How much should you budget for an SMS campaign across countries?
You have $75 to announce a sale to 1,000 customers in the US and Canada. Will it cover the send? Start with how many numbers you have in each country.
Price each destination separately
Suppose the list has 600 US numbers and 400 Canadian numbers. Your sale announcement fits in one SMS segment. For this example, assume a rate of $0.06 per US segment and $0.04 per Canadian segment. Use your own destination rates when you run the numbers.
United States: 600 recipients × 1 segment × $0.06 = $36
Canada: 400 recipients × 1 segment × $0.04 = $16
$52 total. That leaves $23 of your $75 budget.
A longer test version can change the start estimate
Now suppose you add a second version with an extra line about store hours. The editor shows two segments for that version and one for the original. When you start a split test, SMS Studio uses the highest segment count among the versions to estimate the cost for everyone still waiting to receive the text.
In this example the US estimate becomes $72 and the Canadian estimate becomes $32. The campaign now needs an estimated $104 to start. A prepaid balance of $75 covered the first draft, so a “Not enough balance” message can come as a surprise. The $104 is a planning figure; it doesn’t mean everyone will receive the longer text.
What to change before you send
If the $75 budget is fixed, try shortening the store-hours line. Check the segment count with the final link and opt-out text in place. If both versions fit in one segment, the estimate returns to $52. If the extra detail matters more, keep it and price a smaller audience by country.
To try this with your own list, open the calculator for each destination below. Enter that country’s recipient count and the highest segment count in your campaign, then add the country totals.