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Broadcasts: Quick Starter for Classic

This training module will get you sending a simple text message broadcast to your contacts using the Classic Prompt.io broadcast wizard.

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Note that in the classic version of Prompt, a text broadcast is called a Contact Action.

Navigate to Automation → Contact Actions

From the Home page, navigate to the Automations tab.

On the Automations tab, navigate to Contact Actions.

Create a New Contact Action

Select the Add Contact Action button in the upper right corner.

Specify the Recipients of the Broadcast

1. Broadcast Name

Give the broadcast a descriptive name — for example “Call for Volunteers” or something memorable.

2. Select contact lists

Select the lists of contacts you wish to target. Multiple lists can be targeted.

3. Tags

If you like, you can specify a tag or tags that must be present on the selected contacts — for example, if you select List A and List B and Tag T, only contacts that appear on List A or B that also have Tag T will be targeted. If more than one tag is selected, the broadcast will target contacts that possess one or more of the specified tags.

4. Exclude Tags

If you like you can also specify tags to exclude. For instance, if you have List A selected and Tag E excluded, the broadcast will target everyone on List A that does not have Tag E.

5. Data Store

You can also match by data store values. This is data that is associated with each contact and is typically uploaded via CSV when the contact lists are imported. Data store values must match exactly.

6. Targets

The number of targets matching the specified criteria updates in real-time and represents the number of contacts that will receive the broadcast text.

When the targets have been selected, press the Continue button.

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Targeting without selecting Contact Lists

Note that it is possible to use Tag and Data Store selection to target contacts without selecting a contact list. If this is done, the system will match the specified criteria against all of the contacts in the platform.

Select Action

On this screen you'll most likely be sending either a simple text via the Post Reply fulfillment or you'll be sending an MMS by utilizing the Send A File fulfillment.

Sending a Standard Text Message

Using Field Merge

Using field merge to personalize each outbound text may improve deliverability and engagement. The most common fields to merge are the recipients first name and the first of the person sending the text:

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Hello {first} this is {peerFirst} -- we're looking for volunteers on Saturday. Are you available?

When you’re happy with your message, press the Continue button.

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Please don’t copy/paste

Do not copy/paste from Microsoft Word or another source. Please type out the message. Sometimes copy/paste will introduce special characters that can cause issues.

Sending a File

If you wish to send an MMS, select Send a File from the fulfillment list:

Drag and drop the file to send in the box. File size is very important to ensure great MMS delivery.

Video should be limited to 500kb.

Images should be limited to under 1mb for best delivery.

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Sending an image and a text at the same time Note that is it possible to send a MMS file and text in the same message. Simply add both fulfillment types (Post Reply and Send a File) and Prompt will merge the text and image into a single MMS message to be sent.

Configure Send Options

1. Select Channels

Select the outbound phone numbers you wish to send your text.

2. Processing type

This option may or not be present. If it is present, select “Consent to message on file” if you have full opt in and wish to send this message without requiring a team member to manually send each message. Or, select “Require manual confirmation” if you want to send these messages peer-to-peer and require a manual send for each outbound text.

3. Schedule

If you’d like, you can schedule the texts to be sent at a date in the future. Simply enable and select the date and time.

4. Message Time Restrictions

Usually, you’ll be ignoring this option. This is only used for broadcasts with a very large number of contacts. This option can automatically pause the broadcast at a specific time — say you don’t want many messages to go out after 9am.

5. Start In Paused State

Select this option if you wish to get all the texts and broadcast ready to be sent but you’re not quite ready for delivery to commence. Peer-to-peer confirmations can all be done ahead, and then when you’re ready for messages to start being delivered, you can “resume” the paused broadcast.

When the Send Options are configured, press Continue.

Configure Error Handling

In most cases, leave this checkbox unselected and simply press Continue.

If you are unsure about this, please contact your texting lead to determine what should be selected or configured for this options.

Configure Peer-To-Peer Assignment and Routing

1. Assign to last team member

If selected, the last team member to interact with the contact will be assigned to interact with that contact again. If you want to preserve consistency or team-member-to-contact across broadcastts, select this option.

2. Distribution of texts

3. Reply Routing

When a contact replies to an outbound broadcast text, the reply can be routed in three ways: to the sender, to a shared inbox, or round robin to the assigned team members.

4. Select Team Members

Select the team members you wish to have participate in this broadcast. Selected team members will be able to send the outbound messages via peer-to-peer texting and can be assigned inbound replies via the Reply Routing configured in #3 above.

5. Tag Routing

If you wish replies from contacts with a specific tag associated to be routed to specific team members, select the tag here. For instance, in the screenshot below, any contact with the tag VIP will be routed to Phil. Tag Routing has higher priority than Reply Routing when configured. This is most commonly used to route contacts tagged with, say, the Spanish tag to Spanish speaking team members.

Team Member Notification

If you wish, Prompt can send a text to selected team members telling them that they have some texts that need to be sent. Modify this message as you wish.

When P2P reply routing has been configured, select Continue.

Finish!

We’re finally ready to send some texts!

Review the configuration of your broadcast, and if you’re happy with it, select the Create Contact Action button.