Everything You Need To Know About GSM and Unicode
Glossary
Here's a list of terminology that will be helpful for you to understand before reading this article.
SMS & Character Counter - The counter, located in the bottom right-hand corner of each text box in Dialog Health, allows clients to freely compose messages, aiding them in monitoring the length of their messages.
GSM - Global System for Mobile Communications, this character set uses characters from the standard Latin alphabet, or what most likely is available on your keyboard! This includes A-Z, punctuation, and some special characters.
Unicode - This character set includes a wider range of characters and symbols such as Chinese, or Arabic Characters, emojis, symbols, and much more. Using Unicode characters within your message will shorten the amount of characters you can use in 1 text message.
Character Set - Characters available for use within a GSM or Unicode set. Character Set may also be referred to as Encoding.
What Is the Difference Between an SMS and a MSG?
The following section will review the difference between an SMS and a MSG. Many of our reporting tools contain the Metrics Bar which will automatically calculate the number of SMS and MSGs sent over a selected period. The remainder of this article will continue to describe the nuances that Dialog Health users should understand may affect the length of the message sent to their subscribers such as Unicode characters, and Dynamic Tags. Continue reading to learn more.
SMS
SMS is abbreviated for Short Message Services, consists of 160 GSM characters or less, and is a text messaging service component of most telephone, internet, and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text messages. If you create a message greater than 160 GSM characters, each SMS then becomes equal to 153 GSM characters. Any invoices that include the total volume of SMS Sent will be based on this measure.
MSG
This is a count of individual communications sent to a subscriber. Each time you configure a direct text, campaign message, ad hoc, etc., you are creating a message that will be delivered to a person's handset. Each message may contain up to 6 SMS (918 GSM characters or 402 characters if Unicode characters are added).
Number of SMS | GSM Character Count (<1 SMS) | GSM Character Count (>1 SMS) |
1 | 1 - 160 | 1 - 153 |
2 | 154 - 306 | |
3 | 307 - 459 | |
4 | 460 - 612 | |
5 | 613 - 765 | |
6 | 766 - 918 |
This table reviews how GSM characters are counted per SMS, continue reading to learn more about how Unicode characters are counted in an SMS.
Example: 7-Day Appointment Reminder
Hi, this is your doctor's office. We are reaching out to you to let you know that you have an upcoming appointment. At your upcoming appointment, you will need to bring your insurance card, photo ID, updated medication list, and comprehensive health history. Thank you for choosing our office for all of your healthcare needs. If you need to reschedule your appointment, please give us a call at xxx-xxx-xxx.
Explanation: This is 1 MSG. Including spaces, this 1 MSG consists of 408 GSM characters which is equal to 3 SMS
How Do Unicode Characters Affect Message Length?
Certain characters such as emojis, and diacritics or accents, affect how SMS are counted. When these characters are used in an SMS, the character allotment is reduced by almost half. The addition of just 1 Unicode character reduces 1 SMS from 160 characters to 70 characters. If your message is greater than 70 characters or 1 SMS, each SMS becomes equal to 67 characters. The SMS and Character counter in Dialog Health will alert you when the character set has transitioned to Unicode if a Unicode character has been added to the message.
# of SMS | Unicode Character Count (<1SMS) | Unicode Character Count (>1SMS) |
| 1 SMS | 1 - 70 | 1 - 67 |
| 2 SMS | 68 - 134 | |
| 3 SMS | 135 - 201 | |
| 4 SMS | 202 - 268 | |
5 SMS | 269 - 335 | |
6 SMS | 336 - 402 |
Example: 7-Day Appointment Reminder
Hola, este es el consultorio de su médico. Nos estamos comunicando con usted para informarle que tiene una próxima cita. Si necesita reprogramar su cita, llámenos al xxx-xxx-xxx.
Explanation: This is 1 MSG, equivalent to 3 SMS. Including spaces, this 1 MSG consists of 178 characters broken down to 176 GSM characters and 2 Unicode characters.
Resource: Having trouble figuring out why your message has flipped to the Unicode Character Set? Paste your message in this SMS TOOL, and all characters that are causing the message to display in Unicode will be highlighted. You can practice by pasting the message displayed in the above example in the SMS tool.
How Do Dynamic Tags Affect Message Length?
When you message a person using Ad-Hoc, Campaign Broadcast, or Keyword messages, you can utilize Dynamic Tags. Dynamic Tags enable personalized messaging by inserting data from the person's record into the text message you create. Each dynamic tag can affect the character counter a bit differently, but it can vary depending on how many characters are available to grab. Each dynamic tag does have a character limit which is displayed in the graph below. If the person's data is greater than the character limit, it will not be displayed in the text message.
Dynamic Tags: Campaign Broadcast Messaging
Dynamic Tags: Ad-Hoc Broadcast Messaging & Keywords
Dynamic Tag | GSM Character Limit |
| <firstname> | 9 |
<provider> | 15 |
<location> | 15 |
| <appointmentdate>* | 10 |
<appointmentdate2>* | 11 |
<appointmenttime>* | 5-6 |
| <arrivetime>* | 5-6 |
<patmisc1> to <patmisc5> | 30 |
<apptmisc1> to <apttmisc5> | 30 |
*Date and Time dynamic tags are automatically populated in standard date/time format.
What Other Factors Can Affect Message Length?
Spaces and Punctuation
The SMS and Character Counter includes spaces and punctuation. To reduce the SMS count of your message, you can remove unnecessary punctuation and spaces. You can also condense words/phrases in your message to shorten your character count.
Example: 7-Day Appointment Reminder (Unedited)
Hello there!!! Your appointment is scheduled for two days from now and we wanted to check in to see if you were still able to come. Please text us back as soon as possible to let us know if you're still coming to your scheduled appointment. Please text YES to confirm and NO to reschedule your appointment upcoming appointment.
Explanation: This is 1 MSG. Including spaces, this 1 MSG consists of 336 GSM characters which is equal to 3 SMS.
Example: 7-Day Appointment Reminder (Edited)
Hello there! Your appt is scheduled in 2 days and we wanted to check in to see if you were still able to come. TXT back ASAP to let us know if you're still coming to your appt. TXT YES to confirm or NO to reschedule.
Explanation: This is 1 MSG. Including spaces, this 1 MSG consists of 216 GSM characters which is equal to 2 SMS.
Outcome: By removing, unnecessary spaces, and punctuation and shortening our choice verbiage, we were able to save 120 GSM characters and shorten our 1 MSG from 3 SMS to 2 SMS!
Copy & Paste
Sometimes using copy and paste can add unintended spacing or formatting, which can increase the character count of your message. Avoid using copy and paste when you can or take extra precautions in reviewing your message when you do use copy and paste. Dialog Health gives you the capability to create templates so you can save time building frequently used messages. Click HERE to learn more about creating and editing templates. Click HERE for ideas on different kinds of templates you can implement in your daily workflow.
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