When you include emojis in your SMS campaigns, it's important to understand how they affect your message delivery and costs. Emojis change the technical encoding of your text messages, which impacts character limits and potentially increases the number of message segments sent.
How Emojis Affect SMS Character Count
Standard SMS without emojis: A regular text-only SMS can contain up to 160 characters in a single message segment.
SMS with emojis: When you add even one emoji to your message, the encoding automatically switches from GSM-7 to Unicode (UCS-2). This change reduces your character limit to just 70 characters for a single message segment.
Multi-part messages: If your message with emojis exceeds 70 characters, it will be automatically split into multiple segments:
- The first segment is limited to 70 characters
- Each additional segment is limited to 67 characters
- Each segment counts as a separate SMS for billing purposes
Example:
- A 150-character message without emojis = 1 SMS
- A 150-character message with emojis = 3 SMS segments (70 + 67 + 13 characters)
Cost Implications
Because emoji messages are split into more segments with lower character limits, you'll consume more message credits:
- A message that would be 1 SMS without emojis might become 2-3 SMS with emojis
- Each segment is billed separately
- This can significantly increase campaign costs for longer messages
Device Compatibility Considerations
Not all devices display emojis the same way:
- Older phones: May show emojis as empty boxes, question marks, or other placeholder symbols
- Different operating systems: The same emoji may look slightly different on iOS vs. Android
- Unsupported emojis: Newer emojis may not render properly on older devices
Best Practices for Using Emojis in SMS
Keep messages concise: Stay within 70 characters when possible to avoid multi-part messages and reduce costs.
Test before sending: Always send test messages to multiple device types to verify:
- How emojis appear on different devices
- How your message is segmented
- The total number of segments being sent
Choose widely-supported emojis: Stick to common emojis (😊 👍 ❤️ ⭐) that have been available for several years, as they're more likely to display correctly across all devices.
Consider your audience: If your subscriber base includes users with older phones, you may want to limit emoji usage or avoid them entirely.
Monitor character count: Use Remarkety's character counter to track how many segments your message will use before sending.
Budget accordingly: Factor in the increased message costs when planning emoji-rich campaigns.
Alternative Approach
If you want to add personality to your messages without the technical limitations of emojis, consider:
- Using expressive punctuation (!!!)
- Adding enthusiasm through word choice
- Keeping emojis minimal (just one or two at most)
- Reserving emojis for high-impact campaigns where engagement justifies the extra cost
By understanding how emojis affect SMS delivery, you can make informed decisions about when and how to use them in your Remarkety campaigns.
Comments
0 comments