Best Practices für Optimierung der SMS-Kosten sms-cost-optimization

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• TL;DR: This page explains best practices to reduce SMS costs in Journey Optimizer by keeping messages short, avoiding special characters and UCS-2 encoding, and checking character counts before sending.

Intents:

• Keep SMS messages short to be billed as a single SMS part
• Avoid special characters that increase message length in GSM encoding
• Prevent UCS-2 encoding that reduces the per-SMS character allowance
• Check the character count before sending using Simulate content
• Interpret the difference between Journey Optimizer reporting and provider reporting

Glossary:

• GSM 7-bit encoding: Encoding supported by most SMS providers where a single SMS can contain up to 160 characters (product-specific)
• UCS-2 encoding: Encoding applied by the provider when a message includes non-GSM characters; it supports only 70 characters per SMS (product-specific)
• Concatenation: The automatic splitting of a message that exceeds 160 characters into multiple SMS parts (product-specific)
• Simulate content: The feature whose simulation methods let you verify character counts before sending (product-specific)
• x/1500 count: The visual indicator of the technical payload limit, not the per-message limit (product-specific)
• Journey Optimizer reporting: Reporting that counts the full message as one send, regardless of SMS parts (product-specific)
• Provider reporting: Reporting that reflects the actual number of SMS message parts used for delivery (product-specific)

Guardrails:

• Journey Optimizer allows up to 1,500 characters in an SMS message body; a warning appears when you exceed this limit, and messages beyond this threshold trigger an error (hard limit — enforced with an error).
• SMS messages are typically billed by providers based on a 160-character limit per message; GSM 7-bit encoding allows up to 160 characters per single SMS, and messages exceeding this length are automatically split into multiple SMS parts.
• Concatenation part counts: less than 160 characters is 1 SMS part; 161-306 characters is 2 SMS parts; 307-459 characters is 3 SMS parts.
• Special characters such as | ^ € { } [ ] ~ \ are counted as two characters in GSM encoding, so they reach the 160-character limit more quickly.
• Non-GSM characters cause UCS-2 encoding, which supports only 70 characters per SMS.
• The x/1500 count is the technical payload limit, not the per-message limit (for example, the 160-character GSM 7-bit limit), and it does not include characters from dynamic personalization or certain special characters.
• Adobe supports UTF-8 encoding in the editor, which differs from GSM 7-bit encoding.

Terminology:

• Canonical name: SMS cost optimization — Acronym: n/a — variants: SMS cost best practices
• Do not confuse: “Journey Optimizer reporting” (counts the full message as one send regardless of SMS parts) ≠ “Provider reporting” (reflects the actual number of SMS parts used for delivery)
• Do not confuse: “x/1500 count” (technical payload limit) ≠ “160-character limit” (GSM 7-bit per-message billing limit)
• Do not confuse: “GSM 7-bit encoding” (160 characters per SMS) ≠ “UCS-2 encoding” (70 characters per SMS) ≠ “UTF-8 encoding” (supported in the editor)

FAQ:

• Q: What is the maximum SMS length in Journey Optimizer? — Up to 1,500 characters in the SMS message body; a warning appears when you exceed this limit, and messages beyond this threshold trigger an error.
• Q: Why is my single message billed as multiple SMS? — GSM 7-bit encoding allows up to 160 characters per SMS part, so longer messages are automatically split (concatenation) into multiple parts, and a 1,600-character message could consume 10 SMS credits even though it appears as a single message.
• Q: How do special characters affect message length? — Characters such as | ^ € { } [ ] ~ \ are counted as two characters in GSM encoding, so they reach the 160-character limit more quickly.
• Q: What triggers UCS-2 encoding and why does it matter? — Non-GSM characters such as Chinese or Arabic text, trademark symbols, or hard returns from rich-formatting tools trigger UCS-2 encoding, which supports only 70 characters per SMS and can increase billing.
• Q: How can I check the character count before sending? — Use plain-text applications or either simulation method in Simulate content; note that the displayed count does not include characters from dynamic personalization or certain special characters.
• Q: Why do the Journey Optimizer and provider reports differ? — Journey Optimizer reporting counts the full message as one send regardless of SMS parts, while provider reporting reflects the actual number of SMS parts used for delivery.