One of the best bits about SMS? It’s a super-cheap way to get messages out to the masses. And, to make sure it stays as cost-effective as possible for your business, you need to keep your messages short and sweet – that is, under 160 characters.

Yet not all ‘characters’ are counted in the same way. If you add emojis or more unusual characters (hello, Unicode ) then the character limits change. 

Here, we’ll take a look at the different rules so you can send bulk SMS knowing that you’re not using up extra credits.

What counts as a character?

In the SMS world, there are two types of text message: standard and Unicode. 

• A standard message only uses Latin letters of the alphabet, numbers 0 to 9, and characters like !, $, & and more (these characters are called the Global System for Mobile (GSM) character set). A standard message worth 1 SMS credit can be up to 160 characters.
• A Unicode message, on the other hand, includes at least one non-GSM character. This could be something like a mathematical symbol, brackets, or letters from the alphabets of other countries. A Unicode message worth 1 SMS credit can be up to 70 characters.

If you use emojis, your message is Unicode. And remember, one emoji counts for at least two characters (depending on its file size).

One more thing. Spaces count as characters, too.

Type of SMS	Standard SMS	Unicode SMS
Includes	GSM characters (Latin letters A-Z, numbers 0-9), and common symbols	Non-GSM characters, mathematical symbols, emojis, and more
SMS example	Hi Sam, friendly reminder that you’re booked in for a deep tissue massage tomorrow at 2pm. Reply Y to confirm.	Hi Sam, reminder of your massage appt tomorrow at 2pm Reply Y to confirm
Credits example	110 chars = 1 SMS credit	75 chars = 2 SMS (Emoji is 2 Unicode characters)
1 SMS credit	1 – 160 characters	1 – 70 characters
2 SMS credits	161 – 306 characters	71 – 134 characters
3 SMS credit3	307 – 459 characters	153 – 201 characters
4 SMS credits	460 – 612 characters	202 – 268 characters

In the table above, you might notice that the numbers don’t quite add up. As soon as your message goes beyond 1 SMS credit, it becomes segmented into multiple parts – and you lose a few characters to invisible headers and footers.

Keeping your messages short and sweet

Apart from the fact that shorter messages cost less to send, your customers will appreciate your brevity, too. Everyone’s busy – the quicker you can get your message across, the better. 

Here are some tips for trimming excess characters from your texts:

• Use templates – take the time to set up templates your whole team can use. This way, no-one’s tempted to throw in extra words here and there. 
• Use short trackable links – if you want to include a link in your text, don’t include the whole URL. Our portal can automatically shorten your links to 22 characters. Instead, use a short trackable link.  

Be wary of word processors – some might sneak hidden Unicode characters into your message. Use a plain text editor or write your texts straight into SMS Broadcast instead.

Want more texting inspo?

Check out our handy text messaging examples for ideas on how to write a short-but-helpful SMS.