Sending Bulk Messages from the Contract Report - Member Solutions Knowledge Base

~== Overview ==

Member Manager lets you send bulk emails and text messages to members directly from the Contract Report. This is useful when you want to message a specific contract group — for example, all members on a Frozen contract, all members in a specific program, or all members with contracts ending this month.

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The feature uses the same email and SMS infrastructure as the Members tab, so opt-out preferences, communication settings, and personalization tokens all behave the same way.

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~== Before You Start ==

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Make sure your members have:

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~* Email addresses on file with the TCPA email opt-in checked (for emails)

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~* Mobile phone numbers on file with the TCPA text opt-in checked (for texts)

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~* Reminders preference set to a value that allows the channel you're sending on:

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~** ~*~*Nothing~*~* → receives neither email nor text

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~** ~*~*Email Only~*~* → receives email only

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~** ~*~*Text Only~*~* → receives text only

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~** ~*~*Both~*~* → receives both

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Members who don't meet these requirements will be filtered out automatically and excluded from the send. The recipient count shown before send already reflects this filtering.

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~== Step-by-Step ==

~=== 1. Run a Contract Report Query ===

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Navigate to ~*~*Reports → Contract Report~*~*. Set your filters (status, program, location, contract dates, etc.) and run the query.

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~=== 2. Switch to the Detail View ===

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The bulk messaging buttons only appear on the ~*~*Detail~*~* view, not the Summary view.

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~{~{info}}

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If you ran the query on Summary and then switched to Detail, re-run the query on Detail before clicking the messaging buttons.

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~{~{/info}}

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~=== 3. Choose Your Action ===

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Four buttons appear at the top of the report:

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~|=Button|=What It Does|

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~|~*~*Email All Found~*~*|Sends an email to every member in the current result set|

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~|~*~*Email Selected~*~*|Sends an email to only the members you've checked in the table|

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~|~*~*Text All Found~*~*|Sends a text to every member in the current result set|

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~|~*~*Text Selected~*~*|Sends a text to only the members you've checked in the table|

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~{~{info}}

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If a member has multiple contracts that match your query, they will only receive one message — the system deduplicates by member ID before sending.

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~{~{/info}}

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~=== 4. Compose Your Message ===

~*~*For emails:~*~*

~* (Optional) Pick an existing template from the dropdown to pre-fill the subject and body.

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~* Enter a subject line.

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~* Edit the body in the rich text editor. You can use bold, italics, lists, links, and images the same way you would when emailing from a member profile.

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~* Use personalization tokens to customize each message:

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~** ~*~*#FIRST NAME#~*~* — member's first name

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~** ~*~*#LAST NAME#~*~* — member's last name

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~** ~*~*#LOGIN#~*~* — member's portal login

~*~*For texts:~*~*

~* Enter your message as plain text.

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~* A character counter shows you how long the message is. Stay under 160 characters for a single SMS segment — longer messages will be sent as multiple segments and may cost more.

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~* Personalization tokens (#FIRST NAME#, etc.) work in texts too.

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~=== 5. Preview the Recipient Count ===

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The dialog shows you how many members will actually receive the message after TCPA and reminders filtering is applied. This is your final send count — use it to sanity-check the audience size before you click Send.

~=== 6. Send ===

Click ~*~*Send~*~*. The message dispatches through MSI's normal email (SendGrid) and SMS (Mobiery) infrastructure. You'll see a confirmation when the send is complete, including the final recipient count.

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~== Frequently Asked Questions ==

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~*~*Why is my recipient count lower than my report results?~*~*~\~\

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The count shown before send is after TCPA and reminders filtering. Members without opt-in or with reminders set to Nothing (or to a channel that doesn't match what you're sending) are automatically excluded.

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~*~*Can I save a draft and come back to it later?~*~*~\~\

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No. The compose dialog resets when you close it. Compose and send in one session.

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~*~*Where do bulk sends show up afterwards?~*~*~\~\

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Each send is logged to the system's message log with the recipient count, channel (email or SMS), and source = contract_report. They are not currently distinguished from member-tab messages in the standard message reports — that's a planned enhancement.

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~*~*Can a member be messaged twice if they have multiple contracts?~*~*~\~\

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No. The system deduplicates by member ID before sending. If a member has 3 matching contracts, they receive 1 message.

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~*~*What happens if a member's phone number or email is invalid?~*~*~\~\

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Bad addresses fail per-recipient — the rest of the send continues normally. The send count returned reflects only successful dispatches.

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~*~*Can I use this on other reports?~*~*~\~\

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Not yet. The Contract Report is the first report wired up to bulk messaging. The backend supports any report; additional reports can be added as a future enhancement.

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~*~*Why don't I see the buttons?~*~*

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~* You may be on the Summary view — switch to Detail.

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~* You may not have permission for messaging on this report — check with your account administrator.

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~* You may have switched views without re-running the query — re-run it on Detail.

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