Why emojis in texts can double your costs

SMS has two ways of encoding characters, and which one your message uses depends on what's in it. Knowing this can save you a meaningful amount of money.

Standard encoding (the cheap one)

•Plain letters, numbers, and standard punctuation

•160 characters per message

•Messages over 160 characters split into multiple segments, each billed separately

Extended encoding (the expensive one)

As soon as your message contains any emoji, accented character, or non-standard symbol, the whole message switches to extended encoding:

•Only 70 characters per message

•Your cost effectively doubles

An example

•"Your appointment is confirmed for 2pm tomorrow." — 48 characters, 1 segment

•"Your appointment is confirmed for 2pm tomorrow." + 🎉 — now extended encoding, still fits but now uses the 70-character limit

•A longer message like "Your appointment is confirmed. Please reply YES to confirm or call us to reschedule. We look forward to seeing you!" is 116 characters — 1 segment

•Add an emoji to that same message and you're now at 2 segments — double the cost

What we do

•Show you the character count and encoding in real time as you build messages

•Optionally strip non-standard characters from AI-generated messages before sending (ask your account manager if you want this turned on)

Best practices

•Skip emojis in transactional messages like appointment reminders, 2FA codes, and delivery updates. Recipients don't expect them, and they cost you more.

•If you want to use emojis in marketing, budget for the added cost

•Watch out for curly quotes and em-dashes — they sneak in when you copy-paste from Word or Google Docs, and they trigger extended encoding