Is Your Email & SMS Actually Working? The 5-Step Reality Check

Look, I'm gonna be brutally honest with you.

Most founders think their email and SMS marketing is "fine" because they hit send and people don't immediately unsubscribe. But "fine" is the enemy of great, and in today's hyper-competitive landscape, "fine" means you're bleeding money.

You know what's wild? The average brand sends 4-6 emails per month and thinks they're crushing it. Meanwhile, their customers are getting 121 emails per day. Your "newsletter" isn't breaking through that noise.

Here's the truth bomb: if you're not systematically measuring and optimizing your email and SMS, you're probably leaving 30-40% of your potential revenue on the table.

The 5-Step Email & SMS Health Check

Step 1: Check Your Open Rates (And Actually Understand What They Mean)

What to look for:

• Email open rates above 25% (industry average is 18-22%)

• SMS open rates above 95% (anything below 90% means you have deliverability issues)

• Consistent performance across different send times and subject lines

Red flags:

• Declining open rates over time

• Huge variations between campaigns (means you're not testing systematically)

• Open rates below 15% for email or 85% for SMS

The real talk: Open rates are vanity metrics if they're not converting. But if your open rates suck, nothing else matters. You can't convert people who never see your message.

Step 2: Audit Your Click-Through Rates (Where the Money Actually Lives)

What to look for:

• Email CTR above 3% (2.5% is average, but average is mediocre)

• SMS CTR above 15% (SMS should massively outperform email)

• Clear correlation between your best subject lines and highest CTRs

Red flags:

• CTRs consistently below 2% for email or 10% for SMS

• No clear winner in your subject line tests

• People opening but not clicking (content-offer mismatch)

The real talk: This is where you separate the wheat from the chaff. High open rates with low CTRs means your subject lines are clickbait but your content is trash.

Step 3: Calculate Your Revenue Per Email/SMS (The Only Metric That Matters)

What to look for:

• Average revenue per email sent: $0.50-$2.00+

• Average revenue per SMS sent: $2.00-$8.00+

• Trending upward month over month

Red flags:

• Revenue per message below $0.25 for email or $1.00 for SMS

• Flat or declining revenue trends

• No clear attribution tracking

The real talk: This is the metric that pays your bills. Everything else is just theater. If you're not tracking revenue per message, you're not serious about email marketing.

Step 4: Review Your Automation Sequences (Set It and Forget It is Broken)

What to look for:

• Welcome series converting at 15%+

• Abandoned cart recovery at 10%+ conversion

• Win-back campaigns generating 5%+ reactivation

• Post-purchase sequences driving 20%+ repeat purchase rates

Red flags:

• Generic, one-size-fits-all sequences

• No behavioral triggers or segmentation

• Automation that hasn't been updated in 6+ months

• Missing key sequences (browse abandonment, VIP programs, etc.)

The real talk: If your automation feels like everyone else's, it probably is. Cookie-cutter sequences get cookie-cutter results.

Step 5: Analyze Your List Growth and Churn (The Foundation Everything Else Sits On)

What to look for:

• Monthly list growth rate of 5-10%

• Unsubscribe rate below 0.5%

• Healthy balance of acquisition channels

• Engagement scores improving over time

Red flags:

• Stagnant or shrinking list size

• Unsubscribe rates above 1%

• Over-reliance on one acquisition channel

• New subscribers not engaging

The real talk: A healthy list is a growing list. If you're not constantly adding engaged subscribers, you're in maintenance mode, not growth mode.

What Good Actually Looks Like

Here's what happens when you get this stuff right:

Email becomes your most profitable channel. Not Facebook ads, not Google, not influencer partnerships. Email. Because the audience is yours and the targeting is perfect.

SMS becomes your secret weapon. While everyone else is fighting for attention in the feed, you're literally in their pocket with 95%+ open rates.

Your customers actually look forward to your messages. Wild concept, I know. But when you nail segmentation and personalization, people start engaging like crazy.

You sleep better at night. Because you're not completely dependent on paid ads and platform changes. You own the relationship.

The Reality Check

If you went through this checklist and found problems (spoiler: you probably did), don't panic. Most brands are operating at about 30% of their email and SMS potential.

The good news? Every problem you found is money left on the table. Fix the issues, and you're literally printing money.

The bad news? This isn't a "set it and forget it" solution. Email and SMS optimization is an ongoing process that requires strategy, testing, and constant improvement.

Transform Your Email & SMS Game

At Bylders, we've cracked the code on email and SMS for brands that refuse to settle for "fine." We've transformed email marketing for Fazit Beauty, Vant Panels, CandyinBulk, NantucketCrisps, and dozens more.

We don't just send pretty emails. We build revenue-generating machines that turn your subscriber list into your most profitable channel.

Because here's the thing — your list is your most valuable asset. It's time to treat it like one.

-Parker Burr