Account Balance and Segments
Introduction to account balance and how it ties up with segments.
Overview
In Avochato, an account balance is a prepaid fund to manage expenses related to text message segments (SMS & MMS) voice calls, and pass-through costs such as carrier fees and A2P 10DLC fees. A segment is a unit of measure. In texting, a segment refers to a chunk of characters that make up a message. The length of a message is broken into segments to manage costs for messaging traffic.
Account Balance
The account balance is designed to streamline billing and reduce administrative burden. Balance is deducted in real-time based on usage.
- Transparent: Avochato provides a detailed breakdown of how the Account Balance is utilized on the Billing - Balance and Usage section so it’s easier to control your budget.
- Flexible Usage: Balance covers utilization of various features Avochato offers, such as text messages and outbound calls. This flexibility lets you allocate funds for whatever communication needs your business has at any given time. You choose how much money you would like to load onto your account.
- Auto-Fill: Never run out of balance with an optional auto-top up feature
How do I use Account Balance?
The account balance is updated in real-time when a message is sent or received. Avochato calculates the number of segments in the message (length of a message sent or received) and the pass through carrier fees. (Carrier fees are set by T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, etc.) The balance deducted equals the cost of segments used plus pass-through carrier fees. Read more about segment rates and carrier fees here.
Breakdown Example:
I have a standard monthly plan with Avochato. I used my inbox with a 10 digit long code number to send a message to multple contacts at once via a Broadcast. The Broadcast is 1 segment ( 120 characters ) to 100 contacts. My standard monthly segment rate is $0.03 per segment.
- 50 messages sent to contacts with Verizon - carrier fee of $0.0025
- 50 messages sent to contacts with AT&T - carrier fee of $0.002
Account balance used for:
Segments: $3.00 (100 segments * $0.03 segment rate)
Pass-through carrier fees Verizon: $0.125 (50 segments * $0.0025 carrier fee)
Pass-through carrier fees AT&T: $0.10 (50 segments * $0.002 carrier fee)
Cost of broadcast = $3.225
Avochato provides an estimate of a Broadcast‘s total cost before to sending.
Segments
A segment consists of one SMS message sent or received between one contact with less than 160 standard english characters. When a message is longer than 160 characters, this is referred to as a multi-part message as it contains multiple messages. The total SMS limit then becomes 153 characters per ‘part’ as the 7 characters are used up by invisible headers and footers which denote which part of the message is being sent. Please see table below for reference.
1 - 160 characters | 1 segment |
161 - 306 characters | 2 segment |
307 - 459 characters | 3 segment |
460 - 612 characters | 4 segment |
613 - 765 characters | 5 segment |
766 - 918 characters | 6 segment |
It's important to note that even if an SMS is greater than 1 segment, it is still sent and received as one message.
What about special characters?
1 segment consists of 160 characters, only if all characters are considered "Standard." When an SMS message includes at least 1 "Special Character", the character counter drops to 70. Special characters include emojis, accents, and non-alphanumeric characters.
What about attachments?
MMS attachments like photos or gifs add an extra segment onto your message regardless of length. Please note that Avochato will automatically resize your images to a file size in line with carrier limits.
What about phone calls?
One (1) outbound call minute consumes one (1) segment.
How can I view Billing costs?
Go to Billing - located on the left side of the navigation. Next, go to the tab “Balance and Usage”. The Usage will breakdown the last 7 days of usage. Adjust the Usage “From” and “To” dates to see usage across any custom time period.
Who can see the Account Balance?
Users in the permission level of Owner and Manager can view the Account Balance and Billing information.
- Owners can view the account balance on the top of the dashboard at all times
- Managers can view the account balance by going to Billing Information
- Members do not have access to view the account balance or Billing information (unless the Member has “Can View Billing” toggled on under Invite Users > Actions > “Can View Billing”)
How do I add Account Balance?
Click on your balance at the top right corner of the Avochato interface. A small window will pop-up containing a quick view of your current auto-top up settings and shortcuts to add more balance and viewing your billing & subscription.
Once you click “Add more balance”, you will be redirected to the billing page. Scroll down until you see the “Add more to balance” under “Quick Add-On” section. Click the Add Balance button at the right.
You will be redirected to the checkout page where you can select an amount you’d want to top-up.
Does my Account Balance expire?
No. Your account balance does not expire as long as you have an active subscription on Avochato.
What if I run out of balance?
When the account balance is running low, the owner of the Avochato account will receive email notifications. Ensure you never run out of balance with the optional auto-top up feature. We strongly recommend the owner of the Avochato account to update the Billing - Subscription Details section with “Auto-fill: ON”. If there is no Account Balance, messages will not be sent or received.
Will the automated opt-out message deduct from my balance?
Yes. Any message sent out, automated or not, will deduct from account balance depending on how many segments it use. Please note that because of the opt-out message that is automatically appended to contacts you text for the first time, your segment usage might be higher than you anticipated.