Measuring an SMS campaign: offer codes, UTM links, redemptions and cost per customer

The short answer: the SMS Center tells you how many messages went out and how many credits you used. The result, meaning who came, who bought and how much it brought in, is measured on your side, so each campaign needs a signal you can count: an offer code, a UTM-tagged link or a dedicated page. With those numbers you work out the response rate and the cost per customer.

What the SMS Center shows

Where	What you see
History, Campaigns tab	Each campaign with its progress ("X of Y sent") and status.
History, Messages tab	Each number with the message, cost and status. "Sent" means it left for the mobile operator, not that it was read.
History, Balance tab	Credit movements: purchases, sends and refunds.
Home	Activity over the last 14 days: sends and credits per day.

Give each campaign a signal you can count

Signal	How it works	Example
Offer code	A different code for each campaign, which customers say or show at the till. Count it in your sales system or on a sheet next to the till.	[COMPANY]: 15% off with code XMAS15 until the 24th. Opt out: [PHONE]
"Show this SMS"	Staff note each SMS shown. Simple, but it only works when each campaign has a different offer.	Show this SMS when you pay and get 2 for the price of 1.
UTM link	Your website address with tags that say "came from SMS, campaign X". Your site statistics separate those visits. See UTM links.	[WEBSITE]/xmas?utm_source=sms&utm_campaign=xmas
Dedicated page	An address used only for this campaign. Every visit to that page came from the SMS.	[WEBSITE]/sms
Dedicated phone number	A number that only appears in this campaign. Calls to it came from the SMS.	Bookings: [CAMPAIGN PHONE]

The numbers that matter

Measure	How to work it out
Campaign cost	Credits used × price per SMS at your tier. Credits used are in the Balance tab.
Response rate	Responses (codes used, visits, calls) ÷ messages sent.
Cost per customer	Campaign cost ÷ number of customers who responded.
Return	Margin on the campaign's sales − campaign cost. See whether a campaign pays off.
Opt-out requests	How many people asked to stop receiving messages after this campaign. If it goes up, the message or the frequency did not go down well.

Keep a simple log

A spreadsheet with one row per campaign is enough: date, group, text, messages sent, credits, responses, sales and opt-out requests. After a few campaigns you can see which offers, groups and times work best, and you stop deciding blind.

Measure over a fixed period. Count responses until the offer ends, for example the 3 days of the promotion. Responses that arrive weeks later get mixed up with other things.

Do not use unknown shortened links to track clicks. They look like fraud and make the campaign perform worse. Use your own domain with UTM tags or a dedicated page. See links in marketing SMS.

Ready to measure your next campaign? See SMS Marketing and the price tiers.

See the SMS Marketing page

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