Text segments and your texting number
What a text segment is, how texts are counted and paid for, what happens when you run out, the sending limits, and what your texting number costs.
A text segment is the unit a phone carrier counts a text in, and Coupons counts and charges every text you send in text segments. This page explains how a text is counted, the balance your texts are paid from, what happens when it runs out, the limits on how much you can send, and the plan that gives you your own texting number.
What a text segment is
One text segment holds up to 160 characters. A text with an emoji or another special character in it is sent in a different alphabet, and then one text segment holds only 70.
A longer text is sent as several text segments that the customer's phone joins back together, and each part holds a little less, because the joining uses some of it: 153 characters a part, or 67 with an emoji. So a text of 161 characters is two text segments, and so is one of 71 characters with an emoji in it.
- Everything in the text counts. Your business name at the start and the opt-out line at the end are part of the text the carrier counts, and so is the link to the coupon.
- A few symbols count twice, such as the euro sign, square brackets and curly braces.
- The composer counts it for you. Under the message box, the count of characters and text segments is worked out on the whole text, your business name and the opt-out line included, exactly as it will be sent.
How texts are paid for
Each text segment you send costs one from your balance, for each person it goes to. A text that is two text segments, sent to 100 people, costs 200. A test send to your own phone costs the same as one real text.
Coupons shows your balance in text segments, in a chip beside the Coupons heading on every screen: how many text segments you can still send. It is one balance for the whole account, not one per location:
- It is filled by your plan's monthly allowance, which renews on your billing day each month and does not carry over, and by any packs you buy, which never expire and are used once the month's allowance is gone.
- Other parts of GetSetReply spend from it too: each review request text or email costs one, however long it is, check-in texts cost one for each text segment, and AI features such as regenerating a reply cost what the billing page lists.
- The Billing page shows the same balance under its own name. Coupons counts it in text segments because one text segment always costs exactly one from it, so the two figures are the same number.
Top up segments
Top up segments appears wherever Coupons tells you the balance is low or empty. It opens your account's Settings > Billing, outside Coupons, where you buy a one-time pack: 50 for $5, 200 for $15 or 500 for $30 text segments. A pack is added straight away and never expires.
- Press Top up segments, or open Settings > Billing yourself.
- Press the Buy button on the pack you want, and pay with your card.
- Go back to Coupons. The chip shows the new balance.
Packs are not offered on every plan. If you send a lot every month, a plan with a larger monthly allowance can cost less than packs; the billing page explains how to change plan.
When you run out
Nothing is sent that your balance cannot pay for, and nobody is ever texted twice because of a top-up.
- A one-time send you are about to start is refused with You have no text segments left. You can still save it as a draft. If you have some text segments but not enough for everyone, Coupons says so before you start, and you can send to the people you can afford.
- A one-time send that is already going out stops when the balance cannot pay for the next text, and says Stopped. You ran out of text segments. Topping up does not restart it, and the people it had not reached get nothing from it. Anyone it was holding for the send window keeps their place, and is texted if there are text segments by then.
- A scheduled send that comes due with nothing left does not go out.
- Ladders stop texting while the balance is empty, and pick up on their own as soon as there are text segments again. The people who qualified in the meantime wait their turn.
- Expiry reminders wait while the balance is empty, and go out after you top up, as long as the coupon has not expired by then.
- Check-in texts wait, and go out once there are text segments again. A reply you type to a customer is not sent.
Sending limits
Three limits apply on top of your balance. None of them is a setting.
| Limit | What it is |
|---|---|
| Per person | Up to 30 texts to one person in any 30 days, from every send and ladder together. You told the carriers this number when you registered, so it cannot be raised. Replies to sign-ups, STOP and HELP never count. |
| Per day | Up to 2,000 text segments a day for your whole account, counting coupon texts, review request texts and check-in texts. The carriers set this limit for your current texting registration. The day starts at midnight Pacific time. Whatever does not fit goes out on its own the next morning, in each person's own time zone; nothing is dropped. |
| Per minute | Coupons sends about 60 texts a minute for your account, so a send to a large group takes a few minutes to finish. The carriers allow more than that; this is how fast we send today. |
Texts also go out only during the send window. We only text between 9:00am and 8:00pm on your storefront's clock, and from noon on Sundays. That is not a setting.
Need more?
- More text segments: top up at any time, or move to a plan with a larger monthly allowance.
- A higher daily limit: contact support. Email support@getsetreply.com, or open Support in the sidebar, choose Support Issue, put "Sending limits" in Subject and say in Description roughly how many texts you want to send a day. The daily limit comes from the carriers: it is what your current texting registration allows. Raising it means moving your registration to a higher-volume carrier package, which has a one-time resubmission fee of $100.00 plus a new monthly fee that depends on the package you choose. When the carriers allow your business more, we raise your account's limit for you.
- A faster rate: not available today. The carriers already allow more than the 60 texts a minute we send for each account, so a higher carrier package would not make a send finish sooner.
- More texts to one person: not possible. The limit is part of what you registered with the carriers.
Your texting number and what it costs
Coupons texts from your own phone number, registered with the carriers in your business's name (Your texting number walks through the registration).
- Coupons is an add-on to your plan: $100 a month, or $960 a year, per location. Available on Professional and Enterprise. Starter accounts can upgrade to add it.
- Dedicated Number comes with it, because Coupons cannot send without a number. Your own phone number for text messages, registered with the mobile carriers so your review requests and coupons reach customers. It is $10 a month, or $96 a year, one for your account, and is added in the same purchase as Coupons.
- The one-time carrier fee of $100 pays for registering your business and your texting with the carriers. It is charged when you add Coupons, and again if you stop Coupons and switch it back on later.
- Customer check-ins texts from the same number. It is in beta and switched on for accounts by our team rather than sold today. One carrier registration covers both Coupons and Check-ins: while your account has one of them, adding the other has no carrier fee.
Texting is in US dollars and to US numbers only. To add Coupons, open Coupons in the sidebar, or email support@getsetreply.com and we will set it up with you.
Related
Smart lists
The six built-in smart lists, building your own from lists and rules, sending to one, making one a ladder's group, and the rung that fires when someone joins.
Texting rules for coupon texts
A plain-English summary of the opt-out line, sender name, consent and link rules for coupon texts, with the official sources.