How to Create a Blast Campaign

To create a blast campaign, hover over the Marketing icon on your navigation bar and select Text Campaigns.

Next, click "+ ADD TEXT CAMPAIGN" on the top right side of the text campaigns page.

Text Blast Campaigns are composed in four stages:

1. Setup 
2. Recipients
3. Content  
4. Send

Setup

Enter the title of the campaign.  This title will only be shown to internal employees at your club.  The clients will never see what you have titled your campaign.  

Recipients

The Recipients page allows club staff to segment their audiences by specific criteria. 

The Recipients page consists of two sections:

1. Target Audience
2. Recipients Filters

Target Audience: Here, users can select which Prospect or Member status(es) they wish to send their text campaign to. For a full list of Prospect/Member status definitions, click here.

Once you have selected your target audience, you will see a date range filter available for use, if needed. This filter offers the user an option to drill down to a more specified audience by date range. The additional date range filters can differ from Prospect to Member.

If a "Select" option is chosen, a drop box will appear to select a particular status from that audience. 

Recipient Filters: These aid users in further specifying the exact audience for which the campaign is intended.  Filters include:

Locations: Allows the user to specify the location whose Prospects/Members will be receiving the text campaign. The user will only be able to view and assign locations based on their enabled permissions. 

Gender: Allows users to specify which gender category will receive the text campaign. This filter will appear for all Prospect and Member statuses.

NOTE: If you do not consistently collect/mark this info, then you will most likely want to avoid utilizing this filter due to the risk of not hitting all of the intended audience.

Age Range: Allows users to specify the range in which a Prospect/Member’s age must fall in order to receive the text campaign. This filter will appear for all Prospect and Member statuses.  

NOTE: This filter is generated from the birthdate within the prospect/member's account. If an account does not have a birthdate included, that prospect/member will be excluded from the campaign. If you do not consistently collect this info, then you will most likely want to avoid utilizing this filter due to the risk of not hitting all of the intended audience.

By clicking the filter’s side arrow, the following ‘Min’ and ‘Max Age’ fields will appear:

Origins: Segment your recipients by origin.  The Origin is how a prospect initially entered the system.

Marketing Sources: Allows users to specify the source through which a Prospect/Member heard about the club. Check the appropriate boxes.

Interests: Segment your recipients by the Interests that they disclosed while visiting the club. 

Employers: Allows the user to specify the place of employment that a Prospect/Member cited in their profile. 

Payment Method: Allows the user to specify the payment method with which the Prospect/Member paid.  

NOTE: This filter is only for clubs that utilize ABC as their billing provider.

Once you have completed the necessary fields on the Setup Page, click “Next” in the bottom right of the page to continue.

Content

1. Text Message Content Field- Enter your desired message here. 

2. Emoji Picker- This is a tool that allows you to choose the different emoji images that are available to be used within the messages sent in Text Campaigns. Currently, this feature is only available for text.

3. Insert Dynamic Tag-These tags populate unique information per each individual text recipient. Example: 'First Name' or 'Location Name'

4. Character Count

• Character count is limited to 300 characters, including dynamic tags.
• A user can type as many characters in the text area as desired, but if they exceed 300 characters the character count turns red.
• If a user attempts to save a campaign with greater than 300 characters, an error message is displayed.
• If a user attempts to save with a character count of 0, an error message is displayed.

Segment Predictor - To help you manage usage, the Segment Predictor shows how many segments your message will use:

• Messages up to 150 characters are delivered as 1 segment.
• Messages longer than 150 characters may be delivered in multiple segments.
• When this happens, the Segment Predictor will notify you at 122 characters before saving the campaign.
• Keeping messages short is the most efficient way to minimize segment usage, especially when you are using Dynamic Content, and when sending large text campaigns.

Automatic Opt-Out message
If a prospect or member has not received a text from you in the past 30 days, the system will automatically add the required opt-out message:

“ | To stop these messages, reply STOP”

This ensures compliance with text marketing regulations, but it may increase the total character count and number of segments for that message.

Best practice
For the most efficient and least impactful campaigns:

• Aim for 113 characters or fewer whenever possible, as the Automatic Opt-Out message will add onto individual recipients who have not received a text from you in more than 30 days. 
• Review the Segment Predictor before saving.
• Keep messages clear, concise, and action-oriented.
• Following these guidelines helps you make the most of your monthly text segments while maintaining a great experience for your audience.

After reviewing the content on the right in the cell phone box preview, click "NEXT" at the bottom right of the page when you are satisfied with your message.  If you have not saved your campaign yet, ClubOS will ask that you save it by clicking on the blue “SAVE” button in the top-right of your screen.

Send

The Send page is the final stage of the Text Blast Campaign building process. 

After entering the Send Date and Send Time, click Save and "Make Campaign Active" to activate your bulk text blast. 

Confirm that the campaign’s text was sent by navigating to the club’s Campaign History page (located within the Marketing tab). 

When someone replies to a Text Campaign, the message will be routed to their current Membership Follow-up person. If the account isn't assigned to someone for follow-up, the message will be routed to the Member Sales Default for your club. 

FAQs

• Do blast campaigns count as contacts in KPIs?
  • No, blast campaigns do not count as contacts in Club OS KPIs. Blast campaigns are tracked separately within Marketing Campaigns reporting and are not included in KPI metrics. KPIs only measure follow-up contacts and direct contacts made by users.
  • However, if a recipient replies to an email campaign, that interaction may count as a contact depending on the follow-up method used. 
    • To see how many people were reached by a blast campaign, clients should refer to the Results Section of the Text campaign tools.

• Why can't I send a full 150 characters in my text campaign, without the possibility of going into 2 segments?
  • Text messages are legally required to include a way for recipients to opt out of future messages. To ensure compliance, ClubOS may automatically add an opt-out message to your text, which counts toward the total character count.
    • ClubOS will automatically add an opt-out message at the end of every text message for individuals that you have not contacted in the last 30 days.
      • Check out our article on SMS Best Practices to make good choices for your SMS Campaign. 
        
         
         
• Why does the Automatic Opt-Out message affect text message segments?
  • ClubOS and any text-marketing platform is required to send out an opt-out message to ensure compliance with Federal mandates.  This message is still part of the text file being sent, and contains 37 characters. 
  • To most efficiently use your text messages, we recommend:
    • Keeping your main message to 113 characters or fewer.
    • Review the Segment Predictor before saving your campaign.
      • NOTE:  Dynamic content will also impact character counts.  For example, “{{recipient-first}}” is 19 characters.  If a text recipient's name is “Bob," for example, it will only count as 3 characters in a particular message.
         

• Why do Emojis take up so many characters?
  • Emojis are a fun way to engage with your prospects and members, but they are also picture files that take up a significant amount of space in the file size of a segment.  
  • Use emojis wisely!  ClubOS's Segment Predictor will be there to help you make good decisions for your campaign! 
  • For more detailed information, check out our article on Text Message Segments!

• What if my campaign uses more than one segment?
  • It's okay!  Sending a text campaign with up to 300 characters is always acceptable.
  • Campaigns that exceed a single segment will use additional text segments from your monthly allotment. This is expected behavior. 
    • NOTE:  If you have questions about how this may affect your billing, please don't hesitate to contact our ClubOS Support Team! 
    • We also have a helpful article on how Text Messages and Segments affect billing! 
       
  • We also recommend reviewing how many leads and/or members that your campaign will reach by accessing User Search to determine the number of recipients the text campaign may send to. 
    • NOTE:  Keep in mind that statuses change constantly:  Prospects become Members - Members become Inactive Members - Opt-in and Opt-out statuses change - Contact methods may be updated - It is always in flux in a myriad of ways.   
      
      • ClubOS will report an approximate number of recipients based on the available information at the time it is requested in the Send section of the Campaign Setup. 
         
  • In addition, check out the Text Usage Analytics Dashboard to review your segment usage prior to sending.  Text Usage will help you with balancing message length with your communication goals.
     
  • If you need to check on your monthly allotment of text messages included with your ClubOS agreement, please contact our ClubOS Support Team!

• How do I know how many texts I can send without incurring text overages on my monthly bill?
  • As a convenience to you, ClubOS provides an Analytics tool under your Dashboard called Text Usage. 
    • This feature can be enabled by permission if it is not already enabled.  
    • If you need access to this, please contact your Club Admin, or our ClubOS Support Team!
      
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• What if I don't see the Text Campaign Feature in my Marketing Campaign Tools?
  • You may not have the correct permissions to send out Text campaigns, or the feature may not be included with your ClubOS service package.  
    • Check with your Club Admin to allow permissions if you would like to have the ability to send them! 
  • If you aren't sure if Text Campaigns is included in your ClubOS package, or if you would like to add the feature, please contact our ClubOS Support Team!