Scaling an SMS campaign inside HighLevel from a modest 100 messages per day to a staggering 10,000 per day in just two weeks is possible, but it is not as simple as flipping a switch. It requires careful planning, number warm-up, opt-out and error rate management, and smart use of HighLevel’s tools to keep carriers happy.
In this guide, we will walk through exactly how we achieved this with one of our clients. You will see the real process we used, the mistakes we made, and the fixes that allowed us to scale safely and profitably without suffering temporary restrictions.
If you are running SMS campaigns for clients, especially those with large databases, this process is vital. Skipping these steps could cost you days of downtime, thousands in lost sales, and damaged client relationships.
The Offer That Makes This Work
Before diving into the scaling process, it helps to understand the offer we take to clients. We approach businesses and ask:
“Do you have any dead old leads we can turn into sales? We do this on a performance basis, which means if you do not make money, we do not get paid.”
This “Offer of the Century” is incredibly attractive. It gets us in the door quickly, and once we prove results, we can upsell clients on other services like speed-to-lead automations, after-hours response bots, and AI-driven support systems.
Large CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot cannot offer this level of bespoke service at scale. That is why small, agile marketers are now in a prime position to win.
Why Warming Up a Number Matters
Scaling SMS volume is much like warming up an email domain. Carriers watch for sudden spikes in traffic from new numbers, and if you jump from 100 messages to 50,000 in a day, your account will almost certainly be flagged.
HighLevel starts new numbers at a limit of 100 SMS per day. This is far too low for most high-volume campaigns, so we recommend requesting an increase to at least 3,000–5,000 per day. This takes you out of “ramp mode” and allows you to customize opt-out messages and other compliance settings.
Scale HighLevel SMS: Our warm-up approach looks like this:
Day 1: 100 SMS, drip-fed slowly (1 every 2 minutes)
Day 2: 200 SMS
Day 3: 400 SMS (hold here for a couple of days)
Day 6: 800 SMS
Day 8: 1,600 SMS
Day 10: 3,000–5,000 SMS
Day 14+: Add 1,000 per day until you reach 10,000
If you have a smaller list, take it slower. If you have hundreds of thousands of leads, you can follow the more aggressive schedule above, but only if error rates remain low.
Monitoring and Protecting Error Rates
HighLevel provides messaging analytics that allow you to track error rates daily. You must stay under a 6% error rate to avoid warnings or temporary suspensions.
A few best practices to help with this:
Validate numbers before sending using HighLevel’s built-in validation (about $0.005 per validation)
Clean your lists with tools like Data Soap or Locate before importing
Create workflows to automatically DND numbers that return errors like “number not valid” or “SMS incapable”
Keeping Opt-Out Rates Low
HighLevel flags accounts with opt-out rates over 2%. If you hit 3–5%, you risk a temporary ban for the day.
We reduce opt-outs by replacing the standard “STOP to opt out” with a conversational message:
“PS I hope you’re okay with me texting you. If not, just reply back ‘Delete’.”
When “Delete” is received, our workflow DNDs the contact and removes them from all active sequences. This keeps us compliant in practice while preventing HighLevel from adding to our official opt-out percentage.
Using Multiple Numbers and Campaigns
Scale HighLevel SMS: One of the most powerful strategies we implemented was rotating numbers and A2P campaigns.
If you get hit with a 30007 error (carrier filtering), simply changing your messaging often won’t remove the filter. The carrier has already flagged your number.
To avoid downtime:
Buy multiple numbers and set them up with separate A2P campaigns in the HighLevel Trust Center.
Rotate numbers when one gets filtered, then work on clearing the filter in the background.
Ramp the new number from a low volume (e.g., 200 per day) to avoid repeating the filter.
This strategy meant we could keep sending for our client without losing entire days to restrictions.
Creating a Backup Sub-Account
Sometimes an entire sub-account can get a “bad reputation” with carriers. When that happens, even new numbers struggle.
Our solution:
Create a second HighLevel sub-account for the same client.
Warm up the number on this account slowly.
If the first account gets restricted, push leads via API or webhook to the second account instantly.
This redundancy kept our campaigns running even when one account went down.
To Bump or Not to Bump
“Bump” messages (follow-ups sent shortly after the first) can increase engagement, but they also double your send volume and can trigger higher error and opt-out rates.
In our case, sending 5 bumps within 3 hours led to massive error spikes and more opt-outs. We stopped bumping for this client and saw better deliverability.
If you want to use bumps, test them carefully and monitor your ROI. In some offers, they are worth it. In others, they can hurt performance.
Scale HighLevel SMS: Key Takeaways
From scaling multiple accounts to 10,000 SMS a day, here are the biggest lessons we learned:
Warm up your number properly — do not skip this step.
Monitor error rates daily and stay under 6%.
Lower opt-outs with conversational unsubscribe messages.
Rotate numbers and A2P campaigns to avoid being stuck in carrier filters.
Have a backup sub-account warmed and ready to send.
Question the need for bumps — they are not always beneficial.
Following these steps allows you to scale safely and keep revenue flowing for high-volume clients.
Want to Learn the Full System?
If you want to go deeper into how we land clients with massive lead databases, get paid on a performance basis, and integrate AI into the entire follow-up process, check out The Instant AI Agency.
It is the playbook for building a $100k+ per month agency while keeping up to $50k+ for yourself.
With the right warm-up, compliance, and redundancy strategies, you can scale any HighLevel SMS campaign to 10,000 messages a day — and keep it there.
