The Hidden Cost of Dirty Data: How It Ruined Our SMS Campaign ROI—and How We Recovered

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, performance marketing campaigns can make or break your quarterly results. Recently, our team launched a high-stakes SMS marketing initiative, targeting a list of 50,000 opt-in customers, armed with a $12,000 budget and industry benchmarks promising a 25:1 ROI.

Initially, the outlook was promising. However, the outcome was far from our expectations. The campaign underperformed dramatically, with delivery rates plummeting to 67% from a projected 95%, engagement metrics remaining lackluster, and the budget quickly exhausted with minimal conversions. At first, we suspected issues with messaging content or timing. But deep down, we sensed something more fundamental was amiss.

The Root Cause: Contaminated Customer Data

A thorough investigation uncovered a harsh reality: our contact database was riddled with invalid or unreliable phone numbers. The reasons included:

• Typos during checkout, often due to customers rushing through the process
• International formats that caused routing failures
• Long-abandoned numbers from customers who signed up over two years ago
• Fake or discarded numbers resulting from promotional abuse

This data contamination meant we were essentially paying to reach nonexistent or unreachable phones. Our SMS messages were bouncing, delivery rates were low, and sender reputation was at risk—all of which sabotaged the campaign’s effectiveness.

Implementing Data Hygiene for Better Results

Recognizing the severity of the issue, we adopted a more rigorous approach to data quality. We integrated an SMS API with built-in verification features to ensure every number was validated before inclusion in our campaigns. The steps included:

• Real-time format validation to catch typos and incorrect formats
• Carrier lookup and routing validation to ensure numbers are active and properly routed
• Line status verification to identify disconnected or inactive lines
• Geographic compliance checks to adhere to regional regulations

This process, which we implemented gradually over three months, drastically improved our data’s integrity.

Results and Lessons Learned

The transformation was remarkable. Post-implementation, our campaign metrics showed extraordinary improvement:

• Delivery rates increased from 67% to 94%
• Click-through rates surged from 2.1% to 8.3%
• Return on investment skyrocketed from 3:1 to an impressive 23:1
• Customer acquisition costs decreased