SMS - GSM vs. Non-GSM Characters
GymSales supports sending both GSM and Non-GSM characters via SMS. The following is a breakdown of how these options affect both your GymSales billing and your prospect's experience when receiving these messages.
GSM characters In GymSales
Typically it is best to send SMS within GymSales using standard GSM characters for a number of reasons. The benefits of using GSM characters are:
- The character limit for a single SMS segment is 160 characters, however, when you send an SMS message over 160 characters the message will be split. Large messages are segmented into 153 character segments and sent individually then rebuilt by the recipient's device. For example, a 161 character message will be sent as two messages, one with 153 characters and the second with 8 characters.
- The SMS credits are counted by 160 character segments.
160 characters = 1 SMS Credit
320 characters = 2 SMS Credits
480 characters = 3 SMS Credits
and so on.......
- Below is an example of how concentration is used to group the 153 character segments to appear as one message.
You can find a list of GSM characters by following this link!
Non-GSM Characters in GymSales
Non-GSM characters are supported in SMS but act differently within GymSales and in general with most mobile carriers.
The characteristics of using GSM characters are:
- The character limit for a single SMS segment is 70 characters. Not all phones or mobile networks support Non-GSM characters and few support concatenation of the 70 character segments which show up as multiple message bubbles.
- The SMS credits are counted by 70 character segments.
70 characters = 1 SMS Credit
140 characters = 2 SMS Credits
210 characters = 3 SMS Credits
and so on.......
- Non-GSM characters are not always easily detected, so if you are not meaning to send Non-GSM characters you will need to use a tool to find it.
- As mentioned, some networks can use concatenation on Non-GSM messages but not all, below is an example of how most of the messages will likely appear on the prospect's end.
You can find a list of non-GSM characters by following this link!
How can I tell if I am using Non-GSM characters?
Good News!! GymSales has a built-in detector to advise when Non-GSM character(s) are present in your created message. The following warning will populate under your message when this occurs.
Warning: This Text contains non-GSM characters. You will be charged more for this message. (70 characters for 1 credit) Consider removing Emojis or non Alphanumeric characters.
Example:
In the example above, the 'ă' in '7-day' is the Non-GSM character but is not always so easily spotted. Below is a link to an online detector we recommend, be sure you paste your message in the 'Insert your Text Message' field before checking.