Creating a text message campaign

This guide walks through building and sending a bulk SMS 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. Switch to the Campaigns view (toggle at the top right).
3. Select New SMS Campaign to open the Bulk SMS Sender. (To keep working on an existing draft, select its name in the Campaigns list instead.)

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. Save and close saves your progress as a draft so you can finish later.

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 dropdown.
2. The panel shows the list details, including the list type (for example 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.

A fixed list's total can change before the scheduled send time if the list is edited.

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 beside the message. 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. Check the character and units estimate in the Message preview card (for example "Estimated 66 characters = 1 SMS unit") — longer messages use more SMS units.
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 — choose an opt-out method for recipients:
   • Create a custom message (recommended) — add your own opt-out wording.
   • Recipients can reply UNSUB to opt-out — gives recipients the standard UNSUB reply option.
   • 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, Total estimate cost and Sender number. If you've changed the campaign, select Recalculate now to refresh the figures (merge fields may affect the final cost).
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).
• 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.