Working with broadcast messages

A broadcast message is an outgoing text message that is sent to multiple subscribed users simultaneously. They are often used for general announcements such as promotional campaigns, event reminders, and important alerts that pertain to a large number of individuals.

To manage broadcast messages in Mobile Commons, select Text Messaging → Broadcasts from the left pane:

This will open up the Broadcasts table:

Note: The Broadcasts table is sorted by the Delivery Time column. Also, draft broadcasts that are less than a year old are added at the top of the table.

Tip: To sort the Broadcasts table by Last Updated, Created Date, or Delivery Time, select Ascending or Descending to the right of the column header.

The Broadcasts table is made up of the following columns:

Column	Description
Status	The current status of the broadcast message. For more information, see Filtering broadcast data.
Broadcast Name	The name of the broadcast message. Note: A maximum of 30 characters can be displayed in the column. If a Broadcast name is cut off, scroll over it with your cursor to view the entire name:
Message Body	The content of the Broadcast message. Note: A maximum of 160 characters can be displayed in the column. If a message body is cut off, scroll over it with your cursor to view the entire body:
Attachments	The Broadcast's attached media file (if one has been added). Tip: See Adding an attachment for more information.
Associated Campaign	The name of the Campaign that the Broadcast message belongs to.
Last Updated	The date and time the broadcast was last edited.
Created Date	The date and time the broadcast was added to Mobile Commons.
Delivery time	The date and time the message is (or was) scheduled for delivery.
Length	Indicates how many messages are included in the broadcast. Selecting the value will navigate the user to the broadcast's "Edit Conversation" page.

If the table is longer than one page, use the page-navigation options on the lower-right to select the number of rows per page and to navigate to the next or previous page.To navigate directly to a specific page, select the page field, enter the page number, and then press ENTER.

Tip: Selecting Report in any of the table's rows will open up the Broadcast Report for the listed broadcast.

The following actions can be taken from the Broadcasts table:

• Search the Broadcasts table

• Customize the Broadcasts table

• Creating a customized view on the Broadcasts table

• Filter broadcast data

• Export broadcast data

• Review a broadcast message

• Approve a broadcast message

• Open the Broadcast report

Tip: For information on creating a new broadcast, see Adding a new broadcast message.

Searching the Broadcasts table

To search the records in the Broadcasts table by broadcast name:

1. Select Text Messaging in the left pane, and then select Broadcasts.

2. Above the Broadcasts table, on the right, enter a search term in the Search box, and then select  Search.

The Broadcasts table displays the matching records.

Customize the Broadcasts table

Mobile Commons users have the ability to fully customize the Broadcasts table using Table settings:

Selecting the icon will open up the "Table settings" window:

The Broadcasts table can be customized in the following ways:

• Message density

• Column display

• Column placement

Message density

The "Table settings" window contains a "Density" section with following two options for determining how much "Message Body" text is displayed:

• Extended: Displays five to six lines of information in a message.

• Condensed: Displays one line of information in a message.

Once a "Density" option has been selected, select the APPLY button to save the changes:

Column display

Users can choose which columns they would like to display on the Broadcasts table.

The "Table settings" window contains a list of available columns that can be added / removed from the table:

Tip: Use the scrollbar on the right to view all of the available columns.

The checkboxes next to the column names can be used to add and remove columns from the table. Columns with checked boxes will be displayed in the table and columns with unchecked boxes will not.

Once all of the desired columns have been added or removed from the table, select the APPLY button to apply the changes:

Column placement

Users can decide where each column will appear on the Broadcasts table.

The "Table settings" window contains a list of available columns that can be added / removed from the table:

Dragging and dropping the dotted icons next to each column name will reorder how the columns will appear on the table. For example, a user can use the dotted icon next to the "Status" column name to drag it under the "Broadcast Name" column name:

Once the columns have been rearranged appropriately, the user must select the Apply button:

The top-to-bottom order of the columns in the "Available Columns" list will be reflected from left-to-right on the Broadcasts table.

Creating a customized view on the Broadcasts table

With a customized view, you can save specific view settings for the broadcast table. These settings include search options, filter combinations, table density adjustments (expanding or condensing), hiding columns, rearranging columns, sorting, and setting the number of rows per page. You can create up to 10 customized views for the Broadcasts table, allowing quick access to saved view settings without the need to reapply settings repeatedly.

To create a view:

1. Select a combination of various features, including filters, search, table density (extended or condensed), rows per page, column hiding, column re-ordering, sorting, and others on the Broadcasts page.

   

2. Click SAVE VIEW to save the selected customization on the Broadcast table.

   

   Clicking SAVE VIEW opens the Save Current View screen.

   You can save your selected multi-select filter options within “Save View” and retrieve your customized Broadcast page view with the newly applied filter settings.

   

3. Enter the name of the view in the View Name field.

4. To set the view customization as default, check the box available next to "Make default." This will make the customized view the default one on the Broadcasts page. By doing so, every time you visit the Broadcasts page, it will display the default view.

   

   To remove any applied configuration, select Delete.

5. Click SAVE to save the current view. The SAVE button is only enabled upon entering the View Name. If you do not want to save a view, click CANCEL.

   Note: The SAVE VIEW button is only enabled for creating up to 10 views. Only 10 saved customizations are available in the drop-down menu. To create a view exceeding 10, you must remove any previously saved views.

   These saved views are available in the Views dropdown menu. You can quickly switch between different saved views from the view dropdown without having to apply the settings each time.

   

   You can edit the saved view by clicking Edit available next to the saved view.

