Whether it’s an appointment reminder or a marketing campaign, you should always track the return on investment of your online SMS efforts to make sure you can change/ modify variables in order to increase it over time.

This way, your investment in SMS will yield higher returns so you can either invest more and get more, or invest the same... and still get more! Also, you'll be able to understand whether SMS as a channel is the right one to deliver the message to your customers.

Following are the 5 most popular ways to track SMS ROI.

1. Include a URL
If the message requires action, then clicking on a URL allows you to track how many recipients actually action your SMS campaign.
Bit.ly lets you to track how many opens a URL has, and you can then compare URL clicks versus total SMS sent.

2. Require a response
If you don’t fancy the URL option, one of your calls to action might be to require a response. For appointment reminders, “Reply YES/NO” is a great way to ensure your recipients received the SMS and actioned it. “REPLY CODE” is a great way to track how many potential leads will drop by your store (you can set an automatic rule with the keyword “CODE” that can trigger the discount code SMS).

3. Schedule and batch sending
You might have a call centre for inbound leads derived from various channels, one of them being SMS.
You can schedule a campaign to be sent at a specific time and see how many calls come in on and up to one after after the campaign was sent (since SMS is instant, action is taken quite instantly as well).
If you are afraid of “collapsing” your call centre, you can schedule the campaign to be sent in batches which are manageable by your call centre team.
Once the timeframe has past, you can track inbound calls vs number of SMS sent; you should also measure this ROI versus other channels to see which one works better!

4. Show the SMS!
When you are sending SMS to increase foot traffic or sales, like coupons, tickets, discounts, etc, one way to see if the SMS campaign was the driver of increased sales is to request the customer to show the SMS to redeem the offer.
By tracking number of redeems vs number of SMS sent, you’ll be able to know whether your campaign met your expectations or not.

5. Before and After SMS
Always measure your results versus the same situation without the SMS (ie, have a control). For example, most doctors using SMS to send out appointment reminders will tell you it works marvels since the no-show rate dropped dramatically (up to 80%!!!) versus the time of no SMS.

Whether you use all of the above, only one, or some other form to measure your ROI, remember the ROI mantra: Track, Measure, Change.

If you have any questions as to whether your SMS campaigns have been optimised, drop us a line. We love helping out and increasing the return of your investment!