Table of contents
Klaviyo's own 2026 data shows SMS flows generating roughly 8 times the revenue per recipient of SMS campaigns - a gap that matters more for a trial-expiry or renewal nudge than for a one-off promotion. This page re-cuts the same vendor dataset used on our solar page around the metrics and use cases a SaaS billing and lifecycle team actually needs.
Key Takeaways
- SMS flows post roughly 8 times the revenue per recipient of SMS campaigns.
- 64.4% of SMS flow revenue comes from new recipients, against 20% for campaigns.
- Top 10% of SMS flows post revenue per recipient above USD 5.
- Email flows generate nearly 18 times the RPR of email campaigns in the same dataset.
- Top 10% of email flows post RPR up to USD 7.79.
- AI product recommendations lift email click rates to 3.75% on average.
- Top performers using AI recommendations reach 8.79% click rate.
- Twilio's own long-code SMS price is USD 0.0083 per segment.
- Podium and Weave both gate their plan pricing behind a sales quote, not a published number.
- Twilio's pay-as-you-go model has no published monthly minimum.
- The FCC's one-to-one consent rule was vacated on January 24, 2025.
- Base TCPA consent and quiet-hours rules were unaffected by that ruling.
- Software category email opens at 36.20% on ActiveCampaign's own customer data.
- Software click rate sits at 1.15% in MailerLite's 2026 dataset.
- SMS flows account for just 7.6% of sends but 45.2% of SMS revenue.
The metric that matters more than click rate here
A billing or renewal message is not judged the same way a promotional blast is - a click is nice, but revenue per recipient and unsubscribe risk decide whether the channel stays usable for future account messages. Klaviyo's own 2026 SMS benchmarks, built on 183,000 customers, report that SMS flows generate roughly 8 times the revenue per recipient of SMS campaigns, with the top 10% of flows posting RPR above USD 5. The same base is e-commerce-leaning, not SaaS-specific, but the flow-versus-campaign gap is the more durable signal than either raw figure.
| Metric (Klaviyo's own 2026 data) | SMS campaigns | SMS flows | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue per recipient | Baseline | ~8x baseline | ~8x |
| Share of channel revenue | Minority share | 45.2% from 7.6% of sends | Outsized |
| New-recipient revenue share | 20% | 64.4% | ~3.2x |
| Top-10% RPR threshold | Not separately published | Above USD 5 | n/a |
Where that maps onto a SaaS lifecycle
A trial-expiry countdown, a payment-failure retry, a renewal-due notice and an in-app feature nudge are all flow triggers by nature - a single message tied to one account event, not a recurring send. That is exactly the pattern Klaviyo's data shows performing best in both channels: email flows pull 48% of their revenue from new recipients against 16% for campaigns, and email flows carry nearly 18 times the revenue per recipient of broadcast campaigns in the same 2026 dataset.
| SaaS lifecycle event | Better fit | Why | Compliance note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trial-expiry countdown | SMS | Time-sensitive, high urgency | Marketing consent still required if promotional |
| Payment-failure retry | Email or SMS | Flow pattern, single trigger | Some content may qualify as transactional |
| Renewal-due notice | Needs pricing detail, longer read | CAN-SPAM unsubscribe link required | |
| In-app feature nudge | Product education, not urgent | Standard marketing consent applies | |
| Account security alert | SMS | Needs to be seen immediately | Usually transactional, not marketing |
What email does better in the same dataset
Email keeps an edge where content needs structure. Klaviyo's own 2026 email benchmarks show AI-powered product recommendations lifting average click rates to 3.75%, with top performers reaching 8.79% - a personalization lever that a short SMS message cannot easily replicate. For SaaS specifically, ActiveCampaign's own customer data puts the Software category at a 36.20% open rate, while a separate dataset from MailerLite's 2026 benchmarks puts Software and web app at 39.31% open and 1.15% click, below the 2.09% all-industry click average in the same set.