   

   This opens the Edit view screen where you can view all the saved options. Make the updates as required. Click UPDATE to update the changes. If you do not want to make any updates to a view, click CANCEL.

   

   You can hover over a lengthy detail with Ellipsis to see all the selected options.

   

   Select Arrow available next to a view name to collapse and expand the view window, which allows you to view the entire selected options for a saved view.

   

   To delete the saved view, click Delete available next to the saved view.

   

   Clicking Delete opens the confirmation message below.

   

   Click YES, DELETE IT to delete the saved view. If you do not want to delete the saved view, click CANCEL.

Filtering broadcast data

To filter the Broadcasts table:

1. Select Text Messaging in the left pane, and then select Broadcasts.

2. Above the Broadcasts table, on the right, select Filter.

3. Select a campaign from the campaign drop-down list that displays All, Active Campaigns, and Ended Campaigns. You can search for a particular campaign by entering the search term in the search field.

   

4. Select a broadcast status from the Broadcast Status dropdown list. You can select multiple options simultaneously.

   

   Filter	Description
   All	All of your broadcast messages.
   Draft	Messages that have been started but not yet ready to be sent.
   Scheduled	Messages that are ready to be sent at a scheduled date and time.
   Sending	Messages that are currently in the process of being sent.
   Sent	Messages that have been sent.
   Needs approval	Messages added by users whose permissions require approval before their messages can be sent.
   Rejected	Messages that were sent for approval but were rejected.
   Stopped	Messages that were stopped while in the process of being sent.

5. Select a date range from the Date Range dropdown list that displays various date range options. The default date range is last 30 days.

   

   For selecting a specific date range, select the "Custom Range" option, and input your desired dates from the calendar selector.

   When you are done, select APPLY.

   The Broadcasts table displays only those records that match the selected filter(s). The filter indicator above the table displays the number of filters that have been applied. Hover your cursor over the filter indicator to display a list of applied filters.

Exporting broadcast data

You can export the broadcast data in the Broadcasts table to a CSV (comma-separated values) file.

To export broadcast data:

1. Select Text Messaging in the left pane, and then select Broadcasts.

2. (Optional) Above the Broadcasts table, on the right, select Filter and then select a filter from the Broadcast Status list. For more information, see Filtering broadcast data.

3. Above the Broadcasts table, on the right, select Save as CSV.

   The broadcast records in the Broadcasts table are saved in a CSV file containing the following columns:

   Column	Description
   id	The broadcast ID.
   name	The name of the broadcast message.
   status	The current status of the broadcast message.
   start_time	The time when the messages began to be sent.
   delivery_time	The time when the messages were delivered to subscribers.
   recipients_count	The number of subscribers who received the message.
   sent	The number of messages sent.
   failed_permanently	The number of messages that failed to reach their recipient.
   undeliverable	The number of messages that were sent to undeliverable phones.
   opt_out rate	The percent of opt outs per overall message count.
   links_click	The number of links clicked.
   links_click_rate	The percent of clicks per overall message count.
   response_rate	The percent of responses per overall message count.
   replies_number	The number of replies, excluding opt-outs.
   opt-outs	The number of subscribers opted out as a response to this message.
   body	The content of the message.
   message_type	SMS or MMS Note: For draft broadcasts, this field will be blank.
   include_subscribers	Yes/No, indicating whether this message was sent to all campaign subscribers.
   included_groups	The name of any groups included in the recipient list.
   excluded_groups	The name of any groups excluded from the recipient list.
   campaign	The name of the campaign.
   created_by	The name of the user who created the broadcast message.
   target_name	The name of the mConnect or mData promoted by this broadcast.
   target_id	The ID of the mConnect or mData promoted by this broadcast.
   tags	One or more organizing labels applied to the broadcast. Note: All tag label sets contain the email address of the user who created the tag.

4. To download the CSV file, select Home in the left pane, and then select Reports.

5. Locate the CSV file in the Exports table, select the link in the Name column, and then open the downloaded file.

Reviewing a broadcast message

To review a broadcast message:

1. Select Text Messaging in the left pane, and then select Broadcasts.

2. Locate the broadcast in the Broadcasts table, and then select the link in the Name column to open it.

   The Broadcast message page displays the message(s) in the broadcast conversation.

Approving a broadcast message

Campaign editors have a limited role and can access only selected campaigns. If their broadcasts require approval, then an editor must review and approve a broadcast message before it can be sent. For more information, see Assigning the Campaign Editor role.

To review a broadcast message:

1. Select Text Messaging in the left pane, and then select Broadcasts.

2. Locate the broadcast in the Broadcasts table, and then select the link in the Name column to open it.

   The Broadcast message page displays the message(s) in the broadcast conversation.

3. In the Broadcast Actions panel on the right, select one of the following:

   • Unschedule Broadcast to edit the broadcast before approving.

   • Approve Broadcast to approve the broadcast to be sent according to its schedule.

   • Reject Broadcast to change the broadcast status to Draft.

     If the Broadcast was rejected alert is enabled, the campaign editor will receive a notification that the broadcast message was rejected.

Opening the Broadcast report

To open the Broadcast report for a sent message:

1. Select Text Messaging in the left pane, and then select Broadcasts.

2. Locate the message (with status) in the Broadcasts table, and then do one of the following:

   • Select  Report at the end of the row.

   • Select the link in the Name column to open the broadcast conversation page, and then select Report in the Broadcast Actions panel on the right.

   The Broadcast report opens. The broadcast status is .

   

   For more information, see Working with the Broadcast report.