Reliable clienteling data can be hard to come by. We analyzed over 1,000 retail locations to show how personalized outreach performs.

Clienteling is just another word for marketing, right?

Wrong.

It's not just that the definition of clienteling is different from traditional marketing methods, but moreover, it's the results that show the difference.

We recently highlighted on our LinkedIn (yes, you should follow us there for additional metrics and insights) that Endear clients see 36x higher conversion rates than brands that rely on traditional marketing platforms. That's Endear's own benchmark comparison, and its pages cite the multiple as 30x, 36x and 40x in different places, so read it as a headline figure, not a guaranteed result. What clienteling changes is the format: less one-size-fits-all email that casts a wide net, and more of a personalized and tailored conversation that focuses on 1-on-1 communication.

Here is what our data shows.

Below are our clienteling benchmarks for jewelry brands, a look at SMS clienteling in practice, a comparison of 1:1 texts from store associates with published mass SMS and email benchmarks and steps to measure (and beat) these numbers in your own stores. Let's start with what we measured.

Key takeaways

• Most published SMS benchmarks come from marketing platforms, not from associates' 1:1 messages. Clienteling benchmarks track 1:1 messages from store associates, so compare the two separately.
• In Endear's jewelry benchmark, SMS clienteling converted at 11.94% versus 1.62% for email and earned $27.03 per message.
• Email had the higher average attributed order value. The data doesn't say why, so test both channels on your own customers.
• Track reply rate over clicks. Jewelry associates got replies to 8.41% of texts and 0.42% of emails.
• For a fair comparison, separate 1:1 outreach from campaigns, split results by channel and benchmark against your own sector.

What Are Clienteling Benchmarks?

Clienteling benchmarks are average performance figures for 1:1 messages sent by store associates to their own customers. They typically cover open rate, reply rate, conversion rate, revenue per message and average order value, split by channel (SMS vs. email) and retail sector, so you can see how your outreach compares with your peers.

Why not just use your email platform's benchmarks? Because they measure something different. Mass marketing benchmarks track broadcast sends: one message, thousands of recipients. Clienteling benchmarks track conversations: one associate, one customer, one message written for that person. Comparing the two is a bit like comparing a billboard to a personal shopper. Both have a job, but you wouldn't grade them on the same curve.

Here are the metrics that matter most when you're measuring clienteling:

• Open rate: The share of clienteling emails that get opened (SMS has no reliable equivalent, so the SMS figure isn't reported here).
• Reply rate: The share of messages that get a response. This is the best signal that a conversation, not a broadcast, is happening.
• Conversion rate: The share of messages followed by a purchase that the platform's attribution rules credit to the message.
• Revenue per message: Attributed revenue divided by messages sent. It shows what each send earns, not what an associate's time costs.
• Average order value (AOV): The average value of the attributed orders.

2025 Clienteling Benchmarks for Retail Sectors

The Endear team aggregated data for the 2024 calendar year across more than 1,000 retail locations across retail sectors such as Apparel, Beauty & Wellness, Home/Furnishing, Jewelry and Accessories & Shoes. This gave us incredible insight into not only how our clients are using Endear to connect with their customers and build loyalty through clienteling, but a year-end benchmark for each industry that can help all retailers measure their own marketing efforts against what clienteling is doing for their peers. As with any data drawn from one platform's customers, these figures may not be statistically representative of entire industry averages.

Jewelry Clienteling Benchmarks: SMS vs. Email

For example, take a look at our clienteling benchmark for Jewelry brands:

SMS clienteling converts at more than 7X the rate of email clienteling (11.94% vs. 1.62%). Jewelry customers also replied to associate texts 20 times as often as they replied to associate emails, and each text brought in more than four times the revenue.

From our vantage point, we see how effective text messages are in creating an intimate and personalized experience between the customer and the sales associate; much like the white-glove experience that they would get from walking into a brick & mortar jewelry store.

In our experience, jewelry brands often craft messages around milestone moments like anniversaries and graduations, information that's easy to access within the clienteling CRM they're messaging from.

One number worth a second look: email's average attributed order value ($397.56) is higher than SMS's ($226.29). The data doesn't say why. Different customers, products or reasons for reaching out could explain the gap, so test both channels on your own customers before you give each one a role.

Knowing this, if you're a jewelry brand, which do you think you'll lean into more?

What Is SMS Clienteling?

SMS clienteling is 1:1 text messaging between a store associate and a customer they know, using that customer's purchase history, preferences and notes to send something personal. It could be a restock alert for their size, a reminder about an anniversary or a styled look. It isn't a broadcast blast: every text comes from a real person and invites a reply.

Here's how campaign-led SMS marketing differs from associate-led SMS clienteling:

That difference in intent may partly explain the gap in the numbers. A campaign text usually asks for a click. A clienteling text is written to start a conversation, and conversations are where store associates do their best work.

One practical note: SMS clienteling works best when associates text from a platform the brand owns, not their personal phones. That keeps the conversation history (and the customer relationship) with your brand when an associate moves on, and it lets you track results. For the day-to-day how-to, see our guide to SMS best practices for retail.

How Do Clienteling Benchmarks Compare With Mass SMS and Email Benchmarks?

If you're searching for SMS benchmarks by industry, most of what you'll find comes from marketing platforms measuring broadcast campaigns and automated flows. Those are useful numbers, and they show how differently 1:1 outreach performs.

