Event Marketing
How Much Does SMS Marketing Cost for Events? Credits, Segments and Examples
Understand BassFan SMS pricing, destination rates, multi-segment messages, campaign previews, and how to estimate the budget for a club night or festival.
By Maxime · · 11 min read
The honest answer to “how much will this event SMS campaign cost?” is: it depends on where recipients are located and how many SMS segments each personalised message uses. BassFan does not hide that behind one misleading global per-message figure. It calculates the exact destination-weighted total during preview.
- 3.5p
- Cost of one BassFan messaging credit
- Variable
- Credits used per SMS segment by destination
- Previewed
- Exact total shown before confirmation
- Shared
- One wallet funds SMS and email
The BassFan SMS pricing formula
Campaign cost = the sum of each recipient’s segment count × destination credit rate. One credit costs 3.5p. The country pricing screen in Marketing shows the current credits required per SMS segment for each supported destination, and rates refresh regularly.
What is an SMS segment?
A segment is a billing unit used by mobile networks. A concise message using the standard GSM character set can fit into one segment. Longer messages are split into concatenated segments. When messages are concatenated, a small part of each segment is used to join them, so the usable character count per segment changes.
Certain characters may require Unicode encoding, which reduces the number of characters available in a segment. Personalisation matters too: replacing `{{firstName}}` with “Alex” may fit while replacing it with a much longer name may create an extra segment for that recipient.
Worked campaign examples
The figures below explain the method and deliberately use hypothetical destination rates. Check the live country table and server preview for an actual campaign.
| Audience | Segments | Example rate | Credits | Cost at 3.5p/credit |
|---|
| 500 recipients in one destination | 1 each | 1 credit/segment | 500 | £17.50 |
| 500 recipients in one destination | 2 each | 1 credit/segment | 1,000 | £35.00 |
| 1,200 recipients in one destination | 1 each | 1.5 credits/segment | 1,800 | £63.00 |
| 250 at 1 credit + 250 at 2 credits | 1 each | Mixed | 750 | £26.25 |
Why recipient count alone is not enough
- Two campaigns to 1,000 people can cost differently when their destination mix differs.
- A message that crosses from one segment to two can approximately double its SMS portion.
- Personalised fields can produce different rendered lengths for different contacts.
- Invalid, unavailable, or unpriced destinations should be resolved before sending.
- The final accepted or settled outcome may differ from an initial rough spreadsheet estimate.
How to reduce event SMS cost without reducing impact
- Write one focused message instead of compressing the whole event page into a text.
- Use a short tracked link that leads to a complete mobile event page.
- Remove repeated lineup names when the headline act or event brand already carries the message.
- Preview after adding personalisation, not before.
- Segment the audience by city or interest rather than sending every event to everyone.
- Reserve SMS for moments where speed and visibility justify the cost; use email for detail.
SMS versus email cost on BassFan
BassFan email marketing uses 0.1 credit per accepted email. Because one credit costs 3.5p, that is 0.35p per accepted email. Ten accepted emails use one credit. SMS uses destination-weighted credits per segment, so it normally costs more per recipient but provides a different kind of reach and urgency.
Building a realistic event budget
- Import only contacts with valid, explicit permission.
- Write the actual personalised message.
- Open the country pricing table to understand the audience mix.
- Generate the BassFan server preview.
- Compare total credits with your shared wallet.
- Estimate break-even ticket sales: campaign cost divided by net revenue per ticket.
- Confirm the send only after checking the link, sender, recipients, segment count, and total.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does one text always use one credit?
No. Credits per segment vary by destination, and one rendered message can contain multiple segments.
What does one BassFan credit cost?
One credit costs 3.5p. The campaign preview converts the audience and segment calculation into the exact number of credits required.
What happens if pricing changes after preview?
BassFan validates the reviewed quote again. If the audience, content, segmentation, or destination pricing changed, the send is rejected so you can create a fresh preview.
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