How do I send a segmented broadcast?

It’s a two-part answer. First, create the subscriber tag using keywords. Wait for subscribers to opt in by texting back a keyword. Then send those subscribers texts.

There are a variety of reasons why you might want to send a broadcast to only a segment of your audience. That’s why we’ve created segmented broadcasting, using keywords and subscriber tags. This feature allows your audience to opt into broadcasts based on their interests, and in turn for you to be able to send broadcasts to these subsets of on your audience. You may choose to segment your audience based on their interests, texting preferences, home city, favorite sports teams, or anything else you can think of!

Here’s how to do it.

You can only send a segmented broadcast to users who have opted-in to subscriber tags with keywords. So let’s start with how to create a keyword and subscriber tag.

1. Click on New Broadcast in the top navigation bar.
2. Fill out your broadcast body and other optional fields in the same way you usually do.
   
   
3. In the Specify Keywords to Tag Subscribers section, enter a keyword that you would like to use to segment your audience (i.e. DAILY or WEEKLY - if you want subscribers to tell you how often they want to receive texts). All entered keywords must appear in the broadcast body before it can be published, saved, or scheduled. Multiple keywords can be entered in the same broadcast.
   Follow the links for specifics on about what characters are accepted in subscriber tags and how subscribers can opt in.
4. Hit Send. The keywords you entered in the Specify Keywords to Tag Subscribers section are now active for users to respond and tag themselves accordingly. Now you wait until a subscribers text back the keyword. As soon as one subscriber has texted back the keyword, you can send a segmented broadcast.

How to send a segmented broadcast:

1. Click on New Broadcast in the top navigation bar.
2. In the Send To section of the Broadcast Composer, click the audience dropdown. It should be set to All Subscribers by default.
3. From the dropdown, select either of the two Audience Segment options. More on your segment options here.
   
4. An input box will appear next to or below the dropdown. As you begin typing, a list of suggested existing subscriber tags will appear. Hit enter or click a suggested tag to confirm your selection. A selected tag will appear below the input box along with an indicator of how many subscribers have opted into that tag. Entering multiple tags will either expand or narrow your target audience based on your selected Send To dropdown option. 
5. Continue to fill out your broadcast body and other optional fields. 
6. Segmented broadcasts must have a total audience of at least 1 subscriber in order to be successfully sent. Click Send to text only the subscribers who match your specified audience segment. If you’d like to schedule the broadcast for a later date, it will be sent to the subscribers who match your specified audience segment at the time you’ve chosen for the broadcast to be sent. 

For ideas on how to use segmentation, check out these examples.