SMS Outreach
SMS Outreach: 90% Open Rates, Done Compliantly
SMS outreach sends short text-message campaigns to prospect lists, with open rates near 90% and replies in minutes instead of days. The channel is regulated: US senders must register A2P 10DLC campaigns with carriers and honor opt-outs. BILT handles registration, pacing, and compliance automatically — and its AI works every reply toward a conversation.
No channel gets read like SMS. The same message that sits unopened in an email inbox for days gets seen in minutes as a text — which is exactly why carriers regulate the channel hard.
Doing SMS right means A2P registration, conservative pacing, instant opt-out handling, and copy that reads like a person. BILT bakes all four in, because one carrier violation can kill the whole channel for your business.
Frequently asked
Is cold SMS legal?
It's regulated, not banned. US senders need A2P 10DLC campaign registration, prior-consent rules vary by use case under the TCPA, and opt-outs must be honored immediately. Compliant SMS is a powerful channel; non-compliant SMS is a lawsuit.
What is A2P 10DLC?
Application-to-Person 10-Digit Long Code — the carrier registration system for businesses texting from standard phone numbers. You register your brand and campaign use case; carriers approve and assign throughput. Unregistered traffic gets filtered.
What open and reply rates does SMS get?
Industry-wide, SMS open rates run ~90%+ with most reads inside 3 minutes. Reply rates on well-targeted cold lists commonly run 5–15% — an order of magnitude above cold email — which is why the channel rewards tight targeting over volume.
How long should a cold SMS be?
One segment — 160 characters or less. State who you are, why you're texting this specific person, and ask one question. Links in a first message hurt deliverability; earn the link in the reply thread.
Can BILT run SMS and email in the same sequence?
Yes — multi-channel sequences are the default. A typical cadence opens with email, escalates to SMS for non-openers, and lets AI follow-up continue in whichever channel the prospect responds.
Deep dives
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