What's SMS marketing actually earning per send?

Ecom (Shopify): $1-$5 per SMS sent. Service biz (medspa/dental): $3-$15 per SMS to existing customers. Cold list (purchased numbers): $0.10-$0.50. Best-in-class: $20+ per SMS via segmentation + offer relevance.

Per send, yes. Open rate: 95%+ (vs 25% email). CTR: 10-30% (vs 2-5% email). Revenue per recipient: 3-5x email. But SMS list size is typically 1/10 of email list, so total revenue depends on list growth.

Service biz: 2-4 SMS/month max. Ecom: 4-8/month including transactional. Above 8 = unsubscribe rate spike. Below 2 = list goes cold. The 2-flow split: transactional (confirmations) + promotional (offers) keeps quality high.

$0.0075-$0.02 per send (Twilio, Klaviyo, Postscript). Add platform fee $40-$300/mo. For 5,000 subscribers × 4 sends/mo = 20K sends × $0.01 = $200/mo + platform = ~$300 total. Easy to make 10-20x back.

Klaviyo SMS: cheapest + tightest Shopify integration + email-bundled. Postscript: best deliverability + advanced segmentation. Attentive: enterprise-grade $1K+/mo retainer. Most stores under $5M GMV: Klaviyo.

Explicit opt-in (checkbox cannot be pre-checked). STOP/HELP keywords working. Identification (brand name in every send). Quiet hours (no SMS 9pm-8am local). Documented consent records. Violations: $500-$1,500 per text.

With pop-up offer (10% off + free shipping for SMS opt-in): 1-3% of visitors opt in. 5K monthly visits × 2% = 100/mo. ~10 months to 1K subscribers. Faster with checkout opt-in (15-25% opt-in rate).

MMS costs 3-5x SMS but lifts CTR 25-50%. Use for product reveals, before/after photos, sale announcements. Skip for transactional/reminder. Most platforms charge MMS separately.

Less common. Better for transactional (account alerts, payment reminders) than promotional. Consumer brands and service businesses see biggest ROI. B2B works best with appointment reminders, not promotional.

Mandeep Singh, Sprout Sage Solutions. SMS automation for medspa, dental, and Shopify clients. Part of AI Stack retainer.