How Notifications Are Counted in SMS
Each notification is counted in SMS. One SMS holds up to 160 characters. A longer notification still sends perfectly — it's simply delivered as several SMS (a 161-character notification = 2 SMS, and so on).
Special characters are the catch. Certain characters switch a notification into "Unicode mode," which cuts the limit from 160 down to just 70 characters per SMS — so a single such character can sharply increase how many SMS your notification uses.
These characters include — as examples, not a complete list — emoji (😊 🚗 👍), the euro sign €, accented or non-Latin letters such as é ø å ä ñ š õ ł, and symbols like → • ™ …. When in doubt, stick to plain, unaccented text.
6 Ways to Send Fewer SMS
1. Lead with your core message. There's no rule that a notification must be a single SMS — but being deliberate about your main message is the simplest way to keep it tight. Trim what isn't essential, and the SMS count usually takes care of itself.
2. Avoid special characters and emoji. As above, a single one can switch your notification to 70-character SMS and multiply the count. Write "EUR" instead of €, and skip emoji where you can.
3. Keep your links short. Long links and custom domains eat into your character budget. A shorter link leaves more room — and may keep your notification to one SMS.
4. Choose which notifications are active. As a dealer, decide deliberately which notifications fit the customer journey you want — and turn off the ones that don't. Every active notification counts, so send the ones that genuinely add value.
5. Remember placeholders expand. Fields like registration number or terminal name fill in with real values when sent — a short-looking notification can grow once those are added.
6. Test before you save. Paste your text into a free SMS counter to see exactly how many SMS your notification becomes: smscharactercount.com
You know your customers and your journey best — these are simply the levers that shape how many SMS each notification uses. Questions? Your Tjekvik contact is always happy to look through your notifications with you.