Contact Groups & Bulk Import

Contact Groups allow you to organize recipients into reusable lists and send bulk SMS campaigns of any size. To manage your groups, sign in to the Web Application and click Groups in the left sidebar.

---

Why Use Contact Groups?

Campaigns Over 500 Recipients

Pasting numbers directly into the Send Message box is limited to 500 recipients per submission. To send a campaign to more than 500 mobile numbers at once, place them in a Group and select the Group when sending.

Automatic Deduplication (6-Hour Window)

Rayo SMS prevents sending the exact same SMS content to the same mobile number within a 6-hour window. If a number belongs to multiple selected Groups (or you re-send the same campaign within 6 hours), the recipient receives the SMS only once.

Automatic Invalid Suppression

Any member whose Contact record is marked as Invalid (Invalid? = Yes) is automatically skipped when sending to a Group, protecting your credits and respecting opt-outs.

Audience Segmentation

Maintain separate lists for VIP customers, regional branches, staff alerts, or seasonal marketing segments.

---

Creating a Group

1. Click Groups in the left sidebar.
2. Click New Group.
3. In the Give the Name of the Group field, enter a descriptive name for your group.
4. Click Create.

---

Adding a Single Member (Add New Member)

To add an individual recipient to an existing group:

1. Open Groups in the left sidebar and locate your group.
2. Click Add New Member.
3. Enter the Mobile Number (required) and optionally fill in First Name, Last Name, and Reference Code (Ref.Number).
4. Submit the form.

Note

If the mobile number you enter does not yet exist in your Contacts directory, Rayo SMS automatically creates the corresponding Contact record as well.

---

Bulk Importing Members (Add Many Members)

You can import hundreds or thousands of recipients into a group at once using the bulk import tool.

1. Go to Groups and click Add Many Members on the target group.
2. Paste your recipient list into the text area with one recipient per line.
3. Each line can contain just the mobile number, or comma-separated values in the format: MobileNumber,FirstName,LastName,ReferenceCode
4. Submit the form to start the background import.

Bulk Import Format Example

Below is the exact format accepted by the Add Many Members tool:

+306972669766
+306972669762
+306972669761,John,Smith
+306972669760,Mary,Foo,cust-2343
+306972669759,James

• Country Prefix Optional: Mobile numbers do not need to start with a country code prefix. For example, entering 6972669766 automatically applies your account’s Default Sending-To Country prefix (such as +30).
• Optional Fields: You can omit trailing fields on any line (e.g., mobile number only, mobile + first name, or mobile + first name + last name + reference code).

Asynchronous Background Import

When you submit a bulk import, Rayo SMS queues the list for asynchronous processing in the background and displays the confirmation message:

Mobile numbers have been stored for further processing

You do not need to keep your browser window open. As soon as all mobile numbers have been processed and added to the group, Rayo SMS sends an email notification to your account email address.

---

Viewing & Removing Group Members

To inspect the recipients inside a group, click on the group’s members list from the Groups page.

• To remove a recipient from a specific group, click Remove Mobile From Group next to their entry.
• Contacts Database Preserved: Clicking Remove Mobile From Group only detaches the number from that specific group—the contact remains in your main Contacts database (and in any other groups they belong to).