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Not all B2B SMS campaigns perform equally. The industry you target, the role you message, and the time you send all have a measurable impact on reply rates. This post breaks down benchmarks by industry and shares the specific variables that move the needle.
B2B SMS Reply Rate Benchmarks by Industry
Based on aggregated B2BSMSMail campaign data, here are average reply rates by industry vertical:
- SaaS & Technology: 18-28% reply rate
- Marketing & Lead Gen Agencies: 22-32% reply rate
- Recruiting & Staffing: 20-30% reply rate
- Healthcare: 12-20% reply rate
- Finance & Insurance: 10-18% reply rate
- Logistics & Supply Chain: 14-22% reply rate
- Real Estate: 16-26% reply rate
The 3 Variables That Move Reply Rates Most
1. Message Relevance
The single biggest driver of reply rate is whether your message is relevant to the recipient right now. A generic “checking in” message gets 3-5%. A message that references their specific industry, role, and a relevant challenge gets 20-30%. AI personalisation tokens ({company}, {industry}, {role}) lift reply rates by an average of 40% over generic broadcasts.
2. Send Time
Tuesday through Thursday, 9am-11am local time consistently outperforms other windows. Monday morning and Friday afternoon are the lowest-performing send times across all industries. Midday sends (12-1pm) perform 15-20% below the morning window.
3. Message Length and Format
Messages under 120 characters outperform longer messages. A single question outperforms a pitch every time. The highest-converting format is: [personalisation] + [relevant context] + [single question].
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How to Use This Data
Start with your highest-potential industry based on the benchmarks above. Set a realistic target (15-20% reply rate) for your first campaign. After 3 campaigns, you will have enough data to optimise message copy, send timing, and audience segmentation for your specific context.
Want to see these reply rates in your own campaigns? Take the SMS Outreach Grader to benchmark your current approach, or browse 25+ proven SMS templates by industry.
