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Send a text to many contacts with broadcasts

Want to send one text to a list of customers at once? In MessageDesk, that’s a broadcast. A broadcast sends the same message to each recipient separately. Every reply comes back as its own private 1-on-1 conversation in your Inbox.
Plan required: Broadcasts are available on the Pro and Enterprise plans. See Pricing.

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How broadcasts work

  • One message, many recipients. Write your message once and MessageDesk sends it to each contact individually.
  • Replies stay private. Recipients don’t see each other or each other’s replies. Each reply opens a private thread you can assign, label, and follow up on.
  • Up to 100 contacts per broadcast. This limit helps prevent spam and abuse. Enterprise workspaces with larger sending needs can ask for a higher limit. Contact us to learn more.
Broadcasts aren’t Group SMS. Group SMS is a separate type of message that creates one shared thread where everyone sees every reply. To learn about it, see Group SMS.

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Send a broadcast from Contacts

This is the fastest way to send a broadcast to a specific group of customers, like everyone in a region or everyone with an upcoming appointment.
  1. Go to Contacts.
  2. Narrow the list to the people you want to reach:
    • Click Filter to create a filter, or
    • Click a filter under Saved Filters in the side menu.
  3. Select the contacts you want to message. Hover over a contact and check the box, or use the checkbox in the header to select the whole page. Set Items per page to 250 to select up to 250 contacts at once.
  4. Click Send Message. MessageDesk opens New message with your selected contacts already added as recipients. If you selected more than 100 contacts, only the first 100 are added (or up to your workspace’s higher limit on Enterprise).
  5. Finish your broadcast in the composer. See Finish and send your broadcast below.
Contacts list with multiple contacts selected and the Send Message button
Save filters you message often. A saved filter works like a reusable list. Open it any time to message the same group again, and it picks up new contacts that match.

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Send a broadcast from New message

Use this when you already know who you’re sending to, or want to message everyone with a certain label or teammate.
  1. In the Inbox, click New Message.
  2. In Recipients, add the people you want to reach. You can:
    • Search and add individual contacts by name or phone number.
    • Copy and paste a list of phone numbers.
    • Select a label to send to the conversations with that label.
    • Select a teammate to send to the conversations assigned to them.
  3. Finish your broadcast in the composer. See the next section.
For the details on each recipient type, see Compose new messages. SMS broadcast compose screen with multiple recipients and Send Individually selected

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Finish and send your broadcast

  1. Choose your Send from number. Pick the connected phone number your contacts expect to hear from.
  2. Choose Send individually. This is the message type that makes your message a broadcast.
  3. Write your message. Add a template, personalization tags, media, or emoji.
  4. Optional: add post-send actions. Automatically apply a label or assign a teammate to every conversation the broadcast creates. This makes replies easy to find and follow up on.
  5. Send now or schedule. Send right away, or schedule the broadcast for later.
After you send, you’ll see Message sends have begun. MessageDesk sends to each recipient in the background, so you can keep working elsewhere in the app.

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Broadcast best practices

  • Include opt-out language in promotional or non-conversational messages, like “Reply STOP to opt out.” See Compliance Center.
  • Target your list first. Smaller, filtered lists get better engagement and fewer opt-outs.
  • Personalize with tags. A first name makes a broadcast read like a 1-on-1 message.
  • Send during business hours. Schedule broadcasts for when your team can respond to replies.

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Frequently asked questions

Many people say “group text” when they mean a broadcast: one message sent to a list of customers. That’s what this page covers. MessageDesk also has Group SMS, which is a different feature that puts everyone in one shared conversation.
No. Each recipient gets their own copy of the message, and their replies come only to you.
Up to 100 contacts per broadcast. If you select more than 100 contacts in Contacts, only the first 100 are added to the message. To reach more people, send another broadcast to the next group. Enterprise workspaces can ask for a higher limit by contacting us.
Broadcasts are available on the Pro and Enterprise plans. If you’re on the Team plan, see Pricing to upgrade.
Yes. Choose Schedule instead of Send now, then pick a date and time. You can review, reschedule, or cancel it from Scheduled messages.