AuguryWhat a Billion Texts Taught Marketers: TrueDialog’s 2025 SMS Benchmarks and Practical Tips
This article was written by the Augury Times
Why this 1 billion-plus message study matters to brands
TrueDialog has released its 2025 SMS Marketing Benchmarks and Best Practices report, built from more than one billion text messages the company sent for customers. For brands and communicators, the study is a rare, large-scale look at how real people respond to texts — not marketing theory. The findings help teams decide when to text, what to say, and how to measure success. They also show where SMS still outperforms email and where it can backfire if used poorly.
What jumped out from the report: deliveries, opens, clicks and opt-outs
The report paints SMS as a high-reliability, high-attention channel. Delivery rates are strong for permissioned messages sent through established platforms, and SMS continues to outperform email on early engagement: many messages are read within minutes. Clicks and response rates vary by message type, but the signal is clear — concise, relevant texts get action.
Opt-outs remain low overall, which matters because steady subscriber lists are what make SMS scalable. Still, the study highlights important trade-offs. Messages that are overly promotional, too frequent, or sent at odd hours trigger higher opt-out rates. Likewise, messages with unclear calls to action or multiple links tend to produce weaker click performance.
Compared with prior years, the report shows modest gains where brands adopted smarter personalization and link handling. Tests around richer media and short, bright CTAs often nudged clicks higher, while sloppy list hygiene and unsegmented blasts caused the worst fallout. In short: the upside from better targeting and clearer CTAs is visible; the downside from misuse is immediate and measurable.
Practical tactics the report recommends — and real examples of each
TrueDialog’s report boils many lessons into a handful of tactics marketers can use right away. Timing matters: messages sent in mid-morning or early evening generally get better engagement than those sent late at night or very early in the day. Personalization helps — even a simple first-name token or a reference to a recent interaction raises response rates compared with generic blasts.
Keep messages short. The report finds that single-purpose texts with one clear call to action outperform long, multi-topic messages. For example, a reminder that asks customers to confirm a booking with one tap works far better than a long promo that tries to do three things at once.
A/B testing is a must. The vendors who ran systematic tests on send time, CTA wording and link placement consistently sharpened their results. One concrete tip: test the presence of a short link versus a plain-text instruction — small formatting choices moved engagement in measurable ways.
Compliance and consent are non-negotiable. The report stresses transparent opt-in language and an obvious way to opt out. It also recommends keeping track of consent sources so teams can quickly remove people who withdraw permission.
How different industries should use these benchmarks
Higher education can lean on SMS for enrollment and retention nudges. Short reminders about deadlines, quick links to accept offers, and segmented outreach to prospective students produced the best ROI in the data. Sports teams benefit from game-day ticket pushes and last-minute seat upgrades; timely, location-aware offers get strong response when they feel useful, not spammy.
Financial services must balance speed with caution. The report shows alerts and account-notification texts enjoy high open rates, but firms must be careful about links and promotional language because of fraud risks and stricter rules. Large consumer brands will find SMS valuable for flash sales and loyalty offers — provided they use good segmentation to avoid fatigue.
How the dataset was built and what to watch for
The study is based on more than one billion messages sent through TrueDialog’s platform. The company says the data were anonymized and analyzed to surface patterns across sectors. That scale gives credibility to the high-level patterns, but there are limits: the sample reflects only messages sent through one vendor and its customers, so it may overrepresent certain industries or message styles.
Readers should note that benchmarks will shift depending on list quality, the strength of opt-in language, and regional rules. In other words, the report shows what happened on TrueDialog’s platform; it’s a strong guide but not a universal law.
Vendor perspective and how to get the full report
TrueDialog said in the release that the report aims to help marketers use SMS in ways that respect recipients while driving measurable results. The company added that thoughtful, permission-based texting is now a core channel for organizations that need fast engagement.
Communicators wanting the full dataset and charts can download the complete report from TrueDialog’s website or contact the company’s team to ask about platform trials and implementation help. For most teams, the safest next step is a small, tracked pilot that applies the timing, personalization and consent practices the report highlights.
Photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels
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