Standard SMS
One standard SMS is 160 characters in length.
You can send longer messages up to 612 characters, however, your messages will be joined together to appear as one long message using 'concatenation'.
Each SMS will be charged separately.
Example: If you have a message that is 2 SMS in length and you send it to 500 contacts, then you will be charged for 1000 messages.
Due to the use of characters to join the messages after the first message, all parts are reduced to 153 characters. This is the break down:
| Number of SMS | Characters | Cost for PRO Plan (in Australia)* |
| 1 | 160 or less | 1 Plan SMS Message or $0.10 cents |
| 2 | 306 (153 x 2) | 2 Plan SMS Message or $0.20 cents |
| 3 | 459 (153 x 3) | 3 Plan SMS Message or $0.30 cents |
| 4 (Maximum) | 612 (153 x 4) | 4 Plan SMS Message or $0.40 cents |
*The Cost column in the above table is based off of our PRO subscription plan. The "Number of SMS" and "Characters" is the same across all subscription plans, but the cost will vary depending on what plan you're on.
Escape Characters
Escape characters are special characters within the GSM character set that consume slightly more data.
These characters will count for 2 in an SMS:
|
Character type |
Characters |
|
Standard |
1 |
|
Space |
1 |
|
Line break |
1 |
|
Escape Character | ^ € { } [ ] ~ |
2 |
Unicode Characters
Characters such as emojis and non-latin alphabets like Chinese and Arabic use what is known as Unicode. Each character uses a larger amount of information, thus allowing a maxumum of 70 characters per text. Depending on how many Unicode characters are used, this will make a noticeable affect on the final character count. So you pay for each 70 instead of each 160 as with standard text.
Once a message has even a single Unicode character, the whole character count is reduced:
|
Unicode SMS |
Characters |
|
1 |
70 |
|
2 |
134 (67x2) |
|
3 |
201 (67x3) |
|
4 (Max) |
268 (67x4) |
Tip: If you preview a message and the estimation is higher than expected, this usually means there is a Unicode character somewhere in the message. For example, if you've copy & pasted text from your iPhone, there may be a a character used that is deemed as Unicode. The best action is to type your message directly into Simple Salon, instead of copy & pasting it from elsewhere. If you ever unsure if your message contains a Unicode character, please reach out to us via the Submit a Request option in your Help & Support page.
Notes:
If you choose to send an SMS which is greater than 4 messages, the SMS will be sent to Simple Salon Messaging, and only the first 4 SMS's will be sent to each client. You also won't be charged for these extra SMS's if you go over the 4 SMS limit—however this means clients will receive only part of the message.
It's always a good idea to send yourself a preview of any template you create or any message you decide to send.
If you do not wish to go over the 160 character limit, you can untick the Allow Multiple SMS Messages setting in your Marketing Settings, via Settings.