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SMS is plain text, and you pay per segment. A few characters can double the cost of a message without you noticing. This page explains how the count works so you can keep it down.

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How segments work

A message that fits in one segment is sent as one. A longer message is split into parts, and each part holds a little less, because it carries a header that joins the parts back together on the phone.

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The live counter

Under the Message field in the campaign composer, a counter shows the characters and the segments that will be billed, for example “142 characters · 1 segment billed”. It includes the opt-out footer.
  • When the message needs UCS-2, the counter adds “unicode so segments hold 70 characters”.
  • When the message goes past the limit, it turns red and says “over the 4-segment limit, shorten the message”.

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Characters that change the count

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Characters that count as two

These are in the GSM-7 set but each takes the space of two characters:
So 80 euro signs fill a whole 160-character segment.

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Characters that switch the whole message to UCS-2

One character outside the GSM-7 set switches the entire message to UCS-2, and every segment then holds 70 characters instead of 160. Common causes:
  • Emoji. An emoji usually takes the space of two characters, and some take more. Brudcast never splits an emoji across two segments.
  • Curly quotes and long dashes (’ “ ” —), which word processors insert automatically. The straight versions (’ ” -) are in the GSM-7 set.
  • Many accented letters. Some are in the GSM-7 set, such as é and ü. Many aren’t, such as á and ó.
  • Most non-Latin scripts.
Type the message directly into the composer, or paste it from a plain-text editor, and watch the counter for the unicode note.

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The 4-segment limit

A campaign message can be up to 4 segments. That’s 612 characters in GSM-7, or 268 in UCS-2. The composer warns you when the message goes over. The limit also applies after merge tags are filled in for each recipient: if a long value pushes one recipient’s message past 4 segments, that message fails with “too many segments”. Every campaign message ends with “Reply STOP to opt out”, added after a space. If your message already contains that exact phrase, it isn’t added a second time. The footer counts toward your segments. It adds 22 characters, so a 150-character message becomes 172 characters: 2 segments instead of 1. A note under the Message field reminds you of this. See Opt-out keywords for what happens when someone replies.

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Opt-out keywords

When a recipient replies with an opt-out keyword, Brudcast stops sending them SMS from that sender ID. You don’t have to do anything to honour it, and you can’t override it. Brudcast reads only the first word of the reply, and case and punctuation don’t matter. stop, Stop. and STOP please all opt the number out. Please stop doesn’t, because the first word is “Please”, and neither does a keyword buried in a sentence, since searching every sentence for “stop” would opt out people who never asked to.
  • The number shows Opted Out on the contact (opted_out in the API). Campaigns skip it, it isn’t counted in the reach, and it isn’t charged.
  • Brudcast checks again just before each message goes out, so a reply that arrives during a campaign stops the messages still waiting to be sent.
  • An opt-out covers SMS only. The contact’s email and other channels are unaffected.
  • Only the recipient can opt back in. Changing the contact’s SMS status in Brudcast doesn’t lift an opt-out, because it’s an instruction from the recipient, not a setting your organization owns.
  • A reply carries only the recipient’s number and the sender ID it was sent to, so when more than one organization uses the same sender ID, the opt-out applies to all of them. That’s one more reason to register a sender ID based on your own brand.
Brudcast recognizes HELP and INFO but doesn’t answer them, so if recipients may need help, put a way to reach you in the message itself.

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Merge tags

Merge tags such as {{ first_name }} are filled in for each recipient when the message is sent. A tag with no value for a contact is left empty. The cost estimate counts each tag as a fixed width, so a long value can still push a message into another segment. Budget for your longest likely value, not the average. See Placeholders and merge tags.

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Structure that works

  • Lead with your brand. A message that doesn’t say who it’s from reads as spam.
  • One message, one action. Say one thing and give one link.
  • Keep links short. A long link can cost a segment on its own.

What a send costs

How segments become credits.

Send your first SMS

Put your message into a campaign.

Write content per channel

How the SMS block fits with other channels.