How Attractions Can Boost SMS Opt-In Rates at Checkout: What We've Learned From High Performers

Open rates near 98%. Engagement that email marketers can only dream about. A direct line to your guest's pocket—literally.

But there’s one catch: Guests can’t receive messages if you never convince them to opt-in.

At RocketRez, we've been analyzing SMS opt-in rates across our Relay customers, and the results have been impressive. As our Product team shared internally late last year, Relay customers average around 72% SMS opt-in across the platform.

Considering that only 20% of consumers explicitly state they are likely to opt-in to texts from travel brands, achieving rates over 70% is exceptional.

Yet some attractions are far exceeding that benchmark… and some are falling behind.

Which raises the question: What separates a 75%+ opt-in checkout experience from one sitting closer to 50–60%?

Here’s exactly what we’ve observed across hundreds of thousands of bookings.

The Tale of Two Checkouts

When comparing checkout flows across different attractions, we often see a striking pattern. Two attractions with:

• The same ticketing flow
• The same SMS capabilities
• The same guest value proposition
• The same checkout requirements

…can end up with wildly different SMS opt-in rates.

And it almost always comes down to three things: UI, UX, and a little bit of copywriting magic.

Here are some of the ways high-performing attractions are optimizing online booking checkout flows to drive conversions.

1. It Starts With the UI: Friction Is the Enemy

Here’s the simplest truth in any digital checkout: Every extra field decreases conversion.

High-performing checkouts tend to be:

• Clean
• Minimal
• Mobile-optimized
• Short

And critically, the SMS opt-in sits right above the payment button— prime real estate.

Lower-performing checkouts often show:

• More fields
• More scrolling
• Dense legal text
• The SMS checkbox pushed far down the page

When guests are scanning a mobile checkout, anything optional— especially anything buried— gets ignored.

2. The Copy Matters More Than You Think

These two sentences do not convert evenly:

"Send me news, updates, and special offers via text message."

vs.

"Get visit updates and special offers by text."

One feels long and generic.

The other is short, clear, and instantly useful.

In the attractions industry, relevance drives consent. Guests happily opt-in to anything that helps their visit feel easier, smoother, or more delightful.

Shorter, benefit-first language wins every time.

3. Placement = Power

This one is almost unfair, but it’s true: the closer the SMS opt-in is to the final “Pay” button, the higher the opt-in rate.

It’s a well-documented UX principle called the proximity effect*.* People pay attention to items grouped with the action they’re about to take.

If your SMS checkbox sits right above your call to action, guests see it. If it hides under five lines of address fields, many won’t.

4. It's Not Just Us — Industry Best Practices Agree

Both Podium and Twilio publish SMS best-practice guidelines that align with what we’re seeing across attractions:

Podium recommends:

• Keep messaging short and helpful
• Use natural guest touchpoints (checkout is one of the best)
• Make opting-in easy and obvious

Twilio recommends:

• Require explicit, unambiguous consent
• Require STOP/HELP instructions
• Support short, mobile-friendly wording
• Encourage value-first messaging

And while IAAPA hasn’t published SMS-specific case studies, their digital engagement and guest experience education consistently reinforce the importance of simple, clear, mobile-first communication.

In other words: The highest performing attractions are already doing exactly what the experts recommend.

Introducing: The Ideal SMS Opt-In Design for Attractions

Based on everything we’ve observed, tested, and pulled from industry standards, here is the SMS opt-in block RocketRez recommends as a universal best practice:

Checkbox text (guest-friendly):

“Send me visit updates by text.”

Compliance text (small, underneath):

“By opting in, you agree to receive SMS messages from <Attraction Name>, including visit updates and special offers. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help or STOP to cancel.”

Why this works:

• Super clear
• Super short
• Mobile-optimized
• Meets TCPA compliance
• Provides value up front
• Designed for much higher conversion

Why This Matters for Attractions in 2026

SMS is no longer “nice to have.” It’s how guests expect to communicate with operators.

High-value use cases include:

• Visit reminders
• Weather or operational updates
• Ticket confirmations
• Upsell and cross-sell offers
• Membership communications
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Real-time guest assistance

With many attractions achieving opt-in rates above 70%— and some into the 75–80% range— the opportunity is massive. In fact, Klaviyo’s 2025 report shows that the top 10% of SMS marketers—those who prioritize relevance and segmentation—drive nearly 7x more revenue per recipient than the average.

And it all starts with one small checkbox.

TL;DR

Most attractions are sitting on a goldmine with SMS — but the opt-in rate at checkout makes or breaks the whole strategy. Across Relay customers, the average opt-in rate is already a strong 72%, but top performers push past 75–80% simply by improving their checkout UI, mobile layout, and SMS wording.

The best-performing SMS opt-ins are short, simple, value-driven, mobile-friendly, and placed right above the payment button. A tiny checkbox with the right copy can unlock massive gains in guest communication, upsells, and operational efficiency.

If your SMS opt-in rate feels low, don't blame your guests — start by optimizing your layout, copy, and mobile flow, following the same best practices used by high-performing attractions. A simple UI adjustment can increase your SMS audience by tens of thousands, directly impacting revenue, retention, and the guest experience.