Individually texting or emailing hundreds of contacts the exact same message can be time consuming and difficult to coordinate. Instead of sending the same message hundreds of times, you can create a file with all of your recipients’ contact information and send them each a message at the same time. This can be a great way to notify all your customers of special business hours or new store policies. To use bulk messaging, please contact Product Support by logging into your Podium account and initiating a live chat.
Before You Begin
You’ll need to create a spreadsheet (saved as a CSV file) with each contact’s name and phone number or email address. You can refer to the table to see how to format your list.
| Field Name | Example Format |
|---|---|
| Customer Name |
First Name Last Name Fullname(Last, First) Fullname(First Last) |
| Customer Phone |
XXXXXXXXXX (XXX)XXXXXXX (XXX)XXX-XXXX XXX-XXX-XXXX +1XXXXXXXXXX +1(XXX)XXXXXXX +1(XXX)XXX-XXXX +1XXX-XXX-XXXX |
| Customer Email | john.doe@podium.com |
Sending Bulk Messages
Once your file has been created and properly formatted, you’re ready to start sending messages. It’s important to note that you can only send promotional text messages to customers who have opted in to receive marketing messages. To learn more about sending promotional text messages, read Campaigns Overview.
To send a bulk message:
- Go to Automations and click Bulk Upload.
- Click Custom Message.
- Click Choose CSV to upload and select the file containing your customer information.
- Click Yes if your file has a header; click No if it doesn’t.
- Click the column that shows your contact names and link it to the Customer Name field.
- Click the column that shows phone numbers and link it to the Customer Phone field. You can also use the email address.
- Click Next.
- Select an existing template or create a template.
- Click Next.
- Select the checkbox to accept the terms and conditions.
- Click Send Automation.
