{
  "schema_version": "1.1",
  "id": "sms-98-percent-open-rate",
  "slug": "sms-98-percent-open-rate",
  "url": "https://groundedkit.com/claims/sms-98-percent-open-rate/",
  "api_url": "https://groundedkit.com/api/claims/sms-98-percent-open-rate.json",
  "claim": "Text messages have a 98% open rate",
  "commonly_cited_as": "\"SMS has a 98% open rate (vs 20% for email)\"",
  "verdict": "outdated",
  "verdict_definition": "Source found and quoted correctly, but old enough that the market has changed.",
  "confidence": "high",
  "rating": {
    "value": 3,
    "best": 5,
    "worst": 1
  },
  "origin": {
    "publisher": "Mobilesquared (for SinglePoint)",
    "title": "Conversational Advertising (white paper)",
    "year": "2010"
  },
  "quote": "neither datapoints represent an accurate reflection of today's world of mobile messaging.",
  "method": "2010 white paper; the author firm said in 2022 that its latest data suggests 55% of SMS are read and 100% are viewed. SMS has no standard open tracking.",
  "drift": [
    "Metric: a 'read' estimate quoted as a measured open rate",
    "Date: the publisher itself withdrew it as current"
  ],
  "interest": "Commissioned by an SMS-messaging vendor.",
  "safe_rephrasing": "Mobilesquared's 2010 estimate of 98% SMS read rates is withdrawn by its author; its 2022 data suggests about 55% are read.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Mobilesquared: SMS engagement rates dropping (2022)",
      "url": "https://www.mobilesquared.co.uk/2022/08/24/sms-engagement-dropping-still-outperforms-other-channels/",
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "title": "Mobilesquared: Conversational Advertising (2010, PDF)",
      "url": "https://tnz.com.au/assets/downloads/MobileSQUARED%20-%20Conversational%20Advertising.pdf",
      "primary": true
    }
  ],
  "kind": "stat_check",
  "as_of": "2010",
  "last_checked": "2026-10-16",
  "stale": false,
  "date_reviewed": "2026-10-16",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}