Table of Contents
How Many Segments Make a Message?
Writing Concise SMS Messages in Sense
Message Length and Formatting Warnings
Overview
SMS messages sent through the Sense Messaging platform are limited to 3 segments in length. This restriction is designed to promote responsible use of the Sense Messaging platform, with a good candidate response rate with improved deliverability
By encouraging clear and concise communication, we aim to ensure candidates receive the right information at the right time while enabling teams to connect in a way that is both effective and respectful.
Note: Customers on high-volume lines are not restricted by segment limits.
Understanding a Segment
All SMS messages are sent in 140-byte chunks called segments. Carriers treat each of these segments as a separate message in transit, and then reassemble them on the receiving end so they appear as one coherent message to the end user.
Sending large messages with a lot of segments can have a negative impact on your carrier deliverability, phone number, brand integrity, and candidate experience.
Why Segments Matter
- Billing: Each segment you send is charged separately. Longer messages that span multiple segments cost more than shorter ones.
- Delivery: Characters beyond a segment’s limit are split into additional segments and reassembled on the recipient’s device. Additionally, large segment messages are treated suspiciously by carrier filtering algorithms.
How Many Segments Make a Message?
The number of SMS segments a message uses depends on its encoding type and character count.
Most SMS messages use GSM-7 encoding, which supports up to 160 characters in a single segment. When a message exceeds this limit, it is split into multiple segments, each with a slightly lower character limit to accommodate segmentation data.
| Message Type | Character Limit Per Segment | When It Splits |
| GSM-7 single | 160 characters |
Splits after 160 |
| GSM-7 multi | 153 characters per segment |
Splits above 160 |
| Unicode single (UCS) | 70 characters |
Splits after 70 |
| Unicode multi (UCM) | 67 characters per segment |
Splits above 70 |
Unicode (UCS-2) encoding supports a wider range of characters, including emojis, smart quotes, and non-Latin scripts. As a result, Unicode messages can contain significantly fewer characters per segment.
Encoding type is fully managed at the carrier level, so Sense cannot control which characters trigger UCS-2 encoding.
| Note: SMS messages are billed per segment. Even if a message where just one character is sent, it is still billed as a full segment. Carriers do not send partial segments. |
Example:
To provide some examples of how segments might be counted:
- A 300-character message with entirely standard characters would be sent in GSM-7 encoding as two segments.
- A 300-character message with non-standard characters would be sent in UCS-2 encoding as five segments.
Writing Concise SMS Messages in Sense
Sense helps recruiters create clear, concise messages for one-on-one messages, broadcasts, and templates.
Sense also automatically converts text to GSM-friendly characters when possible. If certain characters can’t be converted, they’re highlighted so you can update the message if needed.
Message Length and Formatting Warnings
If your message exceeds the allowed character limit, you’ll see a warning indicating that the message is too long to send. Longer messages are split into multiple segments, which may increase delivery costs. You can shorten the message manually or use the Shorten with AI option to make it more concise.
You may also see a warning if your message contains excessive punctuation. Overuse of punctuation can affect message deliverability and readability, potentially increasing the likelihood of the message being flagged by carriers. Review and simplify the punctuation to resolve this warning.
Long Message Warning:
Overuse of Punctuation Warning:
Keeping Your Content Concise
Having trouble reducing your message size? Here are some guidelines for sending concise and effective messages.
Know your audience
Reach out to specific candidates about specific types of jobs in specific locations. Sending your candidates long texts packed with information that’s mostly irrelevant to them is a great way to get ignored by your candidates or reported for spam.
Keep initial outreach short
A great trick for keeping your messages concise is to avoid sending too much context on initial outreach.
You don’t need to send your candidates three different application links in your initial message asking if they’re looking for work. If they are looking for work, you can follow up by asking them what kind of job they are interested in and sending them just the application information for the job that matches best.
Don’t overdo it with emojis
It can be tempting to include a lot of emojis when sending messages, but using emojis is one of the most common ways to get stuck on UCS-2 encoding and lower character limits.
Emojis can also hurt the credibility of your message, especially on initial outreach. Many job candidates report that emojis in cold outreach feel spammy or scammy.
Some emojis, such as those with dollar signs, can even result in increased carrier filtering. That’s not to say emojis aren’t great for bringing a personal touch to your follow-up messages. But consider skipping them in your initial outreach and focusing on the content of your pitch.
One Call-to-Action per SMS Text Messaging is designed to be concise. A wealth of research indicates that including multiple CTAs in a text message can reduce response rates. Limit your CTAs to only 1 per text message.