Add Groups to Lists in Messages and Messages XR

To send communication to groups of recipients, you can create Lists in Messages and Messages XR. Lists can be populated by groups which are created in the Group Manager module. You can make as many groups to add to a List as you’d like. Even better, you can reuse those groups in multiple lists to target your recipients in very strategic ways. 

In this Article

• Step 1: Confirm your group membership
• Step 2: Create lists in Messages
  • Best Practice: Naming Lists vs Groups
• Step 3: Add Group(s) to List(s)
• More on managing subscriptions

Step 1: Confirm your group membership

Navigate to Group Manager to confirm your group membership. 

Create a top-level Messages group to house all your groups intended for messages Lists. This will make it easier for you to locate these groups when adding them to the lists. Choose the Top Level radio button to create this group.

After you create the Messages group, use descriptive names to create groups underneath it. To learn how to Add members to your Group, read the section, "Add members to your Group" in the "Group Manager overview" article.

Step 2: Create lists in Messages

Once you have confirmed group membership, you are ready to start creating your lists! 

Check out the article, "Create a new mailing list" to walk you through this process.

Step 3: Add Group(s) to List(s)

Once you have created your groups, you can add them to your list. The article, "Manage List subscriptions" has a section just for this step: "Subscribe recipients > Group" where you can walk through this process of adding groups to a list. 

More on managing subscriptions

After you add groups to a list, you can see these groups next to the mailing list status filter. Use the trashcan icon to remove the group from the list, or use the arrow icon to jump to the group in Group Manager, where you can edit the group's membership.

Troubleshooting: The group membership was updated, or a constituent's information was updated, but I don't see this change in the Messages list.  There are two actions that trigger a list to update: 1) Sending a message to that list, or 2) Unsubscribing and resubscribing a user and/or group to the list. If one of these events occur, then you will see the list updated to reflect the changes made to the constituents/groups.

If a user wants to unsubscribe from a mailing list, the process is simple. They can click on the Unsubscribe link in a message that has been sent to the list, and they can opt to be removed from that list only. Their membership in any groups won’t be affected, and they’ll still receive messages sent to the other lists that group is attached to. 

Furthermore, if you have a message that’s too important even for the Important Announcements list, such as an illness report, you can send it as an administrative message. With your Messages groups already created, you already have the groups ready to send it to. You can send an administrative message to as many groups as necessary.