Food:Beverage Message Benchmarks

Food/Beverage ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks

Food:Beverage ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks
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Key Takeaways

Compared to overall averages, Food/Beverage brands logged exceptional Welcome Series performance. To keep the subscriber engagement going after those initial messages, try including a contact card message as part of the Welcome Series or setting subscribers up for a more personalized future experience by asking them to respond with the type of products or content they are specifically interested in.

See More Improvement Strategies

Health/Wellness

Does your shop cater to consumers’ mental and physical well-being? If so, then this is the section for you.

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Health/Wellness Message Benchmarks

Health:Wellness Message Benchmarks

Health/Wellness ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks

Health:Wellness ARMR + Subscriber LTV Benchmarks
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Key Takeaways

Health/Wellness brands saw higher-than-average conversion rates for Abandoned Cart and Browse Abandonment automations. To make those messages even more effective, try including a photo of and/or link to a specific product variant the subscriber showed interest in.

These brands also had a much lower-than-average Acquisition Rate, suggesting that they should put more focus and effort into their list growth efforts. Make sure you’re giving shoppers the opportunity to subscribe on your website, at checkout, through your email messages, and via social media.

See More Improvement Strategies

Benchmarks by Product Persona

SMS marketing performance varies depending on the types of products a shop sells as well as how frequently customers typically purchase those products. We separated products into five “personas” based on factors like cost, number of purchases, and time between orders.

Benchmarks-By-Product-Persona

Small Subscription Spends

Monthly, recurring purchases of inexpensive goods and consumables

  • AOV under $100

  • Repurchased more than 25% of the time

  • Purchased fewer than 45 days apart

Examples: Subscription-based snack and coffee products or regularly-purchased skincare products

Small Subscription Spends Table
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Key Takeaways

Compared to overall averages, Post-Purchase messages perform exceptionally well for Small Subscription Spend products. If your brand focuses on this product type, make sure you set up—and continuously test—this automation to get the most out of it. For example, you may want to test the timing (e.g., three weeks versus six weeks post-purchase) or try adding a photo or GIF to any upsell or cross-sell messages.

See More Improvement Strategies

Occasional Orders

Occasional purchases of inexpensive goods and consumables

  • AOV under $100

  • Repurchased more than 25% of the time

  • Purchased more than 45 days apart

Examples: Beauty/cosmetics products and most clothing products

Occasional Orders Table
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Key Takeaways

Winbacks are an important automation for Occasional Orders, and customers often need to be reminded of your brand and product in order to realize that they need or want to purchase from you again. And compared to overall averages, Winbacks perform especially well for this product type. To optimize Winback performance, try testing different offers (e.g., free gift versus discount) and time windows (e.g., no purchase after 30 days versus no purchase after 60 days). You could also try segmenting based on number of past purchases or total amount spent. For example, a customer who has purchased more than five times may only need a new product announcement to come back and buy again—whereas someone who has only purchased once may need some type of offer in order to convert.

See More Improvement Strategies

Single-Stop Gifts

Single-purchase inexpensive goods

  • AOV under $100

  • Repurchased less than 25% of the time

Examples: Baby items or wedding gifts as well as products that are part of small catalogs of niche items

Single-Stop Gifts Table
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Key Takeaways

Keyword Opt-in messages yield the best results for Single-Stop Gifts in comparison to overall averages, which makes sense considering that many shoppers land on your site for the first time in search of a gift for someone else. So, test your offers and acquisition sources (social media, website popup, etc.), but don’t forget to engage buyers after they’ve converted. Post-Purchase and Winback messages show strong performance for this product type, so be sure to follow up with upsell and cross-sell offers or sale announcements during heavy gifting periods (e.g., Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day).

See More Improvement Strategies

One-Time Luxuries

Single-purchase luxury goods

  • AOV more than $100

  • Repurchased less than 25% of the time

Examples: Big-ticket athletic purchases such as skis and other large purchases like furniture, jewelry, and art

One-Time Luxuries Table
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Key Takeaways

Keyword Opt-in and Welcome Series messages perform well in this category and are logical places to focus for brands catering mostly to one-time buyers. That being said, there is clear value in continuing to engage those buyers after they’ve purchased. In fact, Post-Purchase message performance for this product category is stronger than overall averages—suggesting that past buyers do purchase again eventually (or continue to purchase supplementary products and accessories). Fostering loyalty and keeping your brand top-of-mind for high-end product purchasers can also lead to word-of-mouth referrals and boost your review and UGC collection efforts. So, don’t sleep on the opportunity to stay in touch with subscribers!

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Recurring Splurges

Luxury goods purchased periodically

  • AOV more than $100

  • Repurchased more than 25% of the time

Examples: Upscale clothing and footwear, big-ticket beauty items like hair extensions, certain home goods and athletic gear

Recurring Splurges Table
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Key Takeaways

Recurring Splurges show strong message performance across the board, indicating that SMS is a very lucrative channel for this product category. Post-Purchase and Winback messages appear to yield particularly excellent results, so it’s important for brands in this product category to focus equally on converting prospects into buyers and converting buyers into repeat customers. That means testing things like loyalty offers and Post-Purchase message timing as well as strategically segmenting based on past purchase behavior (e.g., type and number of products purchased or total dollar amount spent).

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BFCM-Benchmarks-Logo

BFCM Benchmarks

Here are overall benchmarks for messages sent during the 2022 Black Friday/Cyber Monday period, which we’ve defined as November 22, 2022, through November 29, 2022. Shops included in this analysis met all of the criteria for overall inclusion and were installed for at least 3 months prior to Black Friday (November 25, 2022).

BFCM Benchmarks Table Legend
BFCM Benchmarks Table

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International Benchmarks

Here are the Earnings per Message benchmarks by percentile in United States Dollars (USD) as well as the native currency for each eligible country. Please note that countries of origin were assigned based on country codes. Asterisks (*) indicate low data volume, resulting in skewed analysis.

International Benchmarks

International EPM Benchmarks in USD

International EPM Benchmarks in USD Table

International EPM Benchmarks in Native Currency

Conversion rate calculated on 2/6/2023

International EPM Benchmarks in Native Currency Table

Strategies for Improving Your Scores

Not quite performing at the level you’d like? Here are some levers you can pull to improve your score for each metric and message type.

How to Improve Message Performance

How to Improve ARMR + Subscriber LTV

Glossary

* Research Methodology

Data was taken from all Postscript stores with active accounts between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022. The aggregate statistics reported here were taken from campaigns and automation flows sent to 200 subscribers or more. In the case of automation flows, the earnings per message (EPM), conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates are defined here as revenue earned, purchase counts, and unsubscribes (respectively) per subscriber who entered the automation flow. The click-through rates are defined as the number of unique subscriber clicks (maximum one per subscriber) per message sent, for all message types. Only messages containing links are included in the reported click-through rate statistics. The “Keyword-Opt-In Flow” message type refers to the opt-in confirmation and keyword reply sent to subscribers immediately after joining a store’s SMS list.

The performance data per message was first averaged for each individual store over messages sent by the store throughout the year. The store averages for each message type and performance statistic were then ordered from lowest to highest. The final ranges reported here span from the 25th percentile cutoff (the cutoff point for a given performance statistic where 25% of stores had a lower value and 75% were higher) through the 75th percentile cutoff (the cutoff point for a given statistic where 75% had a lower value and 25% were higher).

The ARMR/SLTV metrics were calculated by taking the daily snapshot metric and taking an average of that for 2022 for each shop. We then compared all the eligible shops together and found the values at the 25th, 50th, 60th, 75th, and 90th percentile.