Adding, Viewing, and Managing Contacts
Contacts are organized by group and managed under the “Subscribers” tab.
Contacts are added to groups in three ways:
- You add contacts one at a time using the SimpleTexting application.
- You upload a CSV spreadsheet with multiple contacts.
- People text the keyword to555888 using their mobile phones.
Adding Contacts One at a Time
Remember, you can only add contacts to groups that are not associated with a keyword (see Section 2, “Keywords and Groups”).
To add contacts one at a time, do the following:
Step 1. Click the “Subscribers” tab, then the “Contacts” link.
Step 2. You are now on the “View Contacts” page. Click the “Add New Contact” button.
Step 3. On the “Add New Contact” page, fill in details about the contact. You only need to add a phone number, but you should also add the names. Not only will this help you identify the person, but you can add the first and/or last name to a text message you send using custom fields.
Step 4. Assign this contact to one or more groups by clicking check boxes, as illustrated in the screenshot below. If you do not choose a group, you will be asked to create one.
Step 5. Click the “Add Contact” button.
Adding Multiple Contacts
You can add a list of contacts from a CSV file. Follow these steps:
Step 1. Open a file for creating the CSV.
Step 2. Name five columns with the following text in the order below:
Number, First Name, Last Name, Email, Note
Step 3. Enter the contacts’ information in the rows, putting phone numbers in the “Number” column. Do not enter hyphens; the SimpleTexting application will not recognize phone numbers with hyphens.
Note: You do not have to fill in any of the columns except the phone number. If you do not include the “Number” column, the SimpleTexting application will not recognize the CSV file as valid.
Step 4. Click the “Subscribers” tab in the SimpleTexting application.
Step 5. Click the “Import Contacts” button.
Step 6. You are now on the “Import Contacts” page. Select a group. If no groups are available, you will be asked to create one.
Step 7. Click the “Browse” button and locate the CSV file on your hard drive.
Step 8. Select the file and click the “Open” button. You will return to the “Import Contacts” page.
Step 9. Click the “Upload File” button.
Sign-up Forms —Encouraging People to Opt In
Besides adding text or QR codes to a flyer, table tent, or other marketing piece to invite people to opt in, you can embed HTML codeon websites, Facebook, and MySpace pages to display an invitation to sign up to your list.
The SimpleTexting application lets you create HTML code for each of your keywords.
Step 1. Click the “Sign-up Forms” link in the “Subscribers” tab.
Step 2. On the “Sign-up Forms” page, select a keyword from the dropdown list. This causes the HTML text to change to include the keyword.
Step 3. You can see what the image will look like before you add it to a website or Facebook by clicking the “Click here to test it” link at the bottom of the code.
Step 4. Now copy the HTML and paste it into the website, Facebook, or MySpace (use the Facebook HTML for MySpace).
Viewing Contacts
Contacts can be viewed under the “Subscribers” link. The first page—“View Groups”—displays a table of your groups. Click a “View Contacts” link to see a group’s contacts.
Alternatively, you can select the “Contacts” link to access the “View Contacts” link.
You can view individual contacts, their phone numbers, the groups they are associated with, how they were added, and the date they were added. Note that you can sort the contacts with two filters: the “Filter by Group” dropdown box and the “Phone Filter.” In the “Phone Filter,” enter all or part of a phone number (such as an area code).
Deleting a Contact
In the “Contacts” link under the “Subscribers” tab, you can remove (unsubscribe or opt out) a contact:
Step 1. Click the checkbox beside the telephone number.
Step 2. Click the “Opt-Out” button. A line will appear through the telephone number.