SMS Marketing Frequency: How Often to Text Customers?

How often should you reach out to your SMS subscribers? Sometimes, the answer is four times per week; sometimes, it’s once every month. The right answer depends on many factors.

Many businesses struggle to strike the right balance. Some send bulk messages without considering customer preferences. Others hesitate, fearing they’ll annoy their audience and end up being forgotten.

The key to SMS marketing success isn’t just about volume but also timing and relevance.

A well-planned SMS marketing strategy takes customer behavior into account and adjusts message frequency based on preferences and past interactions.

In this article, we will explore how to determine the right SMS marketing frequency for your business. You’ll learn the common pitfalls of over- and under-messaging and how SMS automation tools like Textellent can help optimize message timing.

Why Does Frequency Matter in SMS Marketing?

How often you send SMS marketing messages can make or break your campaign. The right frequency keeps your brand top of mind while respecting your audience’s preferences.

Every SMS you send costs money, and if your frequency is off, you could be wasting your budget while hurting customer relationships.

Sending messages too often can lead to higher opt-out rates, lower engagement, and even complaints. On the other hand, inconsistent or infrequent messaging can make your audience disengaged, reducing the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Customers who receive the right number of texts at the right times are more likely to respond, take action, and stay subscribed to your list. 

Finding this balance means analyzing your SMS marketing campaign data, testing different frequencies, and adjusting based on customer behavior.

It’s impossible to manually track and optimize every SMS you send, which is why automation is essential.

With a platform like Textellent, you can set up strategic SMS campaigns that adjust based on customer responses, engagement history, and preferences.

Take control of your SMS marketing frequency with Textellent’s smart automation. Start with a free trial, or schedule a demo today!

Are You Sending Too Many or Too Few SMS Messages?

Striking the right balance is essential for maintaining engagement without pushing customers away.

If your opt-out rates are climbing, it’s a clear sign that your audience feels overwhelmed. Customers don’t want to be bombarded with promotions every day, and excessive messaging can make your brand feel intrusive.

Another red flag is a drop in engagement. If fewer people are opening your messages or clicking on links, it might mean they’ve started tuning you out.

If you rarely send messages, your customers may forget they subscribed in the first place. When they finally do hear from you, they might see your text as spam and unsubscribe immediately.

Infrequent messaging can also mean missed opportunities. Competitors who stay in touch regularly are more likely to capture your customers’ attention.

There’s no universal number that works for every business, but the key is to test and refine your strategy.

SMS Frequency by Industry

While some businesses thrive on frequent messaging, others need a more cautious approach. Here’s how to determine the ideal SMS frequency based on your industry.

Retail & Ecommerce

Frequent communication keeps customers engaged, but too many messages can lead to unsubscribes. Sales, promotions, and cart reminders should be well-timed rather than excessive.

• Weekly offers – Customers who frequently shop may receive a once-a-week exclusive deal.
• Biweekly updates – Less engaged customers receive two messages per month featuring new arrivals and seasonal promotions.
• Cart abandonment reminders – Sent only to users who abandon their carts within 24 hours, followed by a second reminder after three days if they haven’t completed their purchase.

To maintain engagement without becoming intrusive, balance your promotional messages with value-driven content. If you’re running flash sales or seasonal promotions, increase frequency temporarily but reduce it afterward.

Tax Professionals

Sending too many messages, especially outside of tax season, can feel intrusive. Tax professionals should focus on timely, relevant updates such as filing deadlines, appointment reminders, and important tax law changes.

• Tax season reminders – Clients receive weekly updates from January to April, including deadline alerts, refund status updates, and appointment confirmations.
• Quarterly tax payment reminders – Self-employed clients and businesses receive one message per quarter to ensure they stay on track with estimated payments.
• Annual tax preparation offers – Sent once per year to encourage early filing and secure appointments before the last-minute rush.

If you’re offering early filing discounts or tax-saving strategies, adjust frequency accordingly while ensuring that each message adds value.

Service-Based Businesses

For businesses like salons, repair services, and home maintenance, SMS is an effective way to remind customers about appointments and promotions. The challenge is maintaining relevance without excessive messaging.

