How do I message a list of contacts from a .csv file?

Do you need to save your list of recipients or send to a set of more than 1000 contacts? Try a campaign message.

Sending a bulk message allows you to copy and paste a group of contacts who aren't already in groups, programs, or datasets in our texting platform. 

Watch the video below to learn how to send bulk messages.

Copy and paste the formula into your spreadsheet. Replace "A1:A100" with the range of cells containing your phone numbers or customer_ID.

=TEXTJOIN(",", TRUE, A1:A100)

When to Use Bulk Messages:

• You have a list of recipients' contact information that you want to message.
• You won't be using this group for ongoing or future communications, eliminating the need to create a permanent group or dataset.
• You don't need to store data from responses. (Need to save response data? Use a campaign message instead!)

Basics of Bulk Messaging:

• You need a comma-separated list of phone numbers, student IDs, or other identifiers.
• A single bulk message is limited to 1000 entries. If your list exceeds this limit, divide it into sets of 1000 entries or fewer.
• Each entry can be a group, a phone number, or an ID number.

Creating a Comma-Separated List:

Method 1: Using a Document or Table 

1. If your contact list is in a document, manually add a comma after each entry.
2. After adding commas, you can copy the list and paste it into the "Send To" box in Message. The entries that correspond to contacts in the platform will convert to blue.

Method 2: Using a Spreadsheet

1. Open your spreadsheet.

2. Use the formula "=TEXTJOIN(",", TRUE, A1:A100)" to create a comma-separated list. Replace "A1:A100" with the cell range containing your data.

=TEXTJOIN(",", TRUE, A1:A100)

3. Type or copy and paste this formula into an empty cell in Excel.

4. Select the appropriate range and press Enter. You will see the cell populate with your comma-separated list.

Sending the Bulk Message:

After you've prepared your comma-separated list, follow these steps to send the bulk message:

1. Send a new message.

2. Choose your program or campaign.

3. Paste the comma-separated list of numbers into the "Send To" box.

4. The platform will automatically convert entries with matching contacts to blue and mark those without matching contacts in red.

5. To clean up your contacts, manually remove the red entries or select "remove all."

Composing and Sending Your Message:

You can now compose your message and choose to send it immediately or schedule it for future delivery. This process simplifies sending messages to specific recipients who may not be part of your regular contact groups or datasets in your texting platform.