Usage and Billing

To inspect various metrics that reflect your organization's use of Iterable, metrics which may impact your bill, and to review your saved payment information, visit the Usage and Billing screen.

# In this article

# Differences between usage and campaign metrics

There are some differences in the way Iterable calculates the metrics reported in Messaging Insights and Campaign Analytics and how Iterable calculates metrics for usage and billing purposes.

Because the metrics from each report are calculated differently, their values do not match. Campaign Analytics and Messaging Insights reports shouldn't be compared to billing and usage metrics for auditing purposes.

When reviewing metrics, reference the right report for the type of information you're seeking:

• To evaluate user behavior and campaign performance, reference campaign metrics.

• To understand your organization's Iterable use and the related impact to billing, review usage and billing metrics.

Here are some reasons metrics vary:

• Scope – Usage and billing metrics reflect data usage for an entire organization (and for individual projects), while campaign metrics reflect campaign performance details for a project or selected campaigns in a project. There are also some nuances to the scope of SMS sends, as described later in this article.

• Time zone – Discrepancies between campaign metrics and usage/billing metrics may appear when a campaign is sent from a time zone that’s different from the one specified for Billing and Usage (Pacific Standard). Differences will likely be more significant for campaigns sent from time zones that are many hours outside of the PST time zone. Campaigns sent when rate limiting is in use, and campaigns sent using the user’s time zone may see similar impacts.

  For more information, talk with your customer success manager.

• Deleted users – Campaign metrics include events that are associated with existing users. If a user is deleted during the time range being reported on, their usage is not included in campaign metrics. Conversely, usage and billing metrics are based on daily snapshots of data usage, so high water mark metrics count users and events that were deleted during the billing period.

• Deleted events – If an event is deleted, it will continue to be reflected in usage metrics for a time that correlates with data retention periods. In cases where the default retention period (unlimited) is in use, you might consider the value gained by retaining events indefinitely vs the cost of retaining them.

  For more information about setting retention periods for individual events or events in bulk, see Managing Custom Event Retention. For information about viewing usage details, see Monitoring Custom Event Usage.

• Archived messages – When a project is archived, no additional data usage is calculated for it, however, data used from the beginning of the current billing period (first of the month) to the archival date (inclusive) is considered for billing purposes. For example, if you send a campaign, and then archive the project associated with the campaign, the number of messages sent (or, for SMS, message segments sent) is included for billing purposes.

• Variations in timing of calculations and reporting – Iterable pulls usage data for a period of time starting at 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM (always PST) for data used the previous day, and this information is reported in Iterable up to 2.5 hours later. Campaign-related data is calculated based on a snapshot in time, so start and end dates of specified ranges may calculate different results than a 24-hour usage period.

# Usage and Billing screen

The Usage and Billing screen displays various metrics related to your Iterable organization's messaging, contacts, Catalog, and data usage:

To view the Usage and Billing screen, navigate to Settings > Billing.

To change the date range for the metrics displayed here, use the date selector. All metrics are calculated in the PST time zone.

To view these metrics broken down on a per-project basis, click View Project Breakdown for any category.

# Messaging usage metrics

The Messaging section of the Usage and Billing screen displays the following metrics:

• Emails Sent - Count of emails sent during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization.

• SMS and MMS Sent - Count of outbound SMS and MMS campaign messages sent during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization. Includes bounces; does not include send skips or segment count.

• SMS and MMS Received - Count of outbound SMS and MMS campaign messages received during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization. Does not include segment count.

• Push Sent - Count of push notifications sent during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization.

• Successful SMS Verifications - Count of successful SMS verifications. This number does not include verification attempts where the code is incorrect.

# Detailed SMS metrics

Below the overall Messaging metrics, you'll see these detailed SMS and MMS usage metrics:

• SMS Sent - Count of outbound SMS campaign messages sent during the
  selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization. Includes bounces; does not include send skips or segment count.

• SMS Segments Sent - Count of outbound SMS segments sent during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization.

• SMS Received - Count of inbound SMS campaign messages received (such as replies) during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization. Does not include segment count.

• SMS Segments Received - Count of total inbound SMS segments received during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization.

• MMS Sent - Count of outbound MMS campaign messages sent during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization. Includes bounces but not send skips.

• MMS Received - Count of inbound MMS messages received (such as replies) during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization.

To view a breakdown of usage by SMS service, click on each metric name to expand.

• Iterable SMS - Messages or segments that were sent or received through Iterable SMS services.

• Telnyx Direct - Messages or segments that were sent or received through your Telnyx account.

• Twilio Direct - Messages or segments that were sent or received through your Twilio account.

# SMS metric considerations

Here are some important considerations when reviewing these metrics:

# SMS campaign metrics vs SMS usage and billing metrics

SMS metrics calculate and report the number of segments sent and consider whether a message is SMS or MMS. Billing for SMS services is based on actual data usage, not campaign performance.

# SMS sent vs SMS segments sent

One SMS message can correlate to multiple SMS segments. Segmentation occurs when the SMS message exceeds a predetermined character limit. Therefore, the number of SMS campaign messages sent may not be equal to the number of SMS segments sent.

To learn all about SMS segments, character encoding, and size limits, read Creating SMS Templates.