• Regular customers (weekly cleaning) – A reminder SMS is sent two days before each appointment.
• Occasional customers – A follow-up SMS is sent one week after service with a discount for their next booking.
• Dormant customers – A re-engagement offer is sent after three months of inactivity to bring them back.

Appointment confirmations and follow-ups should be prioritized. Promotional messages should be limited to special offers and customer loyalty rewards.

Restaurants & Food Delivery

Customers don’t want daily promotions, but the right offer at the right time can drive orders. Sending messages during peak meal times increases the likelihood of engagement.

• Lunch specials at 11 AM – Sent only to customers who have ordered lunch in the past.
• Weekend promotions on Fridays – A discount code is sent every Friday evening to boost weekend reservations.
• Loyalty rewards monthly update – Customers receive a monthly update on their rewards balance and any available discounts.

Dinner specials, limited-time offers, and reservation confirmations should be spaced out to prevent customers from feeling overwhelmed.

Healthcare & Wellness

Patients appreciate timely appointment reminders and health updates, but marketing messages should be kept to a minimum. Since trust is essential in healthcare, messages should be informative rather than promotional.

• Appointment reminders – Sent three days before and one day before the scheduled visit.
• Follow-up care – Sent within 24 hours after an appointment to check on the patient’s experience and provide post-care instructions.
• Seasonal health tips – Sent every three months to encourage preventative care, such as reminders for flu shots or annual cleanings.

You can send SMS for healthcare appointment confirmations, check-up reminders, and critical medical alerts.

Real Estate

Potential buyers and sellers have different engagement windows, which makes timing a key factor. Frequent updates on listings may be useful, but general promotions should be limited.

• Daily updates for active buyers – Clients searching for homes receive daily listing updates based on their preferences.
• Weekly market insights – Less active buyers receive a market trends update every week.
• Post-showing follow-ups – Sent within one hour after a property viewing to gauge interest and offer additional listings.

Active buyers benefit from timely notifications about new properties or price changes, while long-term leads should receive messages less frequently to avoid disengagement.

Factors That Influence SMS Marketing Frequency

How often you send SMS messages depends on multiple factors that impact engagement, conversions, and customer satisfaction.

To strike the right balance, you need to consider several key factors that influence the ideal SMS marketing frequency for your business.

Your Industry and Business Type

Not all industries operate the same way, and customer expectations for SMS marketing vary.

If you run a retail or e-commerce business, your customers expect frequent promotions, restock notifications, and exclusive offers.

However, if you’re in finance or healthcare, your audience likely prefers fewer but more essential messages, such as payment reminders, appointment confirmations, or fraud alerts.

Customer Preferences and Behavior

Your customers decide how often they want to receive messages from you. If engagement rates are low, you may not be sending messages often enough to keep them interested.

You must track open rates, click-through rates, and opt-out rates to gauge customer preferences. Offering an SMS preference center where customers can select how often they receive messages is another way to align with their expectations.

SMS personalization also plays a role. Customers who frequently engage with your messages may appreciate a higher frequency, while less active users might prefer fewer messages.

Type of SMS Messages You Send

Some messages, such as transactional updates, are necessary and expected. Promotional messages should be used strategically to maintain interest without overwhelming the recipient.

• Transactional messages: Appointment reminders, order confirmations, and payment alerts are expected and should be sent as needed.
• Promotional messages: Discounts, sales announcements, and exclusive deals should be sent based on customer engagement levels and industry best practices.
• Informational messages: Updates, tips, or newsletters should be sent occasionally to maintain engagement without becoming intrusive.

An online store running a holiday sale may increase promotional messages during the sale period. However, a doctor’s office should not suddenly start sending daily health tips to patients who only expect appointment reminders.

Seasonality and Special Promotions

The time of year plays an essential role in determining how often you should send SMS messages.

During peak seasons, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or holiday shopping periods, customers expect more frequent updates and reminders. Businesses often increase their SMS frequency during these times to take advantage of heightened customer interest.

However, once the seasonal rush is over, failing to scale back can lead to SMS fatigue. Customers who were comfortable receiving multiple messages per week during a sale may find the same frequency annoying during a slow period.

Adjusting your SMS schedule based on seasonality helps maintain engagement without losing subscribers.

Customer Journey and Lifecycle Stage

A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for SMS marketing because customers are at different stages of their relationship with your business. Your frequency should be tailored to their lifecycle stage:

• New leads: More frequent messages may be necessary to nurture leads and keep your brand top of mind. A welcome series with follow-up offers can work well.
• Active customers: These customers engage with your brand regularly, so maintaining a consistent frequency (such as weekly or biweekly) helps retain their interest.
• Dormant customers: If someone hasn’t engaged in a while, increasing the frequency of re-engagement campaigns may help, but too many messages could drive them away for good.

Let’s say an e-commerce brand may send multiple onboarding messages when someone first signs up, but a gym may only send occasional check-in messages to long-term members.

Compliance and Legal Considerations

Regulatory requirements also play a role in how often you can send SMS messages. Laws such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in the U.S. require businesses to obtain customer consent before sending SMS marketing messages.

Even with permission, excessive messaging can still violate customer trust and SMS compliance best practices. Customers should always have a clear and easy way to opt out.

Automated opt-in and opt-out management through Textellent ensures that you stay compliant while maintaining a good customer experience.

Multi-Channel Integration and Marketing Balance

If you’re also using email marketing, social media, or push notifications, your SMS frequency should complement these other channels rather than overwhelm customers with duplicate messages.

If you already send daily promotional emails, you may not need to send SMS messages at the same frequency. Instead, SMS should be used for time-sensitive offers while keeping other marketing channels for broader messaging.

Businesses using Textellent can integrate SMS with other marketing platforms to create a balanced, multi-channel strategy.

How to Determine the Right SMS Marketing Frequency for Your Business

There’s no universal answer to how often you should send SMS marketing messages. Finding the right SMS marketing frequency requires testing and data analysis.

Here’s a step-by-step approach to determining the right SMS marketing frequency for your business.

Start with a Baseline Frequency

Before making any changes, you must establish a starting point based on industry standards. Your business type influences how frequently customers expect to receive messages.

Retail and e-commerce brands can start with four promotional messages per month, while finance and healthcare businesses may be better suited to one or two messages per month.

Once you’ve set a baseline, you should track engagement levels before deciding to increase or decrease frequency.

If your audience is engaging consistently, you may be able to send messages more often. If open rates drop or opt-outs increase, it’s a sign that you need to adjust your approach.

A/B Test Different SMS Frequencies

Testing different frequencies on separate customer segments allows you to see what works best for your audience. One group may receive weekly messages, while another gets biweekly or monthly texts.

Comparing engagement rates between these groups provides insights into how frequently your customers want to hear from you.

If one group shows higher open rates and conversions while maintaining low opt-out rates, that frequency is likely optimal.

If engagement declines, consider reducing message volume. Testing helps you refine your strategy based on actual customer responses rather than assumptions.

Monitor Engagement Metrics

Your performance data provides critical insights into whether your frequency is too high or too low.

Key SMS metrics to monitor include:

Tracking these metrics over time can help fine-tune your frequency to maximize engagement while minimizing opt-outs.

Use Customer Feedback to Adjust the Frequency

Your customers should have control over how often they receive messages. Giving them the option to choose their preferred messaging frequency can reduce opt-outs and improve engagement.

An SMS preference center allows them to select weekly, biweekly, or monthly updates based on their interest level.

If you notice trends in customer complaints about message volume, adjust your strategy accordingly. Customers who want frequent updates should be in a separate segment from those who prefer occasional messages.

Automate SMS Scheduling with Smart Triggers

Rather than manually adjusting message frequency, automation tools can help optimize timing based on customer behavior. 

Time-based triggers can send reminders for abandoned carts or upcoming appointments, while engagement-based triggers adjust frequency based on customer interactions.

Textellent Helps Keep Your SMS Marketing Frequency in Check

Textellent helps you find the perfect cadence by providing automation, segmentation, and intelligent scheduling tools that optimize SMS frequency. Here’s how Textellent ensures your SMS campaigns stay engaging and effective.

Automated Drip Campaigns

You don’t have to send messages manually or worry about spacing them out correctly. Textellent’s automated campaigns allow you to schedule messages based on customer behavior and preferences.

