Question

Under what conditions are links appended to SMS messages in Everbridge Suite?

Answer

There are three types of links appended to SMS messages:

• Links to the remainder of an SMS message:

With the introduction of Single SMS, SMS messages greater than 160 characters are truncated to 160 characters* and a link is appended to the SMS message that, if followed, allows the Contact to see the remainder of the message.

• Links to confirm message receipt:

If the parameter Include Short URL in SMS Confirmation is enabled under Settings > Organization > Notifications > SMS Options and the message does not exceed the maximum limit of 160 characters*, a link is appended to the SMS message that allows a Contact to confirm message receipt.

• Links specifically added to SMS messages through the Add Web Page Message functionality of custom SMS messages.

When creating a custom SMS Message using the Use custom SMS message parameter, a Web Page Message can be added to the SMS message by checking the Add Web Page Message parameter which will add a URL to an SMS message that leads to a custom Web page.

To disable links from being appended to SMS messages:

• Ensure the message does not exceed 160 characters*.
• Disable the Add Web Page Message parameter under Notifications > New Notification > Use custom SMS message.
• Disable the Include Short URL in SMS Confirmation setting under Settings > Organization > Notifications.

* In the case of special characters that use UCS encoding instead of GSM encoding, the character limit is 70 characters. For more information see knowledge article EBS: GSM-7 and UCS-2 Character Encodings and Their Importance When Sending SMS Messages.