# SMS An SMS orchestration requires filling in a single field: the **SMS message**. Messages cannot be sent if this field is empty. ## URL shortening and tracking When you enable the URL shortening option in your settings, any URLs included in your SMS messages starting with `https://` , `http://` , `www.` or `tel://` will automatically be converted to a shortened link, such as `https://sms.sh/xxxxxx`. This applies to all URLs, including those passed as profile or event attributes. This feature offers two main benefits: * Shorter, cleaner messages: shortened URLs take up fewer characters, keeping your SMS messages concise and improving their appearance. * Better analytics: shortening URLs allows us to track clicks, which unlocks a new key metric for your analytics: SMS link clicks. Note that Batch will re shorten any links that have already been shortened by an external tool. The "Send test" feature also shortens links, giving you an accurate preview of how the final message will appear to recipients. ## **Sender ID** At the top of the SMS composer, one of your alphanumeric Sender IDs is displayed. This is typically the same across all countries. However, in certain countries (e.g., Belgium and Italy), alphanumeric Sender IDs are not allowed. For these countries, SMS messages are sent from a Shortcode. ## **Countries** During the initial setup of the SMS channel with Batch, you must specify the list of countries where SMS should be sent: * SMS sent to phone numbers in unsupported countries will fail and appear as bounces in the analytics. * To add more eligible countries, contact us. ## **Marketing SMS & STOP Keywords** For marketing SMS campaigns, Batch automatically appends the appropriate **STOP** keyword and number based on the recipient’s country. For example, in France, the appended text is **“STOP 36184”** , which takes 11 characters in your SMS. When a recipient replies with the STOP keyword Batch immediately updates all profiles associated with that phone number, setting their SMS marketing opt-in status to **“unsubscribed.”** ## **SMS Parts & Encoding** An SMS may consist of one or multiple parts depending on: 1. **Message Length:** The number of characters in the message. 2. **Character Encoding:** Either **GSM-7** (default) or **Unicode (UNI)** if special characters are used. The GSM-7 character set includes the basic Latin alphabet (A-Z), numbers (0-9), and a set of common symbols: ``` A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ? ¡ ¿ ! " # ¤ % & ( ) ' * + , - . / Ä Ö Ñ Ü § ä ö ñ ü à @ £ $ ¥ è é ù ì ò Ç Ø ø Å å Δ _ Φ Γ Λ Ω Π Ψ Σ Θ Ξ Æ æ ß É ``` Note: the following characters are also part of the GSM-7 character set, however, they count as 2 characters instead of one: ``` € ^ { } [ ] ~ | ``` B. The Unicode (UNI) character set includes all characters that are not part of the GSM-7 set listed above. For instance: * Additional accented letters (ë, â, ï, etc) * Non-Latin alphabets (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, etc) * Emojis * Other symbols (©, ™, ★, etc) ## **Character Limit by Encoding:** The number of characters allowed in a message part varies depending on the used character encoding. For multi-part messages, additional **invisible data headers** are added to enable concatenation, reducing the character limit per part. ### **GSM-7:** * 1 part = up to **160 characters** * Multi-part SMS = up to **153 characters** per part ### **Unicode (UNI):** * 1 part = up to **70 characters** * Multi-part SMS = up to **67 characters** per part {% hint style="info" %} Batch does not allow sending SMS longer than 4 parts (approx. 612 GSM-7 or 268 Unicode characters) to ensure reliable delivery. For more details on character encoding and its impact, refer to this [guide](https://doc.batch.com/getting-started/features/customer-engagement-platform/message/sms#sms-parts-and-encoding). {% endhint %} Batch helps you estimate the number of parts for a given message, However. when personalization is used, this estimate may not be accurate, as the length of attributes can vary between profiles. An SMS message can be composed of one or several message parts, each part being limited to a maximum number of characters. The number of characters allowed per message part depends on two factors: 1. The type of characters used in the message 2. The number of required message parts (one or several) ## Marketing vs Transactional SMS Transactional SMS is used to relay transactional information. You can use this type of SMS to share important information such as order status, delivery notifications, etc. On the other hand, Marketing SMS is used to share promotional content. Unlike the former, this type of SMS requires prior consent from the recipient as well as clear unsubscription instructions within the message. Thus, when an SMS automation or campaign is set to only target users who are subscribed to your SMS Marketing communications, Batch will automatically append unsubscription instructions at the end of your message. Note: The number of characters required for the STOP mention will be included in the character count of your SMS.
sms stop
## **Pricing** SMS pricing depends on: * **Recipient’s Country:** The cost is based on the phone number’s home country, even if the recipient is roaming abroad. * **Number of Parts:** Each part is charged as a separate SMS. For example, a 2-part message costs twice as much as a 1-part message. It is more likely to have a higher number of message parts when using Unicode encoding since the message part character allowance is lower. You can view the number of SMS parts in: * **Orchestration Analytics:** For each orchestration. * **Billing Section:** Provides a detailed cost breakdown. ## **Delivery Speed** Delivery speed for SMS can be customized during the onboarding process to meet your specific needs, ensuring messages are sent at the optimal pace, whether for time-sensitive campaigns or large-scale orchestrations. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://doc.batch.com/getting-started/features/customer-engagement-platform/message/sms.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.