# Processing delays

After Iterable sends a message request to your SMS provider, there can be a
delay before receiving the final delivery status of the message back from the provider. The time of the final status determines when an SMS is billed. This may cause SMS messages sent on one day to be charged on the next day. You'll most likely notice this impact for SMS messages sent on the last day of a billing period.

# Examples

These examples illustrate why SMS campaign can differ from SMS usage and billing metrics:

Single SMS segment

For an SMS campaign with a single segment, the number of SMS sent equals the number of segments sent. You'd see metrics such as:

• 363,657 total SMS sent (campaign metric)
• 363,657 SMS sent (usage and billing metric)
• 363,657 SMS segments sent (usage and billing metric)

Multiple SMS segments

For an SMS campaign with 3 segments,metrics could look like this:

• 363,657 total SMS sent (campaign metric)
• 363,657 SMS sent (usage and billing metric)
• 1,090,971 SMS segments sent (usage and billing metric)

Variable SMS segments

If an SMS campaign sends messages that vary in length from one user to the next (because of dynamic data), here's what that can look like:

• 363,657 total SMS sent (campaign metric)
• 363,657 SMS sent (usage and billing metric)
• 581,851 SMS segments sent (usage and billing metric)

MMS Campaign

For an SMS campaign that sends MMS messages, total SMS equals MMS sent, like this:

• 363,657 total SMS sent (campaign metric)
• 363,657 MMS sent (usage and billing metric)

Delayed SMS

If your SMS campaign was partially delayed, some messages were sent the next day, that may impact billing. This can include occurrences like rate limiting, quiet hours, and carrier delays. Here is a snapshot of that scenario:

• Campaign metric: 363,657 total SMS sent on January 31st
• Usage and billing metrics:
  • 290,925 SMS sent on January 31st
  • 72,732 SMS sent on February 1st

# Global SMS metrics

Global SMS metrics only include messages sent and received from Iterable SMS services. If you're sending international SMS through your own Telnyx or Twilio account, this table doesn't count those campaigns.

• SMS Sent - Count of outbound SMS campaign messages sent by Iterable SMS during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization. Includes bounces; does not include send skips or segment count.

• SMS Segments Sent - Count of outbound SMS segments sent by Iterable SMS during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization.

• SMS Received - Count of inbound SMS campaign messages received by Iterable SMS (such as replies) during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization. Does not include segment count.

• SMS Segments Received - Count of total inbound SMS segments received by Iterable SMS during the selected date range, across all the Iterable projects in your organization.

• SMS Usage by Country - Counts of total outbound SMS Sent and SMS Segments sent by Iterable SMS. Countries are ordered by descending value.

# Export Project Breakdown

To download a CSV file that includes a breakdown of SMS metrics by country and by project, use Export Project Breakdown.

Exported fields include:

Org ID, Org name, Project ID, Project name, Start date, End date, RecipientCountryName, RecipientCountryCallingCode, SenderPhoneNumberType, SMS Sent, SMS received, SMS segments sent, SMS segments received, MMS sent, and MMS received.

# User metrics

In Users, you'll find the following metrics:

• Current - The total number of users saved by your Iterable organization, across all its projects, as of today's date. This metric is not impacted by the date selector.

• Users Added - The total number of users added, across all of your Iterable organization's projects, during the selected date range. Deleted users do not decrease this number, it won't reflect whether your total user count increased or decreased.

• High Water Mark - The highest number of users saved by your Iterable organization, across all its projects, during the selected period. Includes the date when this peak value was reached.

• Active Users (Lifetime Value) - The total number of users that have been sent an email within in the last 90 days, across all Iterable projects.

• Active Users Added - The total number of users added within the selected period that have been sent an email within the last 90 days.

# Custom event usage metrics

The Custom Events section of the Usage and Billing screen displays the following metrics:

• Current - The total number of custom events saved for your Iterable organization, across all its projects, as of today's date. This metric is not impacted by the date selector.

• Custom Events Stored - The total number of custom events stored as of the last date of the selected period.

• High Water Mark - The highest number of custom events stored for your Iterable organization, across all its projects, during the selected period. Includes the date when this peak value was reached.

  TIP

  You can reduce your total custom events stored by setting data retention policies, which define how long Iterable stores your custom events before deleting them. To learn more, read Managing Custom Event Retention.

# Catalog usage metrics

The Catalog section displays these metrics:

• Catalog References - The sum of Lookup References, Collection References, and Product Recommendations for the selected date range.

• Lookup References - The total number of catalog lookups made by Iterable to support #catalog Handlebars references, during the selected date range, across all your organization's Iterable projects.

• Collection References - The total number of catalog lookups made by Iterable to support #catalogCollection Handlebars references, during the selected date range, across all your organization's Iterable projects.

• Product Recommendations - The total number of product recommendation references resolved by Iterable during the selected date range, across all your organization's Iterable projects.

# Payment information

To enter a credit card or manage an existing payment method, use the widget in the Payment Information section at the bottom of the Usage and Billing screen:

# Questions?

If you have billing-related questions, please contact billing@iterable.com.

# Want to learn more?

For more information about some of the topics in this article, check out this Iterable Academy course. Iterable Academy is open to everyone — you don't need to be an Iterable customer!

• Product Bite: Viewing and Monitoring Usage in Iterable

• Product Bite: SMS Billing