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Help centre / CRM

CRM Bulk Messages

One e-mail, SMS or WhatsApp to many leads or contacts - choose who gets it, see the list before it goes, and watch it go out.

1Overview #

A bulk message is written once and sent individually to everyone on the list: each person gets their own copy with their own name in it, and every copy lands on that person's record and in the Sent folder. Nobody is ever Cc'd on a list of your customers.

The screen is three steps in order - the message, who it goes to, and the list you check before sending. The third step exists because a bulk send cannot be called back once a message has gone.

Sending happens in the background at a steady rate, so a large send does not choke your mail server or your gateway, and you can close the page while it runs.

2Who it is for #

  • A festival greeting, a price change, an offer to a segment of your leads.
  • A follow-up nudge to every Hot lead nobody has touched in a month.
  • A WhatsApp template to a list of dealers.
  • Anything where each person should get their own message, on their own record.

3What it is not for #

  • Answering one person. That is the inbox, or the record's Communication panel.
  • Messages to people who refused. Do-not-contact and consent are obeyed, and the preview shows you exactly who is skipped and why.
  • Payment reminders, supplier payment advice, salary notices, messages to parties on the books. Those are Communications > Bulk Messages - part of the Communication Hub, no CRM needed.

4Step by step #

  1. Press New bulk message (F3) and pick the channel - E-mail, SMS or WhatsApp.
  2. Name the send so you will know it later - "Diwali offer - Kochi leads". - The people never see this name.
  3. Write the message. - E-mail: pick the From mailbox, a template if you like, a subject and the body. SMS: the gateway profile and the text. WhatsApp: the number and an approved template, filling its values.
  4. Attach files if you need them (e-mail and WhatsApp). - From this computer, or from Document Management.
  5. Choose who it goes to: leads or contacts, then status, source, type, rating, territory, industry, owner, dates, city, words - and a condition for anything else.
  6. Press Preview the list. - It shows who will get it and who is skipped, with the reason. Untick anybody who should not.
  7. Press Send (F5) and confirm. - It is queued and goes out in the background. What has gone cannot be called back.
  8. Watch it from the card list; press Cancel the send to stop what has not gone yet.

5The fields #

  • 1 The message
  • Channel - E-mail, SMS or WhatsApp. Decides every other box on this step. Three tabs
  • Name of the send - For you and the list - the recipients never see it. Up to 200 characters
  • Part of which campaign - Ties this send to a marketing campaign, so what it sent is read beside what that campaign cost. Nothing about who receives it, or what they get - it is a link, not a filter. Only shown where the CRM Marketing Campaigns add-on is licensed and a campaign is open
  • From - E-mail: a synced mailbox, so answers come back onto each person's record. Blank = the CRM mail account. From Communications > Channel Setup
  • Start from a template - E-mail: fills the subject and the body from Settings > Email Templates.
  • Subject - E-mail: what each person sees first. Merge fields work here too. Up to 500 characters
  • SMS profile - SMS: the gateway account that sends it. In India a promotional SMS must go out as a DLT-registered template. From Settings > SMS/WhatsApp Profiles
  • WhatsApp number / Approved template - WhatsApp: the business number, and a template Meta has approved. A bulk WhatsApp is always a template; marketing templates are charged by Meta per message. From Communications > Channel Setup
  • Value for {{1}}, {{2}} ... - WhatsApp: what fills each blank in the template - the same for everyone, or a merge field.
  • Message body - E-mail: a formatted message. SMS: plain text. WhatsApp free text is not offered in bulk. Merge fields: {Name}, {FirstName}, {Company}, {Owner} - Owner is the record's owner. SMS up to 1000 characters; the counter shows how many SMS parts that is
  • Attachments - E-mail and WhatsApp: from this computer or from Document Management. Kept once with the send, not copied onto every record. Up to 10 files, 10 MB each, 20 MB together
  • 2 Who it goes to - Everything blank means "everyone you may see". The filters never widen your own visibility.
  • Send to - Leads or Contacts. Changing it clears the condition - leads and contacts have different fields. Two choices
  • Status - Leads only. New, Working, Nurturing and Qualified to begin with. Converted and Disqualified are usually left out. Any status when blank
  • Lead source / Lead type / Rating - Leads only. From CRM > Masters; rating is Hot, Warm, Cold
  • Territory / Industry / Owner - Both audiences. Blank = all you may see
  • From / To - The lead's date, or when the contact was added. Dates, both included
  • City - Part of the city name. Free text
  • Name, company or e-mail contains - A word to narrow by. Free text
  • Include inactive ? - Off leaves out records marked inactive. Switch
  • Condition - Anything the boxes cannot say - the approval workflows' builder over the lead's or contact's own fields. Checked on every record the boxes find. Preview shows who passes. e.g. Lead.Rating = 'Hot' AND Lead.LastMessageDays > 30
  • 3 Check the list - Made by Preview the list; changing anything above clears it, because Send needs a fresh one.
  • Found / Will get it / Skipped / Unticked - The four tallies.
  • Send (tick box) - Untick anybody who should not get it. With anything unticked, only the ticked rows shown here go.
  • Will it go - Yes, Unticked, or the reason it is skipped. Skipped: no address, not a valid address, do-not-contact, no consent, or a duplicate of somebody above.

