I sent 1.3k SMS Marketing Podcast Invites

45$ for 45 positive responses in minutes

In my forever experimenter’s mindset, I sent an SMS podcast invitation to 1.3k contacts via Klaviyo and got 40ish positive replies in minutes, of which probably half will convert into podcasts and 5-10% may convert into actual clients for me. A couple of observations:

1- The ROI seems there, but SMS marketing is risky on the legal / ban side of things. It’s quite intrusive (7% opted out) as well and I only do it because the offer is so good: podcasts are great. I evaluate there is a 20% chance of being banned in the next months which is pretty high.

2- The cellphone data came from my Apollo accounts which I already paid for, and I may get a bunch of numbers off ContactOut although I suspect the quality may not be this good. But I’d expect to have about 1.4k contacts every month.

3- I get a similar cost per lead to Apollo, which is 2-5$ per podcast lead when you calculate everything, the cool thing is the speed: I can get immediate leads that way vs. cold email/apollo which tends to trickle down slowly.

What are your thoughts on SMS marketing?