Broadcasting is one of the core features of Bonzo, allowing you to gather a list of individuals and send them customized messages. Here are some helpful tips and tricks when it comes to using the broadcast feature.
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Note: You can initiate broadcasts from the People tab, as well as from a Pipeline stage.

From the People Tab

1. Navigate to your "People" tab under the "Data" dropdown.

    

   

    

2. Select a contact of group of contacts by utilizing filters and custom views.
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3. Click the "megaphone" icon on the Quick Action Toolbar to prompt a broadcast message and choose, SMS, email, or voicemail broadcast.

    

   

    

From a Pipeline Stage

1. Navigate to Pipelines in your navigation sidebar. This feature is currently an add-on feature and will be unavailable until purchased from "Addons" in your Company tab.

2. Click on the three vertical dots next to a pipeline stage and select "Broadcast" from the dropdown menu.

    

   

    

3. You will have the option to select SMS, email, or voicemail broadcast. Once your message is crafted, this will send a message to everyone listed under this Pipeline stage.

    

   

    

   Scroll down the column to preview all contacts or click "Find in People" to see these contacts listed in your People tab for further organization and action.

    

Tips

Tip #1

When selecting a group of contacts in the People's tab, by default, only the visible prospects on that page are selected. If you want to select an entire list from a filtered view or your entire database, click "Select All" in the popup menu on the

Note: Broadcasts are limited to 5,000 messages, this is a safety measure to prevent a broadcast that gets filtered by the carriers, for what ever reason, from hurting the reputation of your phone number or wasting tokens by attempting more messages than that in a single drop. 

Tip #2

When sending broadcasts to large groups, it's recommend to utilize merge tags to ensure your message appears customized for every contact.
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Merge Tags are the pink placeholders that automatically fill in with information from each contact record. For example, if you use a merge tag for a first name, the broadcast will send with each contact's individual first name. This saves you time, as you won't have to type out each contact's name when crafting your messages.

It's important to note, merge tags will only merge data into your messages if it is present in within your contact records and your account. Perform periodic check to ensure your database is up to date. You can also utilize our Enrichment tool or our MMI Enhanced Webhook to update your contact records with the latest data, ensuring your messages are personalized and accurate.

Note: To learn more about the features mentioned above, click on the links below: 
Bonzo Enrichment 
Integrations: MMI Enhanced Webhook

Tip #3

Watch for special characters when drafting broadcast messages.

Certain characters, such as em dashes (—), and other non-standard symbols, require Unicode (UCS-2) encoding. When a message contains any of these characters, carriers must encode the entire message using UCS-2 rather than standard GSM-7 encoding.

This can significantly increase messaging costs because the maximum length of a single SMS segment drops from 160 characters to 70 characters. As a result, a message that would normally be sent as a single segment may be split into multiple segments, increasing the total number of billable messages.

To optimize message deliverability and cost efficiency, avoid special Unicode characters whenever possible. A common example is the em dash (—), which can often be replaced with a standard hyphen (-) without changing the meaning of the message.

For convenience, we display an estimated segment count beneath the message editor. This estimate is based on the message content currently entered and can help identify when special characters are increasing segment usage. Please note that the final segment count may differ from the estimate if merge fields are used, as the length of merged content can vary from recipient to recipient. It's always a good idea to leave some margin in the character length of the message to hit your desired number of segments in the message. 

Tip #4

Review and Rebroadcast to Filtered Contacts

When a broadcast is sent, some messages may be blocked due to carrier filtering. You can now review exactly which contacts were blocked directly from the broadcast details page. Use the filter controls to sort and isolate those blocked messages, select them, then craft an updated message and rebroadcast specifically to that group. This gives you a clear path to re-engage contacts who didn't receive your original message without resending to your entire list.

Tip #5

By default, messages will be sent from the person assigned to the prospect.

For example, if you're sending a broadcast to a list of contacts, each message will, by default, be sent from the contact's assigned owner, although this setting can be adjusted when crafting the message.

• "Me" = team member with shared access

• "Owner" = assignee of the record. Though contact records can be shared with multiple team members, there can only be 1 assignee.

It's important to note, If no one has been assigned as the prospect owner in Bonzo, the system will automatically assign the Team Lead as the prospect owner.

Best Practices

• All communication in Bonzo is geared towards driving a response. So we recommend crafting messages that move the conversation forward, not just share information. Focus on the 3c's: concise, compelling, and contextual.

  • *Note: if including a video or downloadable link in your initial outreach, ensure recipients have consented to its receipt; doing so will minimize your message being flagged as spam.

• Use a service like Mailwarm to generate activity in your account to boost your trust score with email providers.

• If you include links or videos, update them often.

• Schedule Broadcasts in smaller batches. For emails, sending to 100 or fewer at a given time will increase rates of receipt. If sending multiple batches, we recommend spacing out broadcasts. A duration of five minutes is generally sufficient.

• Sending through Bonzo's email marketing server will protect your integrated email from going to spam, promotions, being locked down, etc. It will also allow you to send larger blasts of emails at one time.

  • *Note: most email carriers have limitations for how much email traffic they allow per day as "typical" traffic. Here are a few articles from Google and Microsoft's Support teams that highlight the breakdown of these limitations:

    • Google Email Limits

    • Microsoft Email Limits

       

​Bonzo's Broadcast feature is a powerful tool for sending customized messages to large groups of contacts, whether from the People tab or directly from a Pipeline stage. To maximize the effectiveness of your broadcasts, use merge tags for personalized messaging, ensure your contact data is up to date, and be mindful of the message sender settings. Following best practices—such as crafting concise, compelling, and contextual messages, scheduling broadcasts in smaller batches, and staying aware of email provider limitations—will help you achieve higher engagement and avoid issues like spam filtering. By leveraging these strategies, you can enhance communication and drive meaningful interactions with your contacts.

Note: To view additional resources, click on the links below:
Email Deliverability: Best Practices & Tips
Communication Settings: Domain Authentication
Messaging: Best Practices & Tips