How SMS compares to cost-per-click advertising
Last Updated: November 2019
Based on the CPC advertising benchmarks from Adstage, SMS still stands out as one of the most cost-effective marketing tools to help you reach your audience by a significant margin.
| Average CPS/CPC | Average CTR | Average Cost per 10K CPS/CPC | |
| SMS via Burst (CPS) | $0.069 | 9.97% | $690 |
| Google Display Ads (CPC) | $0.34 | 0.55% | $3,400 |
| Twitter (CPC) | $0.40 | 1.33% | $4,000 |
| Facebook (CPC) | $0.62 | 1.34% | $6,200 |
| Instagram (CPC) | $0.81 | 0.62% | $8,100 |
| Google Search Ads (CPC) | $1.39 | 2.65% | $13,900 |
| Bing Search Ads (CPC) | $1.67 | 3.14% | $16,700 |
| YouTube (CPC) | $2.37 | 0.34% | $23,700 |
| LinkedIn (CPC) | $3.87 | 0.21% | $38,700 |
CPS = Cost per send • CPC = Cost per click • CTR = Click through rate Sources: Adstage 2019 Q1-Q3, Burst SMS
Businesses always look for the best bang for their buck. That’s how SMS has stood the test of time. It’s the most effective mobile marketing tool from a performance, flexibility, convenience, and cost perspective.
Most businesses will look at cost as the defining factor—but time is an equally if not more valuable resource. In a recent Burst SMS survey, many respondents (52.6%) reported that it typically takes them under 10 minutes to set up an SMS campaign.
But when it came to Facebook Ads or Google Adwords, half of them said that it takes them over 30 minutes to set up a campaign (47.4% and 55.5% respectively). All it takes is a 160 characters (or less) to create an SMS marketing campaign.
