Summary | Pulse‐like records are well recognized for their potential to impose higher demands on structures when compared with ordinary records. The increased severity of the structural response usually caused by pulse‐like records is commonly attributed to the spectral increment around the pulse period. By comparing the building response to sets of spectrally equivalent pulse‐like and ordinary records, we show that there are characteristics of pulse‐like records beyond the shape of the acceleration response spectrum that affect the results of nonlinear dynamic analysis. Nevertheless, spectral shape together with the ratio of pulse period to the first‐mode structural period, T_p/T₁, are confirmed as “sufficient” predictors for deformation and acceleration response metrics in a building, conditioned on the seismic intensity. Furthermore, the average spectral acceleration over a period range, AvgSA, is shown to incorporate to a good proxy for spectral shape, and together with T_p/T₁, form an efficient and sufficient intensity measure for response prediction to pulse‐like ground motions. Following this latter route, we propose a record selection scheme that maintains the consistency of T_p with the hazard of the site but uses AvgSA to account for the response sensitivity to spectral shape.