SMS Credits

In order to send SMS messages using the Rule Engine, you need SMS credits. You can buy prepaid bundles of SMS credits directly inside of the platform, on the Billing section. If you send an SMS message, the credit will decrease accordingly.

Topup SMS credits

To see your current SMS credits or to add credits to your workspace, go to "Billing".

Check if you have set up a billing method. If not, go to "Manage Billing" follow the instructions or simply continue with "Topup Credits".

If you do not have valid billing methods, you can now put in everything necessary. Billing has been set up, simply chose the amount of credits and click "Buy".

Long SMS Mode

The following configurations you will find under the option "Workspace".

When you send an SMS message over 160 characters, the message will be split and result in multiple messages. You can choose if you want to truncate the message to 160 characters to make sure only at max one credit is deducted per message from your balance or if you always want to receive the full message which can result in multiple message credits being deducted.

The SMS standard says that large messages are segmented into 153 character segments and sent individually then rebuilt on the recipients device. This means that a 161 character message would result in two segments being deducted.

If you include non-GSM characters in your message, those messages have to be sent using the so-called UCS-2 encoding. Messages containing any non-GSM-character are limited to 70 characters. See a list of all GSM characters here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_03.38#GSM_7-bit_default_alphabet_and_extension_table_of_3GPP_TS_23.038_.2F_GSM_03.38

Unfortunately, our beloved emojis are not part of the GSM character set. Messages containing emojis are thus limited to 70 characters 😭

Setup

In order to set up the truncation mode simply navigate into the Workspace section of your Datacake Workspace using the Side Bar.

In here you find the settings for truncation mode as shown on the above screenshot.

SMS history

You can see a list of the last up to 100 SMS messages including their segment count in the workspace section (see screenshot above).

Replace non-GSM7-characters

The SMS Character Replacement feature automatically substitutes special characters, symbols, and accents with their standard alternatives to optimise your message delivery.

How It Works

When enabled, this feature replaces non-standard characters (such as emojis, accented letters, and special symbols) with their closest standard equivalents that conform to the GSM7 character set.

Character replace mode toggle

Benefits

  • Reduced Costs: Messages containing non-standard characters require more segments to send, increasing costs. By replacing these characters, your messages use fewer segments.

  • More Efficient Delivery: Standard GSM7 characters are more reliably delivered across all mobile networks.

  • Predictable Billing: Avoid unexpected increases in SMS segments due to special characters.

Examples of Character Replacement

Original character
Replaced with

ê, ë, ĕ

e

ħ

h

™

(tm)

When to Use This Feature

Enable this option if:

  • You want to minimize SMS costs

  • Your messages frequently contain non-Latin characters, emojis, or special symbols

  • You prioritize delivery efficiency over exact character preservation

Leave it disabled if:

  • Exact character preservation is critical to your communication

  • Your brand identity requires specific symbols or characters

  • You communicate primarily in languages requiring non-GSM7 characters

Last updated

Was this helpful?