How Do I Send a Mass Text Message via SMS? – Virtuous

Text messages are a great way to connect personally with your supporters. And sending mass texts, instead of (or in addition to) emails, can be useful for mobilizing your supporters to join in a volunteer event or other initiative.

Lucky for you, it's possible to send mass texts once you have configured SMS messaging for your organization.

Important Notes:

As of January 31, 2024, if your toll-free number has not yet been verified or is pending, any messages sent will be blocked. For more information on the verification process, visit this article.
SMS Messaging through Virtuous CRM+ is only available to send messages to US phone numbers. Any phone numbers outside of the US will not be sent text messages.

To get started, navigate to the SMS page. Hover over the left side bar, then select Marketing. Under Marketing, select SMS.

Before you send your message, you'll need to create it (we know, we're really sticklers for detail). You can use this article as a guide to create a new SMS template. Once you have your template ready for prime time, you can get down to business.

Sending Mass Texts

On the SMS screen, you'll notice that there are two tabs at the top of the screen. Click on Mass Texting and then you'll see a button in the upper right to "Create Mass Text." Go ahead and click that bad boy.

Select Template

You'll need to give your bulk message a name, like "Spring Volunteer Push." Make sure the name is clear so that anyone on your team will understand what it is. Then, select one of the existing SMS templates for your organization, You'll even see a preview of the message, so you can be sure you've picked the right one.

Once you've selected a template, click "Next" in the lower left to continue.

Choose Query

To send your message, you'll need to define your audience. You can select an existing saved Individual query, or create a filter right there in the wizard.

Screenshot 2025-09-09 at 11.24.56 AM.png

Once you select a query, or as you build out your filter, you'll see the total number of query recipients update. To the right of the recipient total, you'll see the maximum number of allowed recipients, with an indication of the total number of hours required. See below for more on the number of hours.

Once you have set your audience, click "Next" to continue to scheduling.

Schedule

The system default is to send your message right away.

If you opt to schedule your message to send in the future, you can use the calendar to select a date and then click on the clock icon to select a time. Note that this will be the time when your mass text will begin sending (more on this below).

After you have selected a scheduling option, click "Next" one more time to move to the final step.

Review

On the "review" tab, you'll be able to review the settings for your mass text, including the total recipients and the time to send.

Click "Send" to begin sending your mass text, or schedule it to send in the future.

Maximum Sending Limits

When sending SMS messages, it may feel like texting is instantaneous, but there are limits on message throughput. SMS messages are sent out at a rate of up to 50 segments per second. Because messages are sent in segments (message parts), the speed at which your recipients receive their text depends on how long your message is. To keep performance high, bulk text sends are capped at a maximum of 10 hours. At 50 segments per second, that works out to:

3,000 segments per minute
180,000 segments per hour
1,800,000 segments over the 10-hour window

Note: The 50 segments per second rate is an "up to" maximum, not a guaranteed rate. Real-world factors like network congestion or overall message load across CRM+ can affect the speed of any individual send, so a given mass text may go out somewhat slower than the theoretical maximum.

Message Segments

A single SMS segment holds up to 160 characters. Any message longer than 160 characters is split into multiple segments, or parts. Since sending rate is measured in segments, a two-segment message uses up your capacity twice as fast as a single-segment message, and a three-segment message three times as fast. That means the total number of Contacts you can reach depends on your message length. The longer the message, the fewer recipients you can reach in the same amount of time.

For example, here's how message length affects send time for the same audience of 36,000 recipients:

A one segment message (up to 160 characters) takes about 12 minutes.
A two-segment message (161–320 characters) takes about 24 minutes.
A three-segment message (321–480 characters) takes about 36 minutes.

For a larger audience of 100,000 recipients:

A one segment message (up to 160 characters) takes about 33 minutes.
A two-segment message (161–320 characters) takes about 1 hour and 7 minutes.
A three-segment message (321–480 characters) takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

If you've scheduled a mass text to send at 3:00 PM, the message will begin sending at 3:00 PM and complete within the calculated timeframe (up to the 10-hour maximum), with individual recipients receiving their message anywhere within that window.

So, while you can now reach a very large audience quickly, keeping your message concise with fewer segments means it reaches more people faster. This is why you'll see the maximum recipient count expressed both as a total number of recipients and as a maximum number of hours.

I Sent My Message! Now What?

Once you have sent—or scheduled—a mass text, you can review it from the Mass Texting screen. Click on the Actions drop-down to the right of your mass text to view sent messages.

This will take you directly to the Sent SMS Messages screen and filter for all of the sent messages from your mass text. You can read more about reviewing sent SMS messages in this handy article.