A quick word of caution before you screenshot this table for your next board meeting: these reports cover different years, different brands and different attribution rules, so treat the comparison as directional rather than exact. The multiples differ for the same reason: the 36x figure in Endear's benchmarks is Endear's own comparison against traditional marketing platforms, while this table sets jewelry SMS clienteling against Omnisend's 2025 campaign average. Two more limits apply. Jewelry is one of Endear's strongest sectors (Endear's all-industry SMS conversion rate is 5.41%, per its benchmarks page), and associates choose who to text, so the results reflect that selection. Within SMS, automated messages convert better than broadcast campaigns (0.78% vs. 0.12% in Omnisend's data), which fits the idea that timing matters, while Omnisend's email automations convert at 1.49%, so SMS isn't ahead in every comparison. Clienteling SMS adds a personal sender to that timing.

What is a good SMS click rate?

For mass SMS campaigns, the average click-through rate is 12.39%, rising to 20.34% for automated messages, according to Omnisend's 2025 data. For clienteling, click rate matters less than reply rate, because many of the best associate texts don't contain a link at all ("Your ring is resized. Want to pop in Saturday?").

What is a good SMS response rate for clienteling?

In our jewelry benchmark, 8.41% of associate texts got a reply, compared with 0.42% of associate emails. If your SMS reply rate is well below your peers, look at the message before you look at the channel: generic copy, no question to answer or texts that read like promos all suppress replies.

How to Measure Your Store's Clienteling Against These Benchmarks

Benchmarks are only useful if you're measuring the same things the same way. Here's a simple way to set up a fair comparison:

1. Separate 1:1 outreach from campaigns. Don't mix associate messages with marketing blasts in the same report, or you won't be able to tell which one is driving results.
2. Split results by channel. Track SMS, email and WhatsApp separately. As the jewelry data shows, the same associate can get very different results on different channels.
3. Track reply rate, not just clicks. Replies tell you whether associates are having conversations. Conversion and revenue follow.
4. Set consistent attribution rules. Decide what counts (sends, opens, clicks or replies) and how long after a message a purchase counts, online or in-store, and keep both the same month to month.
5. Calculate revenue per message by associate and by store. This shows you who your top performers are and what the rest of the team can learn from them.
6. Compare against your sector, not the whole market. Jewelry, apparel and home goods customers buy on different cycles. Benchmark against brands that sell what you sell.

Pulling this together often means stitching POS exports into a spreadsheet every month. Endear's Insights and analytics report on campaign effectiveness and associate performance, so you can see these metrics by store and by associate without the spreadsheet gymnastics.

How to Beat the Clienteling Benchmarks

Want your numbers at the top of the range rather than the middle? The brands that outperform tend to do a handful of things well:

• Build outreach around milestone moments. Anniversaries, birthdays, graduations and past purchase dates give associates a genuine reason to reach out. You need that information captured in the clienteling CRM to use it.
• Capture what customers tell you in-store. The best clienteling texts reference details from the last visit, like sizing, a gift someone was shopping for or a style they loved. AI Notetaker lets associates capture those details by voice, typing or photo, and syncs them to the customer profile.
• Tell associates who to contact each day. Most associates don't lack willingness. They lack a short list. The AI Opportunity Engine surfaces a ranked daily queue of outreach opportunities and drafts brand-aligned messages that associates review, edit and approve before sending. According to Endear's AI page, one specialty retailer using it saw a 35x return: $35 in attributed revenue for every $1 spent on actioned opportunities.
• Invite customers back in. Link texts to Endear appointments so a reply can become a booked, one-on-one visit.
• Meet customers on their channel. SMS and email are the core, but WhatsApp messaging is often the natural choice for international customers.

Curious what your own clienteling numbers could look like? Request a demo of Endear and get a walkthrough built around your store count and sector.

Download the Full 2025 Clienteling Benchmark Report

This is just a teaser. For the full benchmark report, download Endear's 2025 Clienteling Benchmarks, including breakdowns for Apparel, Beauty & Wellness, Home/Furnishings, Jewelry and Accessories & Shoes.

Looking for our latest data? Read The State of Clienteling 2026, which covers messages from July 2025 to June 2026 and uses median-brand figures for its industry breakdowns, so its jewelry figures aren't directly comparable with the 2024 averages on this page.

Clienteling Benchmarks FAQ

Is clienteling a word?

Yes. Clienteling is a retail term for using customer data to build ongoing 1:1 relationships between store associates and shoppers. It comes from "clientele," a business's regular customers. You might also hear it called personal shopping, assisted selling or relationship selling. Our clienteling definition guide covers it in depth.

What's the difference between clienteling and CRM?

A CRM stores customer data. Clienteling is what associates do with it: using purchase history, preferences and notes to reach out personally. A retail clienteling platform combines both, putting the retail CRM in associates' hands along with the tools to message customers.

Is SMS becoming obsolete for retail?

Not for clienteling. A text is still the most direct way for an associate to reach a customer they know. SMS campaigns earned a 12.39% click-through rate in 2025, compared with 0.74% for email campaigns (Omnisend). For 1:1 outreach, the right move is to offer SMS alongside WhatsApp and email, not to drop it.

Which performs better for clienteling, SMS or email?

In our jewelry benchmark, SMS clienteling converted at 11.94% compared with 1.62% for email and earned $27.03 per message versus $6.45. Email had the higher average attributed order value, so test both channels on your own customers.

Ready to Beat the Benchmarks?

Benchmarks tell you where your peers are. Clienteling is how you get ahead of them. When associates know who to contact, have the context to make it personal and text from a platform your brand owns, those numbers become a target you can track in your weekly sales report.

If you're ready to beat these benchmarks by incorporating clienteling into your marketing and sales process, request a demo of Endear and contact us today.