The SMS Report is where you see how a sent message performed - who received it, who clicked, who replied, who failed, and who opted out. This article walks through every section of the report, defines each metric, and covers the Failed tab in depth so you can diagnose why a particular send fell short.
Open the SMS Report
- Go to SMS > Messages > Sent Messages.
- Click the title of a sent message.
The report has two main sections - Metrics and Charts on the left, Summaries and Details on the right.
Metrics and Charts
The metrics panel is split into tabs. Click a tile at the top of the page to switch tabs.
| Report tab | Contents |
|---|---|
| Summary | All metrics and a summary chart for the SMS Message. |
| Sent | Chart of delivered count and average delivery rate across all SMS sends. Table of send status per recipient. |
| Clicked | Chart of clickthroughs and average click rate. Table of recipients who clicked a link. |
| Replied | Chart of replies and average reply rate. Table of recipients who replied, with the reply text. |
| Failed | Chart of failure reasons. Table of recipients who did not receive the message and why. |
| Opted-Out | Chart of opt-outs and average opt-out rate. Table of recipients who opted out after receiving the message. |
Metrics
| Sent | Count of unique recipients (mobile phone numbers) included in the send. Matches Total Recipients in the message details. |
| Failed | Count of unique recipients who did not receive the message - usually because the mobile carrier blocked it. |
| Delivered | Count of unique recipients who received the message. Calculated as Sent minus Failed. |
| Clicked | Count of unique recipients who clicked a link. Requires an Act-On short URL with click tracking enabled. |
| Replied | Count of unique recipients who replied to the message. |
| Opted-Out | Count of unique recipients who opted out after receiving the message (replied STOP). |
| Total Clicks | Count of total clicks - may include multiple clicks by the same recipient. |
| Total Replies | Count of total replies - may include multiple replies by the same recipient. |
Percentages
| Failed Rate | Failed / Sent * 100 |
| Delivered Rate | Delivered / Sent * 100 |
| Clicked Rate | Clicked / Delivered * 100 |
| Replied Rate | Replied / Delivered * 100 |
| Opted-Out Rate | Opted-Out / Delivered * 100 |
Summaries and Details
The right-side panel starts with the text of the message you sent. Below that, the send's sender, recipient, and Credit math.
| Section | Contents |
|---|---|
| Message Details | Sent By (user name) and Sent On (date and time). |
| Recipient Lists | All Marketing Lists and Segments selected for the message. |
| Recipient Summary | Line-by-line breakdown of how Total Recipients was calculated. |
| Credit Summary | Messages Sent times Credits per Message equals Credits Charged. |
Recipient Summary
| Selected Recipients | Sum of contacts from the selected lists. |
| Recipients w/o phone | Contacts without a phone number in the selected lists. |
| Recipients not opted in | Contacts who have not opted in to receive SMS. |
| Duplicates | Duplicate mobile phone numbers across the selected lists. |
| Total Recipients | Recipients included in the send - equals the Sent metric. |
Credit Summary
| Messages sent | Count of SMS messages sent. |
| Credits per message | Credits used per message. 1 Credit = 1 message, where 1 message is up to 160 characters. |
| Credits charged | Total cost of the send in Credits. |
Troubleshooting: why messages fail
The Failed tab lists every recipient who did not receive the message, with the error that caused it. SMS fails for several reasons - imperfect list data, landlines that cannot receive SMS, or carrier filtering of the content.
- Go to SMS > Messages > Sent Messages.
- Click the message you want to review.
- Click the Failed tab.
SMS Failed Send Details shows how many sends failed and a percentage breakdown by error type. Below that is the list of affected recipients, their phone numbers, and the reason each did not receive the message.
Types of SMS errors
| Reason | Description |
|---|---|
| Landline | The message tried to reach a landline that cannot receive SMS. |
| Unreachable Destination | A landline, or a handset that is turned off or roaming. |
| Unreachable Carrier | The recipient's carrier does not support SMS. Often seen with prepaid mobile devices or some international carriers. |
| Message Blocked | The recipient has blocked SMS from your sending number. No further action can be taken. |
| Unknown Destination | The mobile number no longer exists, or there is a carrier outage, or the device is off or roaming. |
| Unknown Error | Seen with small regional carriers, unsupported devices, or when the recipient's handset is off or roaming. |
| Carrier Filtering | The message was blocked by carrier spam filters. Review the message's content and URLs. |
Fixing list data
Act-On cannot automatically clean contact data - it is up to you and your marketing team to keep phone numbers accurate. If a high percentage of failures are landlines or invalid numbers, consider a data-cleansing pass before the next send. Several third-party services can do this.
Avoiding carrier filtering
Carriers filter aggressively against spam patterns. To reduce carrier-filtering failures:
- Avoid over-capitalisation in message text.
- Limit special characters like $, %, and !.
- Include Reply STOP to opt out (or the Opt-Out Text tool) at the end of messages.
- Do not use Bitly, TinyURL, or other third-party link shorteners - use Act-On's Link Shortener.
- Avoid content related to money exchange (loans, credit, gambling, deals).
- Avoid sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco, or drug content.
Act-On monitors filtering error rates. If yours stays high, your Account Manager can work with you on content adjustments.
Next steps
- How to Use the SMS Link Shortener and Tracker: the link tracking that feeds the Clicked metric.
- How to Create an SMS Message: the Recipient Summary shown here is calculated at compose time too.
- SMS FAQs: common questions about sending, delivery, and reporting.