What's a Good SMS Marketing Opt-Out Rate in 2026?

A healthy SMS marketing opt-out rate in 2026 is under 1% per message sent. Klaviyo's public benchmark data, drawn from more than 183,000 customers, puts "good" campaign-level performance at a 0.6% to 1.4% unsubscribe rate, while cross-platform tracking of per-send opt-outs puts the broader median closer to 0.42%.

Per-Send Rate vs. Monthly Attrition

The per-send number is the one to actually watch day to day, but it compounds: even a well-run SMS program with a 0.42% per-send opt-out rate typically accumulates around 1.7% in cumulative monthly attrition once you account for multiple sends across a list. That's why a rate that looks fine on any single campaign can still translate into meaningful list shrinkage over a quarter if send frequency is high.

How Opt-Out Rates Vary by Industry

Regulated and relationship-based industries tend to run the lowest opt-out rates, since customers expect fewer, more transactional messages from them. A 2026 compilation of SMS benchmark data by ClickMinded breaks per-send opt-out rates down by vertical: Healthcare sits at 0.21%, Finance and banking at 0.28%, DTC subscription brands at 0.34%, Beauty and personal care at 0.39%, broad e-commerce at 0.42%, Hospitality at 0.51%, and Flash-sale apparel — the highest of the group — at 0.84%.

• Healthcare: 0.21% per send — the lowest of any tracked vertical
• Finance and banking: 0.28% per send
• DTC subscription: 0.34% per send
• Beauty and personal care: 0.39% per send
• Broad e-commerce: 0.42% per send — roughly the cross-industry median
• Hospitality: 0.51% per send
• Flash-sale apparel: 0.84% per send — the highest of the group, driven by high-frequency promotional sends

What Actually Drives an Opt-Out

Message frequency is the single biggest trigger, accounting for roughly 40% of opt-outs across tracked programs, followed by irrelevant content at about 18% and inconvenient send timing at about 10%. Notably, none of the top drivers are about the offer itself — they're about whether the message showed up too often, didn't match the recipient's interests, or arrived at a bad moment.

That breakdown matters for where to spend fix effort: more than half of opt-outs trace back to frequency and timing rather than content quality, which means a brand seeing a rising opt-out rate should audit its send calendar and cadence rules before rewriting copy or testing new offers. A program sending three or more promotional texts a week is a common pattern behind the frequency-driven opt-outs in the benchmark data, even when each individual message performs fine in isolation.

Bottom Line

Target an SMS opt-out rate under 1% per send, treat anything consistently above 1.5% as a frequency or targeting problem rather than a creative one, and check your industry's specific benchmark before assuming your number is high — a 0.6% rate that looks great for flash-sale apparel would be a warning sign for a healthcare program.

Sources: Klaviyo's public SMS and MMS campaign benchmark report (based on 183,000+ customers); industry opt-out breakdown and driver data from ClickMinded's 2026 SMS Marketing Benchmarks report.