SMS are charged 7.5p + VAT per segment sent.
IMPORTANT:
Each SMS can contain more than one segment.
You will be charged for every send attempt regardless of whether the message is delivered e.g. incorrect or disconnected numbers.
What is an SMS segment?
Here is a useful blog post about SMS segments.
Essentially, a segment allows you to send 160 normal characters. Sending 320 characters costs 2 segments and so on.
However, this only works with what are known as GSM-7 characters (see below). If you use any characters outside of this set (including emojis), the character limit reduces dramatically to just 70.
GSM-7 characters
How to check the number of segments in your SMS
Below the SMS message editor in Collums, there is a link to an online segment calculator. Copy and paste your message into the text box to see the number of segments.
In the example below, what appears to be a very short message is actually 2 segments. The apostrophe used is not from the regular GSM-7 character set. Replacing this with a regular apostrophe will halve the cost of your message!
Tips for creating SMS campaigns
Keep messages short and sweet, these are not emails!
Shorten any web links with bitly or similar.
Avoid using unusual characters or emojis unless you are happy to use fewer characters or pay more.
Before you send, check the number of segments in your message.