- Benchmarks disagree by source, so always note who measured it, on what and when. Klaviyo's two benchmark pages even use different scales.
- Flows beat campaigns on every source here. Klaviyo says SMS flows are 7.6% of sends but 45.2% of SMS revenue.
- Check revenue per recipient first. Clicks and conversion only matter if money follows.
- Klaviyo's help center calls an SMS unsubscribe rate under 0.5% great and 2.0% or higher critical.
- Klaviyo says SMS and MMS perform almost the same, with MMS slightly higher on revenue per recipient.
This is for Shopify founders who've started texting and want to know whether their numbers are normal, and which number actually matters.
What is a good SMS click rate?
Depends whose benchmark you use. Here are three current sources.
Klaviyo's SMS benchmarks page (2026, based on over 183,000 Klaviyo customers, all industries): - A good click rate is 5.6% for campaigns and 9.65% for flows. - The top 10% of brands get 10.44% for campaigns and 16.6% for flows.
Klaviyo's help center, campaign SMS and MMS benchmarks (campaigns only, Klaviyo customers sending SMS in the US):
| Rating | Click rate |
|---|---|
| Great | 14.6% and above |
| Good | 8.9% to 14.5% |
| Room for improvement | 6.0% to 8.8% |
| Critical | Less than 5.9% |
Omnisend's SMS benchmarks (246M+ campaign sends and 20M+ automation sends across 27,000+ ecommerce brands in 2025): - Campaigns averaged a 12.39% click-through rate. - Automations averaged 20.34%.
Notice the problem. Klaviyo's benchmarks page calls 5.6% good for a campaign. Klaviyo's help center puts anything under 5.9% in "critical." Neither page explains the gap, so I treat them as different measures on different bases, not one scale. If you're on Klaviyo, the help center bands are what you'll see next to your own campaign numbers, so compare against those.
Omnisend's monthly data also shows how much season moves click rate. Its 2025 campaign click rate ran from 3.47% in January to 23.92% in December. A Black Friday text and a February text aren't comparable.
What is a good SMS conversion rate?
Low, in absolute terms. That's normal.
Klaviyo's benchmarks page (2026): ecommerce brands should expect conversion rates, or order rates, of 0.27% for campaigns and 1.9% for flows. The top 10% get 0.61% and 3.92%.
Klaviyo's help center (campaigns, US):
| Rating | Conversion rate |
|---|---|
| Great | 2.1% and above |
| Good | 1.0% to 2.0% |
| Room for improvement | 0.5% to 0.9% |
| Critical | Less than 0.5% |
Omnisend (2025): campaigns converted at 0.12% and automations at 0.78%. Omnisend says campaign conversion stayed between 0.10% and 0.14% all year, even while click rates swung.
Same issue as clicks: Klaviyo's two pages sit on different scales. Use the one that matches how your account reports.
What revenue per recipient should SMS make?
This is the one I'd watch.
Klaviyo's benchmarks page, average SMS revenue per recipient by industry (campaigns / flows):
| Industry | Campaigns | Flows |
|---|---|---|
| Automotive | $0.35 | $6.15 |
| Clothing and accessories | $0.32 | $2.31 |
| Electronics | $0.28 | $3.48 |
| Food and beverage | $0.34 | $1.83 |
| Hardware and home improvement | $0.26 | $4.57 |
| Health and beauty | $0.32 | $2.09 |
| Home and garden | $0.32 | $3.74 |
| Jewelry | $0.31 | $2.85 |
| Miscellaneous ecommerce | $0.36 | $2.52 |
| Specialty | $0.31 | $2.21 |
| Sporting goods | $0.34 | $3.30 |
| Toys and hobbies | $0.28 | $2.82 |
The same page says SMS flows generate about 8x higher revenue per recipient than campaigns on average, and the top 10% of SMS flows make more than $5 per recipient.