6Rules and integrity #

  • Everyone gets their own copy - Never a Cc of the list. Each copy is stored on that person's record and shows in the inbox's Sent folder.
  • Preview is compulsory - Send is refused without a fresh preview - and the preview is cleared whenever you change the message or the filters.
  • Consent and do-not-contact are obeyed - A person who refused this channel, or who has no consent for marketing, is skipped and the list says so.
  • Duplicates are dropped - The same address or number twice gets one message.
  • It goes out at a steady rate - Setting 255 decides how many a minute, so a big send does not overwhelm the mail server or the gateway.
  • Cancel stops only what has not gone - What has gone, has gone. There is no recall.
  • A bulk WhatsApp is always a template - Meta allows nothing else to people outside the 24-hour window - which, in a bulk send, is nearly everybody.
  • Large lists are capped for the preview - The first few hundred are shown; Send still takes everybody who can get it, unless you untick somebody - then only the ticked rows go.

7Shortcut keys #

  • F3 - New bulk message.
  • F5 - Send while a draft is open (it asks first); otherwise refresh the list.
  • Esc - Discard the draft; otherwise close the tab.

8If something does not work #

"That template is not approved on this account - sync the templates on Communications > Channel Setup."
Why
A bulk WhatsApp message can only use a template Meta has approved for the sending number.
What to do
Sync the templates on Communications > Channel Setup, then pick an approved one.
"That bulk message is not there, or not yours to open."
Why
It was deleted, or it belongs to somebody else and you are not a sales manager.
What to do
Refresh the list.
"Bulk messages need the CRM Bulk Messaging add-on, which is not licensed for this company. Contact your software vendor."
Why
Bulk messages to leads and contacts are the CRM Bulk Messaging add-on (CRMCOMMS) - it is missing from the licence.
What to do
Ask your vendor to add CRM Bulk Messaging, then sign out and in.
"Bulk messages are sent through the Communication Hub, which is not licensed for this company. Contact your software vendor."
Why
The messages go out through the Communication Hub (COMMHUB) - its mailboxes and numbers - and the licence has not got it.
What to do
Ask your vendor to add the Communication Hub, then sign out and in.
"CRM bulk messaging is not licensed for this company - bulk e-mail, SMS and WhatsApp to leads and contacts need the CRM Bulk Messaging add-on. Contact your software vendor."
Why
The server's own words for the same missing add-on.
What to do
Ask your vendor to add CRM Bulk Messaging.
"No WhatsApp number is set up - add one on Communications > Channel Setup, and sync its templates."
Why
A bulk WhatsApp needs a number to go out from.
What to do
An administrator adds the number on Communications > Channel Setup and presses Sync templates.
"This number has no approved template yet - make one in Meta's WhatsApp Manager, then Sync templates on Communications > Channel Setup."
Why
Meta refuses bulk WhatsApp that is not an approved template.
What to do
Get the template approved in WhatsApp Manager, then sync.
"The list cannot be made yet:" / "The bulk message cannot be queued yet:"
Why
The preview or the send failed its checks; every problem is listed at once.
What to do
Work down the list.
"Name: call the send something you will know it by, e.g. \"Diwali offer - Kochi leads\"."
Why
A send needs a name to be found by afterwards.
What to do
Name it for the offer and the audience.
"Subject: say what the mail is about." / "Message: write something."
Why
An e-mail needs a subject, and every channel needs a body.
What to do
Fill them in.
"Message: an SMS is 1000 characters at most."
Why
The body is longer than an SMS carries here.
What to do
Shorten it, or send it as an e-mail.
"Template: a bulk WhatsApp must use an approved template - Meta refuses free text to anyone who has not written to you in the last 24 hours."
Why
Meta's rule, not ours.
What to do
Pick an approved template.
"Template values: fill every {{n}} - a field like {Name} is fine." / "The template '...' takes ... value(s) - ... given."
Why
A placeholder was left blank, or the count does not match the template.
What to do
Fill every one; a field such as {Name} fills itself per person.
"Attachments: an SMS carries no files - send them by e-mail or WhatsApp." / "WhatsApp takes images, PDF, Word, Excel and text files - send the others by e-mail."
Why
The channel does not carry that kind of file.
What to do
Change the channel, or leave the file out.
"Attachments: ... files at most." / "'...' is over ... MB." / "'...' would take the attachments over ... MB together."
