How are credits charged for long and Unicode messages?

You are charged per message part, per recipient. The length and encoding of your text decide the number of parts, and your rate plan decides the price of each.

The calculation #

Parts per recipient × recipients × your rate = what the campaign costs.

So a 200-character English message to 1,000 people is charged as 2 parts × 1,000 = 2,000 chargeable messages. The same text in Hindi would be 3 parts × 1,000 = 3,000.

Units or wallet amount #

Depending on how your account is set up, your balance is held either as credits (units) or as a wallet amount. Your Profile shows which under Membership Information, and the Calculation Units Display feature shows a wallet balance converted into units.

Where to see real figures #

• Before sending: the SMS Length Calculator gives the parts per recipient. Your Rate Plan gives the rate.
• The dashboard estimate of how many messages your balance allows is approximate only, as the page itself notes. Real deductions follow the pricing applied at send time.
• After sending: the Delivery Report shows the amount charged per message, and Campaign Summary totals it per campaign. Credit History shows each deduction against your balance.

Keeping costs predictable #

1. Write templates to land just under 160 characters, or 70 for Unicode.
2. Avoid accidental Unicode from pasted quotes and emoji.
3. Remember that a failed message may still be charged depending on where it failed; the Refund column in your Delivery Summary shows what was credited back.