Most people look at one number after a campaign: how many were sent. On its own that number is nearly meaningless. Reports tell a far more complete story once you know how to read them.
The statuses and what they actually mean
- Sent: the message left Mersal and reached the gateway. No guarantee it reached a phone.
- Delivered: the gateway confirmed it arrived on the recipient's device. This is the status that matters.
- Pending: still queued or awaiting confirmation. If it stays pending for hours, something is wrong with the gateway.
- Failed: rejected — and the reason is the most valuable information in the report.
Delivered versus read
WhatsApp adds a third status people routinely ignore: read. The gap between delivered and read says something entirely different from either number alone:
- High delivery, low read: the message arrived but the first line isn't compelling. A content or timing problem.
- Low delivery: a technical problem — a stale list or a faulty gateway.
- High read, low reply: it was read and ignored. The problem is the offer, not the wording.
That diagnosis saves a lot of time: without it you'll keep rewriting copy when your actual problem is the list.
Why messages fail
- Wrong or non-existent number: the most common cause, fixed by cleaning the list at import.
- The number has no WhatsApp: specific to WhatsApp campaigns — route that segment to SMS instead.
- Out of credit: check the credit log for each channel separately.
- Rate limit exceeded: the gateway rejected you for sending faster than allowed.
- Rejected content: some SMS providers block particular words or links.
The numbers actually worth watching
- Delivery rate: delivered ÷ total sent. Below 90% means a list or gateway problem.
- Failure breakdown by reason: not the total — the distribution is what tells you what to fix.
- Response rate: replies and clicks. This measures the message itself.
- Cost per result: credit consumed ÷ orders produced. The figure a business owner cares about.
Benchmarks to measure against
To know whether your number is good, these are realistic ranges for a clean, consenting list:
- WhatsApp: delivery 95%+, read 70–90%, reply 5–15%.
- SMS: delivery 90–98%, click 3–8%.
- Email: delivery 95%+, open 15–30%, click 2–5%, bounce under 2%.
If you're well below these, the problem is technical rather than creative — start with the list and the gateway before rewriting the message.
Quick diagnosis when delivery drops
- Check the top failure reason in the report — that points you immediately.
- If "number not found" leads: it's the list. Clean it and archive the failures.
- If "rate limit exceeded": lower your send rate or spread across more numbers.
- If failures are scattered with no pattern: run a test send from the dashboard — if that fails too, it's the gateway.
- If messages are stuck pending: check the device's connection or the provider's status.
Email has its own metrics
Email adds bounces, suppression lists, and open and click rates. A high bounce rate signals an old list, and it must be cleaned immediately before it damages your domain reputation.
Distinguish hard bounces (the address doesn't exist — delete it now) from soft bounces (mailbox full — retry later).
Make the review a habit
Take 5 minutes after every campaign: delivery rate, top failure reason, response rate. The patterns you notice after five campaigns will save you more money than any content improvement.
Frequently asked questions
Is credit refunded for failed messages? Failures before dispatch are refunded; messages the gateway accepted and then failed depend on the provider.
Why is there no "read" status on SMS? The SMS protocol has no read receipt — delivery confirmation (DLR) is as far as it goes.
Can I export the report? Yes, you can export the full log with per-number status.
