In cellular carrier billing, one text message equals one SMS "segment" of up to 160 standard characters. If your review request exceeds 160 standard characters—or contains an emoji, accented letters, or special formatting—the message is split into smaller segments, each counting as a separate text against your monthly allowance. SoTrustworthy calculates your account's text usage based on these total underlying carrier segments.
What is an SMS segment?
To understand how text messages are billed, you need to understand text messaging infrastructure. Cell phone networks don't process text messages as one continuous stream of copy. Instead, they process data in units called segments.
When you write a simple text message using standard English letters and numbers, a single segment holds up to 160 characters. If your message stays under that 160-character ceiling, it counts as exactly 1 text message.
If your message exceeds 160 characters, the carrier automatically splits it into multiple segments and stitches them back together on the customer’s phone so it looks like a single continuous text. However, multi-part messages require invisible reassembly code (called user data headers) so the receiving phone knows how to put the pieces back in order.
Because that hidden code takes up physical space inside each segment, multi-part standard messages drop from 160 characters per segment down to 153 characters per segment.
Here is how standard character lengths break down into billable segments:
- 1 to 160 characters: 1 segment
- 161 to 306 characters: 2 segments (153 + 153)
- 307 to 459 characters: 3 segments (153 + 153 + 153)
- 460 to 612 characters: 4 segments (153 + 153 + 153 + 153)
GSM-7 vs. Unicode: Why one emoji triples your message count
The character limits described above apply only when using the global standard alphabet for mobile messaging, known as GSM-7 encoding. GSM-7 includes standard English letters (A-Z, a-z), numbers (0-9), basic punctuation (periods, commas, question marks), and a handful of symbols.
If you add a character outside of the GSM-7 alphabet—such as an emoji, a non-Latin letter, an accented character (é, ñ), or even "smart" curly quotation marks copied from a word processor—the entire message must switch to Unicode (UCS-2) encoding.
Unicode requires significantly more computer data to display complex visual symbols. As a result, character limits drop dramatically:
- Single-segment Unicode limit: 70 characters
- Multi-segment Unicode limit: 67 characters per segment
If you send a 161-character review request that contains a single thumbs-up emoji (👍), the carrier cannot use the 160-character standard rule. It processes the message under Unicode rules, splitting your text into 67-character blocks. A 161-character message with an emoji instantly becomes 3 billable segments instead of 2.
| Message Type | Encoding Standard | 1 Segment Limit | 2 Segment Limit | 3 Segment Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain Text (Letters, numbers, basic punctuation) | GSM-7 | Up to 160 chars | Up to 306 chars | Up to 459 chars |
| Rich Text (Emojis, smart quotes, special symbols) | Unicode (UCS-2) | Up to 70 chars | Up to 134 chars | Up to 201 chars |
How review request links and opt-out copy affect length
When sending automated Google review requests, two unavoidable components take up character space: your review link and mandatory opt-out instructions.
1. Mandatory Opt-Out Instructions
To remain compliant with United States telecommunications law, federal regulations under the TCPA, and carrier guidelines outlined in the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, automated business texts must include clear opt-out instructions.
SoTrustworthy automatically appends mandatory opt-out language (such as "Reply STOP to opt out") to outgoing messages to protect your business from legal risk and maintain compliance with A2P 10DLC carrier requirements. This compliance phrase takes up approximately 23 to 26 characters.
2. Review Links
A direct Google review link is essential for getting high conversion rates on your requests. SoTrustworthy automatically shortens links to conserve character count, but a short link still uses roughly 20 to 25 characters inside your message body.
Real-world examples of text message counts
To see how this works in practice, review these common automated text templates for a local home-services company.
Example A: Optimized Plain Text (1 Segment)
Hi John, thanks for choosing Apex Plumbing today! Would you mind leaving us a quick Google review? https://strst.co/x8k2 Reply STOP to opt out
- Character count: 142 characters
- Encoding: GSM-7 (Plain text)
- Total billable count: 1 text message
Example B: Review Request with Emojis (3 Segments)
Hi John! 👋 Thanks for choosing Apex Plumbing today! 🔧 Would you mind leaving us a quick Google review? https://strst.co/x8k2 Reply STOP to opt out
- Character count: 151 characters
- Encoding: Unicode (Triggered by 👋 and 🔧)
- Segment math: 151 characters divided by 67 characters per segment
- Total billable count: 3 text messages
Example C: Overly Long Plain Text (2 Segments)
Hi John, thank you for choosing Apex Plumbing for your water heater repair today. Our team strives to provide 5-star service on every job. If you had a great experience, please take 30 seconds to leave us a review on Google: https://strst.co/x8k2 Reply STOP to opt out
- Character count: 268 characters
- Encoding: GSM-7 (Plain text)
- Segment math: Exceeds 160 characters; uses 2 segments (up to 306 characters max)
- Total billable count: 2 text messages
How SoTrustworthy tracks and manages your SMS usage
SoTrustworthy relies on an SMS-first workflow because text messages yield significantly higher open and conversion rates for Google reviews compared to email. Here is how text message tracking works across our platform:
- Plan Allocations: Whether you are on our Starter, Growth, or Pro plan (or testing the platform during your 14-day free trial), your plan includes a monthly allocation of text message segments.
- Integration Triggers: When connected to your field management or CRM tools—like Jobber or HubSpot—SoTrustworthy triggers text messages automatically when a job is marked completed or an invoice is paid. Every segment sent by these automated workflows counts toward your monthly billing limit.
- Review-Request Throttling: To protect your monthly segment budget and maintain good standing with carrier networks, SoTrustworthy includes automated request throttling. If you import a large list of past customers, our system space out sends rather than blasting hundreds of segments simultaneously.
- No Review Gating: In full compliance with Google review policies, SoTrustworthy does not screen, block, or gate negative feedback. Every customer receives the exact same direct request text, keeping your message template consistent and predictable in length.
Best practices to keep your texts to a single segment
If you want to stretch your monthly text allocation as far as possible, keep your custom review request templates concise and lean.
- Skip Emojis entirely: While emojis feel friendly, they instantly reduce your single-segment limit from 160 characters down to 70 characters.
- Watch out for "Smart Quotes": If you copy and paste text from Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Apple Notes, standard apostrophes (
') and quotation marks (") often get converted into slanted "smart quotes" (’and“). These custom symbols trigger Unicode encoding. Type your text directly into the SoTrustworthy dashboard using standard plain-text formatting. - Keep customer personalization short: Using dynamic fields like
{{first_name}}is great for conversion, but remember that a longer customer name (e.g., "Christopher" vs. "Dan") increases the final character count. Leave a buffer of at least 15 to 20 characters in your template. - Get straight to the point: Busy customers prefer short texts. A clear, direct message converts better and stays safely inside a single 160-character segment.
Next steps
- Check your template length: Log into your SoTrustworthy dashboard and navigate to Settings > SMS Templates to check the character counter on your active review request templates.
- Review account usage: Visit Account > Billing to monitor your segment usage for the current billing cycle.
- Update automation rules: If you are connecting Jobber or HubSpot, ensure your post-job delay settings are configured to avoid sending duplicate texts for multi-line invoices.
Ask every customer for a review—without review gating.
SoTrustworthy sends a compliant, perfectly-timed review request to every customer after the job — no filtering, no gating, just more honest 5-star reviews on Google.