Instead of sending bulk promotions at random times, you can automate follow-ups after a purchase or inquiry and cart abandonment reminders that are sent only when necessary.

Textellent’s drip campaigns also help you schedule multi-step SMS sequences designed to nurture leads and encourage engagement over time.

You don’t have to send one-off messages that might go unnoticed. Drip campaigns allow you to deliver gradual, well-timed communications such as testimonials, special offers, or educational content.

And to ensure that you’re not sending excessive follow-ups, these campaigns automatically stop as soon as the customer responds, which makes every interaction feel natural.

Segmentation Tools

Not every customer needs to receive messages at the same frequency. Some may want regular updates, while others prefer occasional check-ins.

Textellent’s segmentation tools help you categorize customers based on factors like purchase history, how frequently they interact with your business, or whether they’re new, active, or dormant customers.

With proper segmentation, you can send more frequent updates to highly engaged customers while keeping messaging minimal for those who prefer fewer texts. This prevents over-messaging and improves response rates.

Appointment Scheduling

Textellent’s appointment scheduling feature allows customers to self-book, receive confirmations, and get timely reminders without excessive messaging.

Rather than repeatedly checking in with customers, you can send automated confirmations and reminders before appointments.

You’ll avoid sending duplicate messages by tracking customer responses and following up only when necessary. With this system, you provide value without making your messages feel intrusive.

Multi-Location Capabilities

Your customers may have different engagement habits depending on the region. Textellent’s multi-location management tools allow you to adjust SMS frequency based on local preferences.

You can tailor messaging for different markets instead of applying the same frequency to all customers so your audience receives relevant, well-timed messages.

API Integrations

Textellent’s SMS API service and flexible integrations connect with your CRM, appointment scheduling tools, and payment systems to keep messages triggered based on real customer actions. Syncing SMS with your existing systems prevents duplicate or unnecessary messages.

Textellent’s Interactive API Documentation makes integration easy. You can access the OpenAPI specification for a clear overview or download the Postman collection to simplify testing and implementation.

With automated scheduling and real-time data syncing, you can keep SMS frequency consistent but controlled. If a customer has already confirmed an appointment or made a payment, they won’t receive redundant reminders.

Consistent Communication Without Over-Messaging with Textellent

Every SMS you send is an opportunity to engage, convert, and build lasting relationships with your customers. But if you send too many messages, you risk annoying them. Send too few, and they forget about your brand altogether.

Textellent helps you take control. With intelligent automation, advanced segmentation, and seamless integrations, you can send messages that feel timely and valuable, never intrusive.

You can schedule future SMS campaigns in advance, even recurring ones, based on customer tags and preferences. 

If you need to send seasonal promotions, quarterly updates, or personalized messages, Textellent guarantees your messages reach customers without overloading their inboxes.

Don’t leave your SMS marketing to chance, and start optimizing your frequency with Textellent. Start with a free trial, or schedule a demo today!

FAQs About SMS Marketing Frequency

How often should I send SMS marketing?

The ideal mobile messaging frequency depends on your business and audience. A good starting point is four to eight messages per month, though the best approach varies by industry.

Retailers may send weekly promotions, while banks and healthcare providers often limit messages to one or two per month.

To run an effective SMS campaign, you must track engagement metrics and adjust frequency as needed. If opt-outs increase or response rates decline, consider refining your strategy to better align with customer preferences.

What frequency does text messaging use?

SMS frequency refers to how often messages are sent. Transactional texts (order updates, reminders) should be sent when needed, while promotional messages (discounts, sales) should be limited to avoid overwhelming customers.

What are the statistics of SMS marketing?

Text marketing remains one of the most effective communication channels, with SMS statistics proving its impact:

• 98% open rate – Most texts are read within minutes
• 45% response rate – Much higher engagement than email
• 90% of messages read within 3 minutes – Making SMS ideal for time-sensitive promotions and early access offers
• Only 3% were marked as spam – Less risk of messages being ignored

These numbers highlight why businesses must carefully manage SMS frequency to maintain high engagement.

What is a good open rate for SMS marketing?

A strong SMS open rate is 90–98%. If your open rates drop, you may be sending messages too often or at the wrong times. Reviewing engagement metrics helps ensure customers stay interested.