This guide explains how to create and send bulk SMS campaigns using the Vodafone Business Messaging Hub. Users select a Sender ID, add recipients via copy-paste, search contacts, or import files, then compose messages with templates, personalization, or AI assistance. Campaigns can be sent immediately, scheduled, or set to recur. Drafts can be saved and accessed later.
Sender ID selection
Navigate to Messaging > New message and select the Sender ID you wish to use from the dropdown.
Recipients
Next select the recipients you wish to send your campaign to. There are a few ways you can do this:
Copy and paste
If you have a list of numbers in a spreadsheet, you can copy them directly from the spreadsheet and paste them into the Numbers and contacts field. This is particularly helpful if you want to send to a specific list without saving the recipients to your contact lists.
Search contacts / contact lists / contact segments
You can select any of these options from the buttons next to the Numbers and contacts field.
A modal will open where you can tick the box next to each contact, list, or segment (you can select multiple of each) you want to message. Click the Add Recipients button to confirm your selections. You can also search for specific contacts using the search box:
Note - Another way to send a bulk message to a list or segment is from the Contacts page.
Click on Contacts and either Lists or Segments, then locate the list/segment you want to message and click on the more options icon (⋮) and then Send message:
This will then redirect you to the New Message page where you can proceed to follow the other steps in this article. The list or segment you selected will be added to the Numbers and contacts field, you can add additional contacts as needed by following the steps described earlier in this article.
Import from file
Click on Import from file and then click Import file, or drag & drop your file:
Notes:
- Ensure each contact number in you file has the leading zero at the start, you can do this by formatting the CSV column as Text.
- Your file only requires mobile numbers, however, any other data will be available to use as personalised tags when composing message content.
Message content
Now you can write your message in the Message composer field. You can also make use of the content customization panel in the following ways:
- Use templates
- If you uploaded a recipient list you can use the contact fields feature to add personalised information, mapped directly from your uploaded CSV file columns.
- Make use of landing pages
- Translate your content using Google translate
- Manage how you include opt outs
The message composer provides some information about your content such as the number of characters and how many SMS this equates to per contact. It will also display warnings if there are special characters or emojis in the content that may result in additional charges.
To see how the message will display on a recipient handset, you can view the live preview on the right hand side of the page. You can also click Send test to send the composed message to yourself and/or a colleague, without losing any of your data so you can continue with the send after reviewing the message.
AI assistant
The AI assistant helps to write your message content simply by entering a description of the message you want to send, with any key information and then selecting the language and the message tone (formal or informal). You can also check a box to allow emoji's to be included, but be aware that these will result in additional charges.
Send or schedule your campaign
Finally navigate to the Message details section where you will find the following fields to fill out:
Message name - a campaign name will be pre-populated as [New Message, DATE, TIME] but you can customise this to be anything you would like.
Send period - send your messages out over a number of hours, this can help with managing incoming replies.
Schedule - select Schedule for later to schedule the campaign to start at a specific date and time - if you want to send it immediately leave this as Send now
Message recurrence - click on Schedule for later and scroll down to find this field, which allows you to schedule the same campaign to be sent out on a recuring basis (to the same recipients), until a date of your choosing.
Once you're ready to schedule or send the campaign, click on the Schedule or Send now button in the bottom right corner.
Note: If you're not quite ready to send your message, you can save it as a draft and send it later. Drafts can be found by navigating to Messaging > SMS messaging > Drafts.