| Dataset | Category | Metric | Figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo 2026 (own data) | Email, AI recommendations | Average click rate | 3.75% |
| Klaviyo 2026 (own data) | Email, AI recommendations, top performers | Click rate | 8.79% |
| ActiveCampaign (own customer data) | Software | Open rate | 36.20% |
| MailerLite 2026 (3.6M campaigns) | Software and web app | Open rate / click rate | 39.31% / 1.15% |
What it actually costs to text a customer base
Twilio's own pricing page lists long-code SMS at USD 0.0083 per segment, pay-as-you-go with no published monthly minimum - the model that suits a SaaS company already staffed to build its own send logic and consent tracking. Bundled front-end platforms built around reviews and messaging, like Podium and Weave, publish a pricing page but gate the actual plan cost behind a sales quote rather than a flat published number, which is worth knowing before assuming either has an off-the-shelf list price to compare against Twilio's per-segment rate.
| Provider (own pricing page, 2026) | Pricing model | Publicly stated unit cost | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twilio | Pay-as-you-go, per segment | USD 0.0083 / segment | Teams building their own send logic |
| Podium | Quote-gated, bundled | Not publicly listed - sales quote required | Teams wanting reviews + messaging in one tool |
| Weave | Quote-gated, bundled | Not publicly listed - sales quote required | Teams wanting payments + messaging in one tool |
What is still required before you text a customer
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act and its rules at 47 CFR 64.1200 apply to marketing texts regardless of industry. The FCC's 2023 one-to-one consent requirement was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit on January 24, 2025 and is not in force, but that ruling did not touch the underlying consent, quiet-hours or opt-out requirements. A purely transactional message, such as a one-time login code, is generally treated differently than a renewal-upsell text under FCC guidance - a distinction worth confirming with counsel before classifying a message either way.
| Rule | Applies to | Status in 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| TCPA consent requirement | Marketing SMS to customers or leads | In force | 47 U.S.C. § 227, Cornell LII |
| Quiet hours (8am-9pm local) | Marketing SMS | In force | 47 CFR 64.1200, ecfr.gov |
| FCC one-to-one consent (2023 rule) | Consent shared across multiple sellers | Vacated Jan 24, 2025 | 11th Cir., Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC |
| Transactional-message treatment | Login codes, receipts, security alerts | Generally exempt from marketing consent | FCC guidance, case-by-case |
What 10DLC registration costs a SaaS sender
The same registration fees apply regardless of industry. The Campaign Registry's own fee guide lists brand registration for a PRIVATE_PROFIT entity at a USD 4.50 one-time fee, and a standard Marketing use-case campaign at USD 10.00 a month, billed per campaign. A SaaS company running separate campaigns for trial nudges, renewal notices and product announcements pays that monthly fee once per registered use case, not once per message.
| A2P 10DLC fee (The Campaign Registry, 2026) | Price | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Brand registration (private company) | USD 4.50 | One-time |
| Marketing campaign use case | USD 10.00 | Monthly, per campaign |
| Account Notification use case | USD 10.00 | Monthly, per campaign |
| Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) use case | USD 10.00 | Monthly, per campaign |
Deliverability sets the ceiling before automation even runs
Every open- and click-rate figure quoted on this page assumes the email lands in an inbox at all. ActiveCampaign's own customer data reports a 93.4% deliverability rate for its users, against an 83.1% industry average. That gap alone can swing a renewal-email open rate more than any subject-line test, and it is worth confirming with any vendor before comparing their CTR claims to a competitor's.
