Broadcast Texting, or blast texting, lets you send text messages to lists of subscribers, with the additional benefits of back-and-forth conversations, data tracking, and more.

Because Broadcast Texts are set up and sent via the Impactive administrator dashboard, they are not a traditional "action" that is published to the Impactive volunteer interface; however, to manage subsequent conversations/replies to a broadcast, you may still need to access the inbox in the Impactive volunteer interface.

The below article offers specific details on all of the settings and components of sending a broadcast text. But to begin, here's a general overview of the steps/prerequisites that are typically required to run Broadcast Texting:

To create a new broadcast, head to Broadcast > Broadcast Texting and click + New Broadcast in the top-left corner of the table.

A broadcast name is required. This title will not be seen by contacts; it is internal-only, for your reference.

You can send broadcasts to either contact lists (of your imported subscribers) or user lists (of your Impactive users/volunteers).

A recipient list, whether contacts or users (see above) is required; this is list of either users or contacts will receive this broadcast text.

Optionally, assign this action to one or more folders. Learn more here about using folders as an internal organizational system within Impactive.

A responder list is required; these users will receive responses to this broadcast in their inboxes (in the volunteer interface, web or mobile) and can conduct subsequent conversations. Responses will be divided evenly among this list of users.

The most important step! Write the initial script that will be sent to recipients. Find our full guide to initial script writing in Impactive here; and remember, you can use dynamic variables to personalize your scripts.

Optionally, write response scripts broadcast. Response scripts for Broadcast Texting can be used in a couple of ways; they can be the "canned responses" that users can send to contacts as they continue conversations after the initial script is sent, or they can be ongoing automated replies (a "chatbot" functionality). Read more about response scripts here, including the automated chatbot option.

If you hope to capture data from subsequent responses to this broadcast, use these Report Settings to designate which tags and custom fields will be shown to users for them to fill reports on contacts (in their inboxes, alongside their texting conversations). These Report Settings / Tags and Custom Fields drop-downs are populated with the tags and custom fields created in your campaign under Data > Tags and Data > Custom Fields. To edit the display names and/or the order of these tags and custom fields, edit the tags and custom fields themselves under Data > Tags or Data > Custom Fields. Impactive strongly recommends adding the Opt Out (Broadcast) tag to each of your broadcasts' Report Settings, to facilitate manual tracking of opt-outs.

Note that you do not need to add the "Broadcast Messaged At" custom field to Report Settings here (and Impactive will not allow you to do so); that custom field is automatically generated and stored when texts are sent, it does not require a user report.

There are several global Broadcast Texting settings, designated under Campaign Settings > Broadcast Texting, that apply to all broadcast texts created in your campaign; it's a good idea to review these when setting up a new broadcast. These global settings are:

These texting hours (in a certain time zone) govern when both initial and response scripts can be sent. For initial messages: your broadcast will not be sent outside of these hours (even if "sent" is clicked outside of these hours, or the message is scheduled outside of these hours). For response scripts: users will not be allowed to send messages from their inboxes outside of these hours - they will see an error if they attempt to send replies.

Optionally, set an automated response that will be sent to contacts outside of texting hours. By default, there is no automated message sent; if you leave this field blank, no automated message will be sent. But if you edit this field with a message, that message will be automatically sent to contacts if they reply to a broadcast outside of your texting hours.

If turned on, this setting prevents contacts from being texted with new initial scripts (i.e. from new broadcasts) within 6 hours of receiving a prior initial script. In most cases, Impactive strongly recommends toggling on this protection, to prevent any accidental list mess-ups; but if you'll intentionally be sending multiple broadcasts to the same recipients in a given day, this setting can be toggled off.

Once your broadcast has been created, it's time to send or schedule it!

Sending the broadcast will send the messages immediately (as long as it's not outside of texting hours).

You can also choose to schedule the broadcast for a certain date/time in the future (but remember that the message will not send if that scheduled date/time is outside of texting hours).

Recipients of your broadcast can reply to the message, and you can have a full back-and-forth conversation with them (leveraging response scripts, if desired).

If recipients reply to the broadcast message, those replies will be found in the inboxes (within the volunteer interface, web or mobile) of the users who were on the responder list you designated for the broadcast.

If needed, you can also reassign texting conversations/threads from one user to another; find a full guide to reassignment here.

Our article here covers everything you need to know about opt-out management, including both Impactive's automated opt-out management system, and how users can manually mark opt-outs from their inboxes if needed.

Our article here covers everything you need to know about Broadcast Texting results, including how to track performance, syncing data to VAN/EveryAction, and more.