Overview

This guide will outline how segments work in GROW and tips that can help you optimise your messaging and avoid unexpected fees. By following these best practices, you'll help optimise both the performance of your campaigns and the cost-efficiency of your messaging. 

SMS Segments

Messages are sent in 140 byte chunks known as message segments. This is the equivalent of 160 characters. Message segments are how the SMS industry as a whole counts messages. 

Check out Twilio's helpful article for more details on how SMS segmentation works: Twilio Segmentation Article

Important Considerations 

Below outlines some important considerations around Grow SMS charges: 

1. SMS Charged per Segment
It’s important to note that Grow SMS messages are charged per segment, and a segment is
counted as 160 characters. If your SMS exceeds 160 characters, you’ll be charged for multiple
segments. For example, if your message is 162 characters long, it will be charged as 2 segments, not 1. So if "one" SMS has 6x segments, this will actually cost you 6x SMS. 

Tip: Keeping your messages concise and within 160 characters can help reduce your overall SMS costs.

2. Create SMS Templates Directly in Grow
When building SMS templates, always create them within the Grow platform itself. Avoid typing and formatting your messages in external applications like Google Docs, Word, or Notes. These external programs often use non-standard fonts and characters that can result in increased charges for each SMS. Specifically, non-standard characters can cause your message to consume 3-4 additional characters per “actual” character.

Tip: To keep your messaging cost-efficient, we strongly recommend composing directly within Grow.

3. Limit the Use of Emojis
Emojis, while a fun way to communicate, can increase the length of your SMS messages.
Depending on how many keystrokes an emoji requires, it can take up multiple characters within a segment. This can directly impact the cost of sending your SMS, as more characters mean higher charges.

Tip: Be mindful of the number of emojis used in your templates.