Can I organize contacts into groups? (Archives)

(If using the new platform design, please click here.)

--

Having the ability to organize your contacts into groups is an important feature of any SMS marketing service. With Mobile Text Alerts, you can add, edit, and remove groups and contacts via the Control Panel, which makes it easier to keep your contact lists updated. You no longer have to comb through individual records to find the contacts you're looking for.

Our SMS marketing service is especially helpful for marketers at all types of organizations so that you don’t have to individually select recipients each time you want to send a message.

(For instructions on how to manage groups via the mobile app, click here.)

Table of contents:

I. Adding Groups

II. Adding Contacts to Groups

III. Removing Contacts from Groups

IV. Editing and Deleting Groups

V. Other Things to Know

I. Adding Groups

Step 1: Go to the “Manage Groups” page

To add a group, first log in to your account here. Then click on “Manage Groups” on the left side of your screen:

You will then see this page:

Step 2: Click “Add a Group”

To add a group, click the green “Add a Group” button towards the top of your screen. A new row will be added to the table.

Step 3: Enter group name and click "Save"

II. Adding Contacts to Groups

OPTION 1: Add contacts manually

You can add contacts to your group manually from the Control Panel.

• Step 1: Go to the “Manage Contacts” page.

• Step 2: Click on the row of a contact (or hold shift and click on the rows of multiple contacts) that you want to add to your group.

• Step 3: Click “Add Contacts to Group” towards the middle of your screen and then select from the drop-down menu which group you want to add your contact(s) to.

OPTION 2: Add people to groups via spreadsheet

• Make sure you have a GroupName column in your spreadsheet and upload a spreadsheet per the instructions here.

OPTION 3: Have contacts sign up for groups on your sign-up page

Your contacts will have the option to sign up for your various groups from your sign-up page.

Your contacts can simply check which groups they want to be added to, click “Sign Up Now,” and they will be automatically added to those groups. (More information about the sign-up page can be found here.)

OPTION 4: Have contacts text in to be subscribed to a group

If you have groups set up, you are able to set up opt-in keywords and assign a group to those new keywords on the Opt-in Keywords page. (Note that your account will come with a certain number of free keywords and additional will cost $5/month.) People can text the keyword in to the number shown on the Opt-in Keywords page to be subscribed to your account and automatically added to the assigned group.

III. Removing Contacts from Groups

OPTION 1: Remove contacts from groups on the “Manage Contacts” page

• Step 1: Go to the “Manage Contacts” page.

• Step 2: Click on the row of a contact (or hold shift and click on the rows of multiple contacts) that you want to remove from your group.

• Step 3: Click “Remove Contacts from Group” towards the middle of your screen and then select from the drop-down menu which group you want to remove your contact(s) from.

OPTION 2: Remove contacts from groups on the “Manage Groups” page

• Step 1: Go to the “Manage Groups” page.

• Step 2: Click “View Members” on the row of the group that you would like to remove contacts from. Another box will show up on your screen showing you a list of all the members in that group.

• Step 3: Click the “Remove from Group” arrow on the row of the contact that you want to remove from that group.

OPTION 3: Have people remove themselves from a group by replying "Leave GroupName" to any of your messages

• If your contact wants to remove themselves from a group they can reply with the word Leave and then the name of the group.
• I.e., if the group name was "Staff," your contact could reply "Leave Staff" to your message and they will be removed from the Staff group.
• This function allows contacts to remove themselves from a group without unsubscribing them from your account totally.

IV. Editing and Deleting Groups

Go to the “Manage Groups” page to edit or remove your groups.

Editing

To edit the name of a group, click on the pencil-and-paper icon under the “Edit” column of the group that you would like to edit.

You can then enter in a new name for your group. Don’t forget to click “Save” when you are done editing!

Deleting

To delete a group from your account, click the trash bin icon on the group you would like to remove. Or select the group(s) that you would like to remove and click the red “Remove Groups” button. (Note: this will not delete any of the contacts in that group.)

V. Other Things to Know

There are a few other features on the “Manage Groups” page that you might find helpful.

Search

Type a query into the search box on your keyboard to quickly find a specific group on your account. This is especially useful if you have a large number of groups on your account.

Export

Click “Export” to and "Print" to see a printer-friendly version of the page that you can print from your browser.

View Members

You can see a list of all the contacts that belong to a specific group by clicking “View Members” on that group’s row. This will cause a screen to come up showing a report of all the members’ names, phone numbers, and email addresses.

--

Start sending mass text alerts today with Mobile Text Alerts!