Opening the SMS compose flow
Open Reach next to a contact record in Intercom.
On the Home screen, click Send SMS.
Reach opens the SMS compose screen pre-filled with the contact’s phone number and a matching Octopods SMS channel.
If the contact has more than one SMS channel, pick the channel you want to send from before continuing.
Composing the message
The compose screen has a single Message textarea with the placeholder “Type your message…”. Type your message directly — SMS has no template requirement.
Insert name. If the contact has a first name on file, tap Insert name to drop it into the message at the current cursor position.
Character and segment counter. Below the textarea, Reach shows the running character count and the number of SMS segments your message will use.
Encoding indicator. Reach detects whether your message fits into GSM-7 (the standard SMS alphabet) or needs Unicode (UCS-2) and updates the segment count accordingly.
Understanding segments and encoding
SMS is billed per segment, not per message, so the encoding and length matter:
GSM-7 encoding fits up to 160 characters per segment. This covers plain English letters, numbers, and most common punctuation.
Unicode (UCS-2) encoding fits up to 70 characters per segment. Any emoji, accented character, or other non-GSM character forces the whole message into Unicode.
Reach highlights the encoding in the footer. When your message is about to shift from GSM-7 to Unicode, a yellow notice compares the segment cost in each encoding so you can decide whether to rewrite.
Tip: Replacing a single emoji or curly quote with its ASCII equivalent can cut your cost in half. Reach’s encoding indicator tells you exactly when that tradeoff is worth making.
Conversation toggle
Above the Preview button, a checkbox controls whether Octopods creates a new CRM conversation when the SMS goes out. Checked, the label reads Start new conversation in Intercom; unchecked, Send without conversation in Intercom. Turn it on for two-way exchanges; turn it off for one-way notifications. If a conversation already exists for this contact, the checkbox becomes a disabled note showing the existing conversation number — the SMS is added to that thread automatically.
Review and send
Tap Preview to open the Review SMS screen.
Check the To, From, Encoding, Segments, and Characters fields.
Tap Send SMS.
The button shows Sending… while the request is in flight.
Delivery confirmation
A successful send lands on the SMS sent screen. Reach shows:
The recipient and channel.
The segment count used (Sent as N segment(s)).
A live delivery timeline that progresses from Queued to Sent to Delivered.
If you checked the conversation checkbox, a Conversation created in Intercom notice appears so you can jump into the new thread.
When the send fails
If delivery fails, Reach shows the SMS not delivered screen with:
A short error headline.
A longer description.
The Twilio error code where available (for example, invalid number, recipient opted out, unreachable, region not enabled).
A suggested next step.
Recovery options:
Edit message & retry — go back to the compose screen to adjust the message or recipient.
Back to Home — abandon the send.
For the full list of SMS error codes and what to do about them, see Troubleshooting Failed Proactive Messages.
What’s next