SMS
Text only whenthe tap is justified.
A small list of people who asked, a cap on sends, and an offer you could say out loud. SMS is not a second email channel.
under 4
Sends a month on the programs we keep
12%
Of email-attributed revenue, one specialty retailer
The short answer
When SMS is worth running.
SMS works when the person asked for the text and the message names a specific action: a back-in-stock size, a reservation, a delivery window, a flash restock. On one specialty retailer, SMS stayed under four sends a month and still produced about 12% of what we were counting as email-attributed revenue. That account had a clean opt-in at checkout. It is not a template for a cold list.
Figures are medians or ranges from Quorum engagements. They describe what we have seen on work we ran. They are not a promise of the same result.
Who it is for
Who should buy this.
Ecommerce brands with checkout or popup consent that is actually consent. Restaurants and hospitality with reservations. A few local services where a short reminder beats another email.
A poor fit is lead-gen that bought numbers, political-style blasts, or a brand that wants daily texts. We will not run that, and carriers will eventually agree with us.
Healthcare reminders can be in scope only when your counsel is comfortable with the content. We do not put diagnosis or treatment details in a text.
The operational details matter more than the creative. Quiet hours, identification of who is texting, and a STOP that actually stops are the difference between a channel you can keep and a number the carrier flags. We check those before we talk about offers.
If email and SMS share a profile in one tool, we still report them apart. Otherwise every text gets credit for a purchase the welcome flow already caused. That double count is how brands scale a channel that is not paying for itself.
Creative for SMS is a sentence, not a campaign concept. If the offer needs a paragraph of terms, it belongs in the email or on the landing page, with the text pointing at it. We will not shrink a legal disclaimer until it is illegible just to fit a character count. The landing page has to load fast on a phone, because that is the only place the tap goes. We count a completed action after the tap, not the send itself. A click that bounces is not revenue, and it does not justify a higher cap.
What's included
What is included.
Consent review
Where the opt-in happens, what it says, and whether quiet hours and opt-out are real. If the capture is sloppy, we fix the capture before the first promo.
Program design
Triggers worth a text, a monthly cap, and the offers that stay in email. Most brands need fewer messages than they planned.
Build
Flows and broadcasts in Attentive, Postscript, Klaviyo, or the tool you already pay for, if it is fit for purpose.
Compliance basics
STOP and HELP behavior, identification of the sender, and no purchased lists. This is operational compliance, not legal advice.
How it runs
Permission first.
01
Consent
Read the capture points. Kill any that imply consent from an email opt-in alone.
02
Moments
Pick the two or three messages a customer would be annoyed to miss. Ignore the rest.
03
Ship
Build them, cap the frequency, and watch opt-outs for two weeks before any broadcast.
04
Judge
Revenue or reservations per send, and the complaint rate. A channel that only works by mailing harder is a channel we shut off.
Deliverables
Deliverables.
- A consent and capture review.
- A message map with caps.
- Built flows and the broadcast rules.
- Opt-out and quiet-hour checks.
- A monthly note separating SMS revenue from email so the tools stop double-counting.
Timing
Timing.
Weeks 1 to 2
Consent review. If capture is non-compliant, nothing promotional sends.
Weeks 3 to 6
Core flows live. Broadcasts start only after opt-out rate on the flows looks calm.
Day 90
Keep the channel, shrink it, or stop. SMS that needs constant discounts to perform is usually a margin problem.
Engagement
How SMS is priced.
Ranges are typical for a senior team on a defined scope. Tool licenses are yours. A written scope sets the fee before work starts.
Setup · $3,000 to $7,000
Consent review and the first flows. Often attached to an email engagement.
Monthly · $2,500 to $6,000 a month
Management and a modest send calendar. Carrier fees and the SMS platform license are yours.
Questions
SMS questions.
Is SMS legal?
Commercial texting in the US requires express consent and a working opt-out. Rules change and they differ by use case. We run the operational basics. We are not your counsel, and this page is not legal advice.
How often should we text?
On the programs we are willing to keep running, under four marketing sends a month, plus transactional messages the person asked for. More than that needs a reason we can see in the numbers, not a hunch.
Email opt-in counts as SMS opt-in, right?
No. They are separate permissions. A pre-checked box is not a program we will launch.
Which platforms?
Attentive and Postscript for ecommerce SMS, and Klaviyo when email and SMS should share one profile. Other tools get evaluated against the same consent and reporting bar.
Will this annoy customers?
If the list did not ask, yes. If they asked and you text a real offer rarely, opt-outs stay manageable. We watch that rate and we stop if it climbs.
Review whether SMS belongs.
One conversation. A diagnostic. A plan you can kill if it is not the work.