SMS
- If businesses wish to set up the SMS channel in a specific country, you need to contact the Yellow support team for assistance and guidance. However, if they prefer to set up SMS channel for USA, you need to utilize the Twilio SMS channel for seamless integration and management.
- For pricing details, contact procurement.
SMS (Short Message Service) is a messaging channel that allows you to send image and text messages to users through their registered phone numbers.
Connecting the SMS channel to the Yellow.ai Cloud platform enables the following:
- One-way conversations: Send campaigns
- Two-way conversations: Automated responses and live agent support
- Send campaigns: Through SMS, you can send campaigns to inform users about discounts, sales, or special offers.
- One-way conversation: Supports one-way communication where only the sender shares information and recipients cannot respond. These messages include promotional offers, transactional updates, alerts, or notifications.
- Automated replies and live agent support: Enables automatic responses to user messages received via SMS and provides immediate assistance with live agents.
- Two-way conversation: Supports two-way communication, allowing both sender and recipient to exchange conversations. These messages can include messages such as live agent support, automated replies, order tracking, or feedback.
- Supported message types: You can use Text message type to send the SMS.
To send SMS using one-way or two-way communication depends on the regulations, guidelines, or requirements set by each country.
Limitations of SMS channel
| Option | Character limit |
|---|---|
| Text message | 160 characters |
Segment in SMS channel
A segment is a part of a text message limited to a specific number of characters, typically 160 characters in standard 7-bit encoding. In the context of SMS messaging, particularly in the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard, an SMS segment consists of up to 160 characters when using standard 7-bit encoding.
Key points about SMS Segments:
- Character limit: Each segment can contain up to 160 characters (7-bit encoding) or 70 characters (Unicode).
- Concatenated SMS: When a message exceeds the character limit of a single segment, it is split into multiple segments. These segments are sent individually and then reassembled by the recipient’s device to display as a single message. Some operators may send it as a single message without splitting.
- Each concatenated segment usually contains a few characters less than the maximum (for example, 153 characters for 7-bit encoding) to include information for reassembly.
- Cost implications: Each segment counts as a separate SMS for billing, so longer messages are more expensive.
Example of SMS segmentation
- Single segment message:
- Message: "Hello, this is a test message to explain SMS segmentation".
- Character count: 59 characters.
- Segments used: 1 (fits within the 160-character limit).
- Multi-segment message:
- Message: "Hello, this is a test message to explain SMS segmentation. Each part of the message must fit within the character limit. If the message exceeds the limit, it will be split into multiple segments."
- Character count: 197 characters.
- Segments used: 2
- Segment 1: "Hello, this is a test message to explain SMS segmentation. Each part of the message must fit within the character limit. If the message exceeds the limit, it will be split i" (153 characters)
- Segment 2: "nto multiple segments." (44 characters)
You can configure SMS services for the following countries: