When a deal involves more than one person, sending the same update to each of them separately means three threads to keep straight and no shared context. Group SMS puts everyone in one conversation, so a single message reaches all of them and every reply lands in the same place.
Group SMS lives in its own section of Conversations, separate from your one-to-one messaging, and works with anyone you can text — prospects, agents, co-borrowers, or a number you enter manually.
Where to find Group SMS
From your dashboard, navigate to Conversations under the Messaging menu, then select the "Group" view.
This is where every group conversation you're part of lives, and where you start new ones.
Starting a group conversation
Step 1: Open the new conversation window
Click the + icon at the top of your Group SMS list.
Step 2: Add your recipients
Search for prospects by name, or type a phone number to add someone who isn't in your database yet.
You can add up to 10 recipients to a group.
Step 3: Check the phone flags
As you add recipients, Bonzo shows what it knows about each number from carrier validation. A recipient marked as a landline or an invalid phone won't be able to receive your texts, so swap in a mobile number for that person before you start.
Step 4: Start the conversation
Click "Start conversation." The group appears in your Group SMS list and opens ready for your first message.
Sending messages
Open a group and you'll see two tabs: SMS and Notes.
The SMS composer has the same tools you use in one-to-one messaging:
- Video
- Emojis and GIFs
- Content Studio
- File attachments
- Quick replies
Type your message and send it once — every recipient in the group receives it.
What a group message costs
Because carriers treat group texts as MMS, Bonzo is billed at the MMS rate for each person in the group, and that's what's passed through to you:
11 tokens per recipient, per message.
A message to a group of five costs 55 tokens. The same message to a group of ten costs 110. Your running token cost appears at the bottom of the composer before you send, so you always know the number ahead of time.
Unlike one-to-one SMS, this cost is flat — a longer message doesn't multiply it. It's 11 tokens per recipient whether you send one line or several.
Using Notes
Switch to the "Notes" tab to leave internal notes on a group conversation, the same way you do elsewhere in Bonzo. Add, edit, remove, and pin notes to keep the context of a deal attached to the thread. Notes are internal — recipients never see them.
Naming a group
New groups don't come with a name, and naming them is the fastest way to find them later.
- Click the pencil icon next to the group in the details panel.
- Enter a name — something like "The Best House on Oak Street."
- Click "Update."
The name is what Group SMS search matches on, so a descriptive name pays off once you have a handful of groups running.
The participants panel
The details panel on the right shows who created the group and lists every participant. Click any participant to jump straight to their prospect record.
Finding a group conversation
Search at the top of the Group SMS list matches two things:
- The group name — searching "The Best" surfaces "The Best House on Oak Street"
- A participant's name — searching "Jake" surfaces every group Jake is in
Getting there from a prospect
Open a prospect and click "View group conversations." This takes you to the Group SMS view with that prospect's name already searched, so you can see every group they're part of and open any of them.
What to know as you get started
Group SMS is being built out in stages. Here's where it stands today, so nothing catches you by surprise:
| Today | What's coming |
|---|---|
| Group SMS currently lacks many of the robust filters we have available in our conversation tab. | Filters and dispositions, matching what you have in one-to-one Conversations. |
| Group conversations are visible to the people in them. Team Lead currently do not have full visibility of group conversations. | Broader visibility for Team Leads and shared users. |
| Participants are set when the group is created and cannot be added afterward. To reach a different set of people, start a new group. | Adding participants to create a new group - and ability to archive the previous group. |
| Groups are made up of contacts you text. Bonzo teammates can't be added to a group. | Adding other Bonzo members, so you can loop in an LOA or hand off a thread. |
| Group SMS is available on the desktop platform. | Group SMS in the Bonzo Go mobile app — already in development for iOS and Android. |
One more note: Group SMS is for direct messaging. It isn't available in automated messaging such as broadcasts, campaign events, or pipeline events.
FAQs
How many people can I add to a group? Up to 10 recipients.
Can I text someone who isn't in my database? Yes. Type their phone number in the recipient picker instead of searching for a name.
Why is one of my recipients flagged? Bonzo validates numbers with the carrier and flags landlines and invalid numbers, which can't receive texts. Replace that number with a mobile one before starting the group.
What does a group message cost? 11 tokens for each recipient, each message. Carriers bill group texts at the MMS rate, and that rate applies per person in the group. The total shows in the composer before you send.
Can I add someone to a group after I've created it? Not yet. Start a new group with the people you need. Adding participants to an existing group is on the way.
Can my Team Lead see my group conversations? Not currently. Group conversations are visible to the people in them, so your Team Lead sees their own groups, not yours — even from the prospect record. Wider visibility is in progress.
Someone added me to a group from their own phone. Will it come into Bonzo? Yes. It arrives as a group conversation in your Group SMS view, and you can reply from there.
Does the group name change what my recipients see? No. The name is a Bonzo label that makes the conversation easy to find and search.
Can I use Group SMS in the Bonzo Go app? Not yet — it's a desktop feature today. iOS and Android are both in development.
Keeping a borrower, a co-borrower, and an agent in one thread means one message instead of three, and one place to look when someone replies. Name your groups as you create them, keep an eye on the token count before you send, and Group SMS handles the rest.
Note: To learn more about having conversations in Bonzo, click on the link below.