The click-rate side of the same Klaviyo dataset
Revenue per recipient is not the whole story - click rate still signals engagement before a purchase or renewal event happens. In the same 2026 dataset, SMS flow click rates average close to 10%, with the top 10% exceeding 16%, against a 1.69% email campaign click rate and a 5.58% email flow click rate. The ranking is consistent across both revenue and clicks: flows beat campaigns, and SMS flows beat email flows on raw engagement, even though email still wins on AI-personalized recommendation lift.
| Metric (Klaviyo's own 2026 data) | Email campaign | Email flow | SMS flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Click rate | 1.69% | 5.58% | ~10% (avg) |
| Top-10% click rate | Not separately published | Over 10% | Over 16% |
| Revenue-per-recipient multiple vs its own campaign | 1x (baseline) | ~18x | ~8x |
What SaaS teams should be measuring instead of raw sends
The channel-mix decision should be judged on the same metrics a broader marketing team already tracks. HubSpot's own 2026 data ranks lead quality and MQLs at 39% as the top metric marketers say matters most this year, ahead of lead-to-customer conversion rate at 34% and customer acquisition cost at 30%. A billing or lifecycle text that hits its click target but drives an unsubscribe is not a win by any of those three measures - which is why revenue per recipient and retained opt-in status matter more here than a raw click-through number.
Building the channel mix without guessing
Route by event type, not by channel preference: flow-shaped triggers (trial expiry, payment failure) into whichever channel the customer opted into first, and reserve broadcast sends for genuinely optional content. Track revenue per recipient and unsubscribe rate on every send, since those are the numbers Klaviyo's own data shows separating flows from campaigns.
Our data and analytics practice can build that instrumentation against your billing system, and our SMS marketing statistics hub covers the cross-industry view of the same channel; or talk to us about wiring consent tracking into your lifecycle stack.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a SaaS company text trial-expiry reminders or email them?
Klaviyo's own 2026 benchmark data (183,000 customers) shows SMS flows generating roughly 8 times the revenue per recipient of SMS campaigns, and pulling 64.4% of that flow revenue from new (first-time) recipients versus 20% for campaigns. That pattern - a single, well-timed, behavior-triggered message outperforming a recurring blast - maps cleanly onto a trial-expiry or renewal-due nudge, which is a textbook flow trigger rather than a broadcast.
Is texting customers about billing or renewal actually allowed?
Yes, with the same consent rules as any other marketing text under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. § 227) and its rules at 47 CFR 64.1200 - prior express written consent for marketing content, honored opt-outs, and no messages outside the recipient's local quiet hours. A purely transactional message, like a one-time login code, is treated differently under FCC guidance than a renewal upsell text, so SaaS teams should not assume account-related texts are automatically exempt.
What does business SMS cost for a SaaS company's customer base?
Twilio's own US pricing lists long-code SMS at USD 0.0083 per segment, pay-as-you-go with no published monthly minimum. Bundled review-and-messaging platforms like Podium and Weave publish their pricing pages but gate the actual plan cost behind a sales quote rather than a flat published number, so the only publicly verifiable unit price for business SMS at the API layer is Twilio's.
Is the FCC's one-to-one consent rule relevant to B2B SaaS texting?
The rule the FCC adopted in 2023, which required consent to be tied to one identified seller, was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit on January 24, 2025 in Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC and is not in force. It mattered most to lead-generation resellers passing consent between multiple buyers - a SaaS vendor texting its own existing customer base was never the target case, but the underlying TCPA consent and quiet-hours rules still apply regardless.
What SMS metric actually matters more than click rate for a SaaS renewal flow?
Revenue per recipient and unsubscribe rate matter more than click rate for a billing-adjacent message, because an aggressive renewal cadence that triggers unsubscribes damages the channel for every future message, including support and login-security texts. Klaviyo's own data shows the top 10% of SMS flows posting revenue per recipient above USD 5 - which is the number to chase, not raw clicks.
Sources
Klaviyo - 2026 SMS marketing benchmarks
Klaviyo - 2026 email marketing benchmarks
Twilio - US SMS pricing
Podium - Pricing
Weave - Pricing
ActiveCampaign - Average email open rate glossary
MailerLite - Email marketing benchmarks by industry and region, 2026
eCFR - 47 CFR 64.1200
US Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit - Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC
The Campaign Registry - TCR fees and pricing guide
HubSpot - Marketing statistics (State of Marketing 2026)
Web Tonic - SMS marketing statistics hub
