Contact groups are the heart of the BellesLink platform and this video tutorial will show you how to work them.
Importing a List
You can create a contact group by importing a list of people. When you import your list you can map the columns in your CSV spreadsheet to the fields in a contact record.
Fields you can import are:
- First name
- Last name
- Contact ID1: a unique name or number for your contact
- Contact 1D2: a unique name or number for your contact
- Phone number: up to 15
- Phone number type: such as mobile or landline
- Phone number alias: such as home, work, or mobile
- Addresses: up to five
- Emails: up to five
- Custom fields: up to five, including custom field name
Contact List Import Template
It is not required, but you can use this CSV spreadsheet template to make importing list even easier.
Adding Existing Contacts to a Group
At any time you can add other contacts from your account into a group. Use the Add Existing Contact button, search for the contact(s) you want and select them.
Add a New Contact to a Group
New contacts can be added to a group. The minimum required to create a new contact is a single phone number.
Use the Add a New Contact button and enter the contact’s first name, last name, and at least one phone number. You can enter multiple phone numbers by separating them with comma or a return. Once your contact is created you can add addresses, emails, and custom fields.
Group Actions
Once you have created a group you can use it to send a bulk text or make call with the Contact Dialer.
Sending a Bulk Text
When you send a bulk text to a group, you’re sending the same message to every mobile number that’s included. To personalize your text you can choose the salutation—Hi, Hello, Hola—and you can choose to include each person’s first or first and last name.
Salutations and names are automatically inserted into your text message at the time they are sent. You can see a preview of our message before you send.
Calling with the Contact Dialer
You can send a group to the Contact Dialer so you can make calls to everyone in an organized manner. All the phone numbers, in all the contacts in the group will be organized into a calling list. Contacts marked as Do Not Contact or phone numbers with a disconnected status will not be included in the calling list.
Closing a Group
If you no longer need a group of contacts you can close the group to remove it from your account.
!! Closing a group will permanently remove the group from your account and it cannot be recovered. All bulk text records, dialer records, and group reminders will be permanently deleted.
Closing a group but keeping the contacts
When you close a contact group you can choose to keep the contacts inside the group open. The contacts will remain available in your All Contacts list and in any other groups they are assigned to.
Closing a group and closing the contacts.
When you close a contact group you can also choose to close all the contacts in the group. !! Closing the contacts inside a group when the group is closed will permanently remove the contacts and all their associated data from your account. Close contacts will no longer be available inside your account.
Contact Manager Overview
This video tutorial will give you overview of the Contact Manager and how you can use it to organize people search and customer contacts.