Why
A file, or the files together, are over the limits.
What to do
Send fewer or smaller files - a link in the body is usually better for a big one.
"'...' could not be read - ..."
Why
The browser could not read the file you picked.
What to do
Pick it again; a file still open in another program sometimes cannot be read.
"The messages are queued, but the send could not be tied to the campaign: ..."
Why
The send itself went. Only the link to the campaign failed - they are two separate steps, deliberately, so a campaign problem can never stop a send.
What to do
Tie it on CRM > Campaigns instead; nothing about the messages is affected.
The campaign picker is not there
Why
It appears only where the CRM Marketing Campaigns add-on is licensed AND at least one campaign is open - an empty picker would teach nobody anything.
What to do
Ask your vendor about the add-on, or open a campaign on CRM > Campaigns.
"The list: press Preview the list first, and check who it goes to."
Why
A bulk message is never sent to an audience nobody has looked at.
What to do
Press Preview, read the list, then Send.
"Dates: From is after To." / "Condition: ..." with a parser message
Why
The audience filter is inconsistent, or its condition cannot be read.
What to do
Correct the dates; build the condition rather than typing it.
"Nobody matches these filters - widen them." / "Nobody is on the list - change the filter."
Why
The filters find no one at all.
What to do
Widen the status, the source, the territory or the dates.
"The filter finds more than ... people - narrow it (a status, a territory, a date range) and send in parts."
Why
A single send is capped so one mistake cannot reach everybody.
What to do
Split it - by territory, by source, or by date.
"The filters find more than ... records to test the condition on - narrow them first (a status, a territory, a date range)."
Why
The condition would have to be worked out on too many records.
What to do
Narrow the plain filters first; the condition then runs on what is left.
"The list: nobody on it can get the message - change the filters or tick someone." / "None of the ... on the list can be sent to - every one is skipped (see the reasons in the preview)."
Why
Everybody on the list is opted out, has no address for this channel, or was unticked.
What to do
Read the reasons in the preview - they are per person.
"'...' is not an account on Settings > Mail Accounts." / "That WhatsApp account is not active on Communications > Channel Setup."
Why
The account it would go out from is missing or switched off.
What to do
An administrator corrects it in Settings > Mail Accounts or Communications > Channel Setup.
"The first ... are shown. Send takes all ... who can get it - unless you untick someone, then only the ticked ones shown here go."
Why
The preview shows a window of a long list; that is what the notice says.
What to do
Either send to the whole list, or untick people - once you untick, only the ticked ones on screen go.
A send sits at Queued and nothing goes out
Why
Bulk messages are handed to the background worker inside the API.
What to do
An administrator checks the API is running; the send's own page shows each person's state.
Recipients say Skipped
Why
Each skip has its reason: opted out before it went, the record was deleted, or no address for the channel.
What to do
Read the reason on the recipient row - nothing more is needed for an opt-out.
"The WhatsApp template is no longer approved - nothing more was sent."
Why
Meta withdrew the template's approval part-way through the send.
What to do
Get it approved again, sync the templates, and send the rest as a new bulk message.
"It has already finished or been cancelled - or it is not yours to cancel."
Why
Cancel only stops a send that is still running, and only for its owner or a manager.
What to do
Nothing to do - what went, went.

9For an administrator #

  • Rate - Setting 255 (messages a minute) must stay inside what your mail server or provider allows, or they will throttle you.
  • Consent - The consent tick boxes on leads and contacts, and do-not-contact, are what keep bulk sending lawful. Do not train people to override them.
  • WhatsApp costs money - Meta charges per marketing template message. Decide who may send bulk WhatsApp before you hand out the right.

10Settings it uses #

  • CRM: bulk messages sent a minute (255, default 60, 1 to 600).

This is the help InvoiceNET® ERP shows beside the CRM Bulk Messages screen. Whether you have the screen depends on the modules of your licence and the rights your administrator has given you.

See this screen for yourself

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