In 2026, SMS has become one of the most powerful tools in your marketing toolkit, but because it’s a more personal channel, the rules of the road are a bit different than email.
Before you hit send, make sure you've registered your account for SMS to comply with 10DLC regulations and ensure your messages actually reach your customers’ pockets!
SMS Basics: Length and Billing
How long is a message? A single SMS segment is 160 characters. While the editor allows up to 1,950 characters, any message over 160 characters is broken into multiple segments.
The Billing Catch: You are billed per segment, not per "send." If you send a 300-character message to 100 people, it counts as 200 messages against your monthly SMS tier.
The Emoji Trade-off: We love a good 🚀, but be careful! Including an emoji changes the encoding of your message, which drops the segment limit to just 70 characters.
Links, Images, and Video
URLs: You can absolutely include links! Constant Contact’s built-in link shortener automatically saves you precious characters and allows us to track your click-through rates.
Images/Video (MMS): Currently, Constant Contact focuses on SMS (text-only) for maximum deliverability. To share an image or video, we recommend hosting it on your website and linking to it within the text.
Advanced 2026 Features
AI Content Generator: Stuck on what to say? Our AI Assistant can take a few keywords and draft high-converting, character-count-friendly texts for you in seconds.
Dynamic Segments: You can now send SMS campaigns to Dynamic Segments. This means you can automatically text only the people who, for example, clicked a link in your last email but haven't purchased yet.
Automated Responses: While you can't have a live "chat" back and forth, you can set up automated responses for required keywords like HELP or STOP.
Pro-Tip: Watch the Clock
To stay compliant and keep your audience happy, Constant Contact enforces Quiet Hours. You cannot schedule or send messages between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. based on your account's time zone. This keeps your brand out of the "annoying" category and inside the "helpful" one!
Are you finding that your audience responds better to short "flash sale" alerts or helpful "event reminder" texts? Let’s talk strategy in the comments! ⬇️
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect the latest Constant Contact features and market changes.
