The truth about Not-Delivered SMS
In every SMS marketing campaign there are SMS messages that are not delivered to the intended recipients.
This happens due to 4 major reasons:
- The recipient’s mobile device is turned off.
- The recipient's device is off the cellular network.
- The recipient’s phone has incoming SMS blocked.
- The recipient’s number is incorrect or has been canceled.
In the first 3 cases, the SMS messages appear to be in Pending Status. If within the next few hours of the sending of the campaign the recipient opens his device, finds a network, or unblocks the incoming messages, then the SMS is eventually delivered. In these cases the messages’ status turns from Pending to Delivered.
" The reduction of the effectiveness of the campaign increases the cost of delivered messages, while resulting in loss of sales, as many recipients didn’t receive the message at all "
If the SMS messages aren’t delivered within 48 hours from the time of their sending, then the mobile operators system cancels the delivery process. This time frame of 48 hours is varying among operators.
In this case the status of the messages turns from Pending to Not Delivered. Keep in mind that there is a chance some messages will remain in Pending status after the 48 hours. Their percentage fluctuates between 0,1% and 0,9%, and is certainly lower than 1%.
Time to check your Not-Delivered SMS Percentage
If your campaigns have a higher percentage of Not-Delivered SMS than the average mentioned above, then the cause is one of the 4 mentioned previously. We advise you to use the automated mechanisms provided in order to minimize the percentage of Not-Delivered SMS.
" Based on extensive statistical analysis and reports from our platform, the SMS delivery rate on an updated list of recipients is 95,5% on average. "
The remaining 4,5% of the SMS that aren’t delivered is due to the 4 major reasons we explained in the beginning.
The option of not sending SMS to mobile phones that haven’t received messages during the past two months is one of the many solutions of Octapush, that makes sure that the sender will not be charged for sending messages to mobile phones that repeatedly failed to receive them.
