You can send text messages from your MessageBird Dashboard to one or more recipients at the same time by following three easy steps.
Step 1: Creating the message
Go to the left hand side of your dashboard screen and select SMS - Send Campaign. Enter the message within the text area or use a pre-created template.
Personalising your message can be done by using variables in your import called [Custom 1], [Custom 2], [Name] and [Surname]. These variables will be automatically imported into your message as the system associates this information with the contact number of the message recipient.. When a variable is not available, a <space> will be placed instead.
Note: Make sure that these variables are already defined in your contact list (read how to do this in the ‘Add contacts to group’ section under ‘Step 2: Choose the columns’).
Each individual SMS message can hold a maximum of 160 characters including spaces. At the bottom right corner of the text area, you'll find a counter with three numbers that update as you type your message. For example, "10/1377, 1 SMS" means that you've used 10 of your maximum 1,377 characters and it will cost you 1 SMS message to send. "245/1377, 2 SMS" means that you've used 245 of your character maximum and it will cost you 2 SMS messages to send. Read more about how long SMS messages can be and concatenation here.
Step 2: Originator & Recipients
SELECT AN ORIGINATOR
An originator is the name or number that a message is sent from. You can either choose to enter a name or use a (MessageBird) mobile number.
Note: When using a (company/brand) name as the originator, the amount of characters needs to be between 3 and 11. When sending a number, the maximum amount of numbers is 17.
To allow somebody to reply to an SMS, the message needs to have an originator as a number OR a number included in the body of the text. Some countries have restrictions that prevent the originator from being shown the way you send it. Please see our Restrictions page for more information per country.
SELECT ONE OR MORE RECIPIENTS
You can add more recipients by selecting specific contacts or groups from your phonebook or by submitting up to 300 mobile phone numbers manually. You can also start typing a name or number into the 'Manually add a number' box to quickly add a contact from your phonebook.
Tip! Are you planning on sending the same message regularly? Save time and create a template of your message in the ‘Templates’ section.
Step 3: Verify your message
In this final step, it's a good idea to go over your message one last time. Before pressing SEND, ask yourself the following questions: Are all the settings correct? Are there any typos? Did you select the right originator? And, most importantly, have the correct recipients been added?
Please also see our video tutorial below on how to send an SMS from your dashboard: