New Features: Transliteration and SMS Cropping
In the latest Release Notes, we have already briefly talked about the new possibilities for transliterating and cropping SMS. In this article, we'll tell you more about the new features.
In this article:
What is it?
Those who have chosen to receive SMS notifications know that this type of subscription in Notify.Events comes with an additional fee for each SMS sent in excess of your plan.
At the same time, the cost of sending a notification directly depends on the number of SMS messages required to transmit the entire notification text. This number is calculated based on the generally accepted GSM 03.38 standard: 160 characters for messages using only Latin characters and 70 any other characters.
Of course, one notification can contain much more than 70 or even 160 characters. Therefore, we decided to implement additional features to allow you to save money.
How does it work?
SMS Transliteration
Transliteration is the transfer of text written using one alphabet by means of another alphabet (in our case, the Latin alphabet). Thus, the transliteration option implies automatic replacement of any non-Latin characters in the text of the sent notification with Latin ones.
With this function, one SMS will fit not 70 characters, but 160 characters (the difference is more than 2 times!), and you will save your budget, while not missing anything important.
SMS Cropping
The cropping function assumes shortening the text of the original notification to the size of 1 SMS (i.e. 70 or 160 characters). By default, if the notification text does not fit into the character limit of one SMS, several messages will automatically be sent to you, for each of which, as we already understood, a separate fee will be charged (the cost depends on your tariff).
By enabling the cropping option, you will always receive 1 message - no matter how long the initial notification is. And if it was cut off, at the end of the SMS you will receive a link to the full text.
What are the recipients in?
The new options work not only for direct SMS sending, but also for SMS chats and integrations that involve sending SMS. At the moment, the list is as follows:
- SMS,
- Twilio (SMS),
- ClickSend (SMS),
- SmsRu,
- SimpleTextin,
- TextLocal,
- Bandwidth,
- Plivo,
- TeleSign,
- Vonage.
How to set it up?
First, you will be prompted to enable transliteration and / or cropping mmediately when you sign up for notifications via a recipient from the list above. By default, both options are disabled. To enable, just check the box next to the desired line.
Secondly, you can always change the preset or initial settings on the subscription customization screen. To do this, go to the channel screen and click the Edit button opposite the desired recipient in the Recipients section.
On the screen that opens, you can enable the desired option or disable it if it was already enabled earlier.
It is not necessary to use both options at the same time. You can only include one. Choose what is convenient for you!
Check out our blog for more articles. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram. If you have something to ask or suggest (maybe a new integration?), contact us at support@notify.events.