Klaviyo's help center (campaigns, US): great is $2.42 and above, good is $0.66 to $2.41, room for improvement is $0.18 to $0.65, critical is under $0.18. Again, a very different scale from the benchmarks page, where campaign averages run $0.26 to $0.36.
Omnisend (2025): campaigns made $0.15 per message and automations $0.75 per message.
If you sell food and beverage or health and beauty, the Klaviyo industry rows are the closest comparison here. More on the metric itself in revenue per recipient.
What SMS unsubscribe rate is normal?
From Klaviyo's help center (campaigns, US):
| Rating | Unsubscribe rate |
|---|---|
| Great | Less than 0.5% |
| Good | 0.6% to 1.4% |
| Room for improvement | 1.5% to 1.9% |
| Critical | 2.0% and above |
Klaviyo adds a warning worth taking seriously: higher-than-average unsubscribe rates "may result in message limitations or blocking by the wireless carriers." With email, a bad unsubscribe week hurts. With SMS, it can affect whether your texts get delivered at all.
Why do SMS flows beat SMS campaigns?
Because a flow text arrives at the moment it's relevant. Every source here agrees on the direction:
- Klaviyo: SMS flows are 7.6% of sends but drive 45.2% of SMS revenue.
- Klaviyo: 64.4% of SMS flow revenue comes from new buyers, compared with 20% from campaigns.
- Omnisend: automations got 20.34% click-through vs 12.39% for campaigns, and $0.75 per message vs $0.15.
That fits how I use SMS. It's a more acute form of marketing: timely and urgent, with very little room for brand building. Texts are reminders. A reminder that fires when someone leaves a cart lands better than one blasted to the whole list. If you're adding texts to flows, start with abandoned cart SMS, and see email and SMS in the same flow for how to keep the two channels from overlapping.
Do MMS texts perform better than SMS?
Barely, per Klaviyo. Its help center says: "The rates for SMS and MMS are almost identical. MMS messages have a slightly higher average revenue per recipient and a slightly lower unsubscribe rate." No separate MMS numbers were given.
Since MMS costs more to send, a slight edge may not cover the cost. I explain the pricing in Klaviyo SMS credits.
Which SMS number should you check first?
Revenue per recipient, then clicks. Not deliveries, not how many people you texted.
I already judge email this way. Across 4 consumable brands and 2,897 email campaigns, click rate tracked revenue at 0.65 and open rate at only 0.32. That's email data, not SMS, but the lesson carries: judge a message by the action closest to money. SMS doesn't have a reliable open rate to argue about, so it's easier. Look at revenue per recipient, and use clicks to see what's working before revenue shows up. More on the email side in open rate vs click rate.
Then compare to the right benchmark: your platform's, your industry's row where there is one, and the same season.
FAQ
What is a good SMS click-through rate?
Klaviyo's 2026 benchmarks say 5.6% for campaigns and 9.65% for flows. Klaviyo's help center rates campaign click rates of 8.9% to 14.5% as good. Omnisend's 2025 average was 12.39% for campaigns.
What is the average SMS conversion rate?
Klaviyo says 0.27% for campaigns and 1.9% for flows. Omnisend's 2025 data shows 0.12% for campaigns and 0.78% for automations.
What is a good SMS unsubscribe rate?
Klaviyo's help center calls under 0.5% great and 2.0% or higher critical, and warns high rates can lead carriers to limit or block messages.
Do SMS flows perform better than campaigns?
Yes on every source here. Klaviyo says flows are 7.6% of SMS sends but 45.2% of SMS revenue, with about 8x the revenue per recipient.
How much revenue should an SMS make per recipient?
Klaviyo's 2026 industry averages are $0.26 to $0.36 for campaigns and $1.83 to $6.15 for flows.
Founder of Bardown Digital, a Chicago-based Klaviyo email and retention agency for Shopify brands. He's worked with brands doing $500K to $100M a year, with $100M+ in email-attributed revenue across them.