Control the length of your messages for effective communication
SMS remains a powerful and direct communication tool. It allows you to reach your targets instantly. Despite everything, managing its length remains a real challenge. Understanding how characters affect your messages is essential. At Cocoapp, we make it easy for you. We help you optimize every message.
The standard length of the SMS: the myth of 160 characters
The standard SMS has a limit of 160 characters, including spaces and punctuation. This standard has been around since the 90s. At that time, mobile networks had little capacity. The imposed limit ensured fast delivery and high reliability. Even though the technology has evolved, this standard has remained. This ensures compatibility between all phones. In addition, the shipments remain efficient.
But, be careful, this limit is not fixed. If your message exceeds 160 characters, it is “split” into several parts. These become concatenated messages. For example, a 180-character message will be sent in two segments. They will contain 153 and 27 characters respectively.
The Impact of Emojis and Special Characters
Here, the magic of emojis can sometimes turn into a surprise. The 160-character limit applies to the standard SMS language, known as GSM-7. This language is compatible with Latin letters (A to Z), numbers and some classic symbols (such as “!”, “?”, “€”).
However, if you use non-Latin characters or special symbols, the rule changes. Emojis are the perfect example. A simple “😊” or “🚀” switches your message to another encoding. This is Unicode (UCS-2). The character limit per message drops drastically. It goes from 160 to only 70 characters!
Understanding the maximum length and cost of an SMS
As soon as a message exceeds the limit of 160 characters (or 70 with emojis), it is sent in blocks. Knowing that it is possible to transmit 10 of them at once. In practice, the recipient will usually receive a single long SMS. This goes up to 1600 characters (GSM-7) or 700 with emojis (Unicode).
You will be charged for each block sent, which is considered a separate SMS. What you need to remember:
- A longer SMS will cost several blocks (up to a maximum of 10).
- Emojis or special characters reduce the capacity per segment (70 instead of 160). This increases the cost of a message even more.
Optimizing Your SMS: Strategies and Tips for Better Efficiency
Now that you understand the mechanics, how can you optimize your mailings? The goal is to stay within the limits. This ensures better deliverability and minimal cost:
- Be concise and direct: Avoid unnecessary words. Get straight to the point. For example, say “Your package has arrived.” Instead of “We would like to inform you that your package has arrived”. Every character counts.
- Be careful with copying and pasting: If you copy text from a Word document, hidden characters may be inserted. They can switch your message to Unicode. Use a simple text editor to avoid this.
- Use SMS templates: Create short and effective templates. This ensures consistency in your messages and respects boundaries.
- Shorten links: Adopt URL shorteners (such as bit.ly or features built into your platform). It also makes your messages more aesthetically pleasing.
- Think about transliteration: Some systems may replace special characters with equivalent GSM characters. This allows you to stay within the 160 character limit even with accents.
- Consider MMS or RCS: If your message is really long or you want to include photos, MMS is an option. RCS (Rich Communication Services) is the next generation of SMS. It allows for longer messages (up to 1000 characters) and enriched features. It offers a more modern customer experience.
Conclusion: You can control the length of your text messages
The management of SMS lengths is certainly of a technical nature. But it’s even more than that. It’s a question of communication strategy. With Cocoapp, you have the tools to automatically track the length of your messages. Yes! You can take control of your SMS.
Here are some articles that might interest you:
- SMS Campaign to Optimize the Hiring Process
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- Using an Efficient System for Managing Your SMS Communications.
- The Effective Use of SMS Systems in Healthcare
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- SMS, an efficient, powerful and versatile tool
- Should you use phone companies’ email-to-SMS gateways?
- Here’s how our Cocoapp system can optimize your municipality’s communication
