How does Birdeye calculate character length for mass texts?
Birdeye creates text message segments to help businesses split information into multiple chunks and send out communication messages more effectively. Each message segment holds information within a specific character length, typically 160 or 70 characters, depending on the encoding type.
HOW DOES BIRDEYE CHARGE FOR TEXT MESSAGES?
Most phone carriers internationally measure text messages in character batches and use the standard of GSM-7 encoding which can have up to 160 characters per segment or character batch.
NOTE:
If you use Unicode characters (emojis and special characters), the message encoding type will change from GSM-7 to Unicode and the message segment length will reduce to 70 characters.
Here is how you are charged for text messages:
| Message Length (GSM-7) |
Message Length (UCS-2) |
Segments (in numbers) |
Charged as |
| 0 – 160 characters | 0 – 70 characters | 1 | Single message |
| 161 – 306 characters | 71 – 137 characters | 2 | Two messages |
| 307 – 459 characters | 138 – 204 characters | 3 | Three messages |
| 460 – 612 characters | 205 – 271 characters | 4 | Four messages |
| 613 – 765 characters | 272 – 338 characters | 5 | Five messages |
| 766 – 918 characters | 339 – 405 characters | 6 | Six messages |
| 919 – 1,071 characters | 406 – 472 characters | 7 | Seven messages |
| 1,072 – 1,224 characters | 473 – 539 characters | 8 | Eight messages |
| 1,225 – 1,377 characters | 540 – 606 characters | 9 | Nine messages |
| 1,378 – 1,530 characters | 607 – 673 characters | 10 | Ten messages |
Here is how you are charged for images:
| Image | Text | Segments (in numbers) |
Charged as |
| 1 Image | No Text | 3 | Three message |
| 1 Image | <=160 Character | 3 | Three messages |
| 1 Image | >160 <=306 Character | 4 | Four messages |
FAQ’s
HOW DOES BIRDEYE CALCULATE TEXT MESSAGE LENGTH?
Birdeye looks into each character in a message to determine its encoding type and overall message length, and calculates the total number of segments in the message.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MESSAGE ENCODING?
There are two types of message encoding:
- GSM-7 Encoding - It is the most commonly used type of encoding and supports 128+ commonly used letters and symbols. The maximum character limit for GSM-7 Encoding is 1530 characters. For more information on GSM encoding, read the article.
- UCS-2 Encoding - It uses 16 bits to encode each character. The maximum character limit for UCS-2 Encoding is 673 characters. For more information on UCS-2 or Unicode, read the article.
HOW ARE TEXT MESSAGES ENCODED?
Birdeye automatically uses the most compact encoding possible for every text message. If you only use GSM-7 characters, your message will be encoded as per the GSM-7 standards. In the case of non GSM-7 characters, your entire message will be encoded at UCS-2, and each message segment will be limited to 70 characters each.
HOW IS THE BILLING DONE?
The message rates in Birdeye are based on three criteria detailed below:
- The length of your message in segments
- The destination country of the recipient
- Your messaging plan