SMS Open Rates: What They Really Mean (and What You Can Actually Track)
You've probably seen the claim that SMS gets a 98% open rate, usually within a few minutes of sending. It's a genuinely useful way to describe how attention-grabbing a text message is compared to an email — but it's worth understanding what that figure actually represents, because SMS platforms don't measure opens the way email platforms do. This guide explains the honest picture and what to track instead.
Why SMS gets read so fast
Text messages land in the same inbox as messages from friends, family and colleagues, and most phones surface a preview on the lock screen the instant a message arrives. That combination of a single, glance-friendly inbox and near-universal notifications means texts get seen and read far faster than most other channels — commonly within minutes rather than hours. That's the real, honest reason SMS is described as having such high 'open rates': it's less about measurement and more about how visible and unavoidable a text notification is.
The honest truth: SMS doesn't have an 'open' tracking mechanism
There's no such thing as a tracking pixel in SMS
Email marketing tools measure opens using a tiny invisible image embedded in the message — when your email client loads that image, the platform logs an 'open'. SMS is plain text (or MMS with an attached image you can see), with no equivalent hidden tracking mechanism. No SMS platform, Havari included, can honestly tell you that a specific text was opened and read.
This is worth stating plainly because the '98% open rate' statistic gets repeated so often that it starts to sound like a measured figure, when it's really a widely cited estimate based on general reading behaviour — not something any platform's dashboard is pulling from real open-tracking data. Be sceptical of any SMS tool that claims to show you an 'open rate' report with precise per-message numbers; what it's usually showing is delivery confirmation (the message reached the handset), not proof the recipient read it.
What SMS platforms can actually measure
Real, trackable SMS metrics
Every one of those is something a platform can genuinely confirm, because each is a distinct, logged event — the carrier acknowledges delivery, a link gets clicked, a reply arrives. None of them require guessing whether someone glanced at a notification.
Response rate and click-through rate are your real metrics
Since 'opens' aren't directly measurable, the practical substitute is to focus on response rate and click-through rate — because both prove engagement happened, rather than assuming it based on delivery alone. A message that gets delivered but generates no clicks and no replies told you nothing useful; a message with a strong click-through rate or a flood of replies tells you the content actually landed.
Example: a message designed to prompt a trackable action
Hi James, your table for 2 is confirmed for 7:30pm Friday. Need to change it? Just reply here. See you then! Reply STOP to opt out.
That message doesn't rely on a link at all — it invites a reply, which is itself a measurable signal of engagement. Not every campaign needs a link to prove it worked.
How to maximise response and click-through rates
Practical steps
Give people a reason to act, not just read
A message that only informs gets read and forgotten. A message that asks a clear question or offers a clear next step gets a reply or a click.
Put the action early in the message
SMS gets read in a glance — don't bury the link or the ask in the second half of a long text.
Use one link, tagged uniquely per campaign
This is what makes click-through rate measurable and comparable between sends, rather than a guess.
Personalise where it's genuinely relevant
A name or a reference to a past purchase increases the odds of a reply far more than generic phrasing does.
Send at times people are likely to act, not just glance
Late morning and early evening tend to give people a moment to actually click or reply, rather than just seeing the notification and moving on.
“You can't measure whether someone read your text. You can absolutely measure whether they clicked, replied, or booked.”
Why this distinction matters for reporting
If you're reporting SMS performance internally, using 'open rate' language sets an expectation of precision that the channel can't deliver, and it invites the wrong comparisons — someone will eventually ask why your SMS 'open rate' can't be broken down the way your email dashboard breaks down opens. Reporting on delivery rate, click-through rate and reply rate instead keeps the conversation grounded in what actually happened, and it's a more useful measure of whether a campaign worked anyway.
Havari's campaign reporting is built around exactly those measurable events — delivery, clicks and replies per campaign — so you're comparing real engagement between sends instead of an estimated industry figure that no platform can actually verify per message.
Is the '98% SMS open rate' statistic made up?
It's a widely repeated estimate reflecting how quickly texts genuinely tend to get read, based on general behavioural observation — but it isn't pulled from per-message open tracking, because SMS has no mechanism to log an open the way email does with tracking pixels.
Can any SMS platform show me a true open rate?
No — no SMS platform, including Havari, can confirm a message was actually read. What you'll see labelled as related metrics is really delivery confirmation, which only proves the message reached the handset.
What should I track instead of open rate?
Delivery rate, click-through rate on any links, and reply rate. All three are real, logged events rather than assumptions, and together they give a far more honest picture of engagement.
Does MMS (picture messages) change any of this?
No — MMS still doesn't include hidden open-tracking. You can measure delivery and any link clicks or replies, exactly as with standard SMS.
SMS earns its reputation for fast attention honestly — people really do see and read texts quickly. Just measure that reality with the metrics the channel can actually prove: delivery, clicks and replies, not a per-message 'open' figure no SMS platform can genuinely provide.