Broadcast Center allows merchants to send a large variety of messages to multiple target markets at once. Merchants can use this feature to communicate with customers, as well as share information about promotions and other store events.
In this article, you'll find:
- How to add a broadcast message
- How to copy a broadcast message
- How customers receive broadcast messages
- How customers unsubscribe from broadcast messages
- Notes
1. How to add a new broadcast message
Step 1
In SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Customer Management] > [Broadcast Center]. Click on New Message, then select the message type from the dropdown menu.
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Facebook Messenger:
- Broadcast messages can be sent within 24 hours to Customers who have agreed to receive promotional messages through Facebook Messenger.
- Customers who have not agreed to receive promotional messages, but there was interaction within 24 hours. Please refer to New LINE@ / FB Messenger Broadcast Messages for what "interaction" entails.
- Line: Customers who have agreed to receive shop updates and promotions and subscribed to notifications sent via Line.
- Email: Customers who have agreed to receive shop updates and promotions, registered an account with email, or added an email address to their member account.
- SMS: Customers who have agreed to receive shop updates and promotions, registered an account with a phone number, or added a phone number to their account.
Step 2
After selecting the broadcast channel, edit the message content and fill in all the fields.
- Message Title / Broadcast name: Text limit of 80 characters
- Message Content: Please refer to the following SMS, Facebook Messenger, LINE, and Email sections.
- Message Setting
- Send Immediately: The message will be broadcast immediately. Modifying the content or canceling the broadcast is not available after clicking "Send".
- Preset Time: Schedule the broadcast message on an hourly basis. You can modify the content and the message settings, or cancel the broadcast before it reaches the scheduled time.
i. SMS
Full-width / half-width / line break / special symbols will affect the character count. Each text message is limited to 160 half-width characters or a mix of 70 half-width and full-width characters. If the text exceeds the character limit, it will be sent as a long SMS with extra charges.
*Notes:
- If you want to add a URL to the text message, it is recommended to put it at the end to prevent other texts from being detected as part of the URL.
- When sending long text messages, if the URL is not fully displayed within the same message, it may be considered invalid by the telecommunications service provider and fail to send.
- Do not include store names that resemble URLs to avoid message delivery failure.
- The actual amount charged is based on the monthly SMS reports and bills. Merchants are recommended to send a test SMS message and check the recipient amount in the SMS report before sending it to all users.
- For more details about character count and charges, please refer to 簡訊發送服務 (only in Chinese) and Short Message Service (SMS) Pricing.
ii. Facebook Messenger
You can choose to present it in plain text, images, or card messages. Click the up and down arrows at the upper right to adjust the sorting.
iii. LINE
You can choose to present it in plain text, images, or card messages. Click the up and down arrows at the upper right to adjust the sorting.
iv. Email
There is no word limit for email messages. You can upload pictures, embed hyperlinks, and edit text format in the content. Click the icon highlighted in the red box below to lengthen the length of the editing box.
*Notes:
- Please make sure to enter the complete URL with "https" in the message, and the system will automatically convert it into a short URL (i.e., do not enter the pre-made short URL).
- Only 10 hyperlinks are currently supported. Customers will not be able to receive the correct link if it exceeds the limit.
Step 3
After completing the message content, you can set the customers who will receive the broadcast message through a series of filter conditions. Several filter conditions can be added, the broadcast message will be sent to customers who meet all the conditions. The number of customers who meet the conditions will also be shown at the bottom.
i. Target Group Options
Select Customer Group under Target Group Options and choose an existing group from the Select Customer Group drop-down menu. For more details, please refer to this article.
ii. Customize Target
You can still select Customize Target and add filters to choose your target customers. For more details, please refer to this article.
*Note:
- There is an hour time gap between the member database update and the broadcast filter conditions. If the member information is updated within one hour, it will take one hour to filter the latest results in the Broadcast Center.
- For more details about Customer Tag, please refer to: Customer Tag & Note｜Customer List.
Step 4
After confirming all the message content and filtering conditions, click Send, and the page will jump back to the Broadcast Center list.
- Message set to "Send Immediately": The message status will appear "Sent", and it is available to copy or view the message.
- Message set to send at a "Preset Time": The message status will appear "Pending", and it is available to cancel, copy, or edit the message.
After canceling the scheduled broadcast message, the message can also be deleted from the list. Please note that after the message is confirmed to be deleted, the message cannot be restored or viewed again.
2. How to copy a broadcast message
Merchants can create broadcast messages with the same content by clicking the Copy button in the broadcast center list to duplicate the broadcast message and modify the content.
Step 1
Click the Copy button next to the broadcast message you want to copy.
Step 2
After clicking "Copy", a broadcast message with the same message title and message content will be copied.
Step 3
The message setting time and target group will not be copied. Please set the broadcast time and target group for this message to be sent before sending.
3. How customers receive broadcast messages
For more detailed information on how customers can receive broadcasts for each channel, see the instructions below:
Method 1
In the online store, customers go to the Profile tab under the member center. Check the box for "Send via Email" and/or "Send via SMS" then select "Send via LINE" and/or "Send to Messenger" to receive the message through the 4 channels.
Method 2
In the "Order Update Notifications" section of the checkout page, customers click the "Send to LINE" and/or "Send to Messenger" buttons to allow receiving the notification through LINE and Facebook Messenger.
If customers check "Yes, send me email updates and promotions," they will receive the broadcast messages via email.
Broadcast messages to members who have not subscribed to the newsletters
Before sending a broadcast message via SMS, you can remove the two filtering conditions "Accept SMS marketing" and "not excluded from the broadcast".
Click the "X" icon next to the filter criteria to remove it, a reminder window will appear as shown below. Please be sure to read it and confirm your consent before clicking OK.
A. Remove "accept SMS marketing"
If this condition is removed, members who have not subscribed to the newsletter will also receive broadcast messages, which may cause violations of personal data protection laws and customer complaints. Please pay attention to this reminder before removing it.
When sending to all customers, a reminder window will pop up before clicking "Confirmed," showing the number of users who will receive this SMS broadcast message.
B. Remove "not excluded from broadcast"
After removing this filter, a yellow box reminder will appear as shown below. Customers who have been marked as "not excluded from broadcast" will receive the message again. Please be aware of the reminder before sending it.
What does it mean to be customers "Excluded from broadcast"?
If a customer does not want to receive SMS notifications anymore, the store administrator can go to the Admin > Customer Management > Customers to edit customer information. Check the box for "SMS Marketing" under "Excluded from broadcast". Then the customer will be excluded from the broadcast list.
4. How customers unsubscribe from broadcast messages
When customers receive your broadcast email message, a hyperlink of "To stop receiving this type emails, you may unsubscribe email notifications" will be at the bottom of the message.
If a customer wishes to stop receiving the message, they can follow the steps below:
- Click the link at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe.
- Log in to the online store, go to the member center and uncheck all the channels that have subscribed to notifications. Click "Save Changes" to confirm.
5. Notes
- According to the new Facebook Messenger Policy, since 2020/3/4, if a user has not interacted with your store via Facebook Messenger within the past 24 hours, you cannot send system messages to the user. The scheduled message is subject to the time the message is sent. (Sponsored messages are not restricted)
- A monthly fee will be charged for SMS notifications if this feature is enabled. Please be aware of the possibility of a high cost for broadcasting messages to a large customer base. The SMS fee is based on the monthly SMS report.
Read more
- Custom Notification
- Order Update Notification via Facebook Messenger
- LINE@ / FB Messenger Broadcast Template
- Customer Group Management
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