Creating a text message campaign

This guide walks through building and sending a bulk text message campaign using the Bulk SMS Sender. Text messages are a paid send funded from your account's Communications Wallet, so keep the wallet topped up before sending.

Starting a campaign

1. Open Texts from the left-hand menu.
2. Select New SMS Campaign to open the Bulk SMS Sender. The button is available from both the Inbox and Campaigns views.
3. To keep working on an existing draft instead, switch to the Campaigns view and select the draft's name.

The Bulk SMS Sender has four steps shown across the top: Campaign, Setup, Compose and Schedule. Use Next to move forward and Back to return to a previous step; you can also select a step's name to jump to it. Save and close saves your progress as a draft so you can finish later, and Cancel leaves the sender.

Step 1 — Campaign

1. On the Campaign Details screen, enter a Campaign name. This is for your own reference and identifies the campaign in the Campaigns list.
2. Select Next.

Step 2 — Setup (choose recipients)

1. Under Choose your recipients list, select a list from the Select.
2. The panel shows the list details, including the List type (for example Live or Fixed) and the Total mobiles it contains.
3. To change who is included, select Edit in Lists to open the list in the Lists feature.
4. Select Next.

The number of recipients can change before the scheduled send time. For a live list the panel says so directly: the total depends on the list's criteria at the time the campaign sends.

Step 3 — Compose

1. Sender number — choose the sender name or number recipients will see (for example "SwiftFox Mobile"). Pick one recipients will recognise and trust.
2. Draft your message — type your message in the box. To personalise it, use Insert merge fields above the message or type @ (see Using merge fields in text messages), then set fallback values in the Merge field fallbacks accordion beneath the Message preview card. Two further controls sit above the message: Templates opens the Template library so you can apply a saved message, and Save as template stores the current message with its merge fields and fallbacks for reuse (see Save and reuse SMS templates).
3. Beneath the message, a note reminds you that "Message length and unit cost may increase based on the merged content." Longer messages use more SMS units.
   • Pictures (MMS) — if the sender number you chose is MMS-capable, you can attach one image or GIF to the message. A required Subject field appears once an image is attached, and the campaign is sent and costed as MMS. See Sending pictures in text messages (MMS).
4. Use the Message preview card beside the message to check how it will arrive — it also carries the opt-out reply and the character and units estimate — and Send test message to send yourself a sample.
5. Unsubscribe — under "Choose how recipients can opt-out", pick one of the three options, listed here in the order they appear:
   • Recipients can reply UNSUB to opt-out — gives recipients the standard UNSUB reply option.
   • Create a custom message — add your own opt-out wording. We recommend this option; see Text message opt-outs and unsubscribes.
   • No unsubscribe option (not recommended).
6. Select Next.

Step 4 — Schedule and send

1. Under Date and time, set when the campaign should send — now or a later date and time — and confirm the Time zone.
2. In Cost estimate, review the Total recipients, Message units, Total estimate cost and Sender number. A campaign with a picture attached is estimated at your MMS rate. Last calculated shows when the estimate was last worked out ("Not calculated" until you calculate it). If you've changed the campaign, select Recalculate now to refresh the figures. A notice, "Merge fields may affect final cost", reminds you that merged content can lengthen the message.
3. When you're ready, select Finalise to send or schedule the campaign.

After sending

• Sent campaigns appear in the Campaigns view with a Sent status. Open a sent campaign's ⋮ menu and select View to see per-recipient delivery results and export them (see Text campaign results (per-recipient delivery status)).
• Inbound replies appear in the Texts Inbox and on each Contact's profile.

Good to know

• Sends are funded from your Communications Wallet; keep it topped up so campaigns can send.
• Who can create and send bulk campaigns is controlled by the Send SMS campaigns permission per User Group (see Text message permissions for user groups).
• To send a one-off message to a single Contact instead, use the Send text quick action on their profile.