diff --git a/app/clients/sms/aws_sns.py b/app/clients/sms/aws_sns.py
index d052e63a54..2ada444b67 100644
--- a/app/clients/sms/aws_sns.py
+++ b/app/clients/sms/aws_sns.py
@@ -66,9 +66,12 @@ def send_sms(self, to, content, reference, multi=True, sender=None, template_id=
             try:
                 start_time = monotonic()
                 response = client.publish(PhoneNumber=to, Message=content, MessageAttributes=attributes)
+            except botocore.exceptions.ClientError as e:
+                self.statsd_client.incr("clients.sns.error")
+                raise str(e)
             except Exception as e:
                 self.statsd_client.incr("clients.sns.error")
-                raise Exception(e)
+                raise str(e)
             finally:
                 elapsed_time = monotonic() - start_time
                 self.current_app.logger.info("AWS SNS request finished in {}".format(elapsed_time))