One Message, Each Contact's Own Due Date, Amount or Plan

A name makes a mass text feel personal. A due date or an amount makes it useful:

Hi Mario, your 45,00 € gym fee is due on 15/11.

Writing that by hand for forty members is an evening gone. Sending the same generic reminder to everyone means the people who have already paid get chased too. List fields solve both: you keep each contact’s details next to them in the list, and write the message once.

What list fields are

A list field is an extra column in a distribution list. Each contact has their own value:

In the message you use the field like a placeholder:

Hi {name}, your {amount} payment is due on {due_date}.

Mario receives “Hi Mario, your 45,00 € payment is due on 15/11.”, Anna receives hers. Because every message is different, each one is sent as a separate text — nobody sees anybody else’s amount.

Two ways to create them

By hand, for small lists. Open the list, add a field (for example Due date) and fill in the values: the app shows every contact with a text box, and Next on the keyboard jumps to the following one. Twenty contacts take a couple of minutes. A same value for all button fills a value in one go — handy when most people are on the same plan.

From a CSV file, for long lists. If the data already lives in Excel or Google Sheets, export it as CSV. Name and phone are recognised automatically; every other column becomes a field. See importing contacts from a CSV for the details of the file.

You can mix the two: export the list with its fields, fill the columns in a spreadsheet, and import it back into the same list.

Keeping the list up to date

Reminders are monthly, so the list should not be thrown away after one use. Re-import the updated file into the same list:

• contacts already there get their values updated, new ones are added, nobody is duplicated;
• an empty cell clears the value — useful for “has paid”;
• columns that are not in the new file are left alone.

Then select only the contacts with a value in the amount field, and the reminder goes only to the people who still owe something.

When a value is missing

Before sending, the app checks every recipient. If some contacts have no value for a field you used, you see exactly what they would receive — “your payment is due on…” with a gap — and choose:

• write a replacement, such as to be confirmed, used only where the value is missing;
• leave them out of this send, without touching the list.

The preview then shows the real message for each person, one by one.

Step by step

1. Open the distribution list and add fields — by hand, or by importing a CSV with extra columns.
2. Fill in the values (or re-import the updated file each month).
3. Tap SMS and write the message, tapping the field chips to insert them.
4. Check the card for missing values and the preview.
5. Send: each contact gets their own message.

Questions people ask

Is this available on both iPhone and Android?

Yes — Group SMS 3 on iPhone (from version 3.6) and Group SMS on Android (from version 4.3) both support list fields, created by hand or from a CSV.

Is it free?

Creating and filling fields is free. Sending with list fields is a Pro feature, and the first send is free, up to 25 contacts — enough to try it on a real list.

Can I use list fields in templates?

No, on purpose: a template does not know which list it will be sent to. Fields belong to their list, so you use them when you write to that list.

Can I schedule a message with list fields?

Not yet. Messages with list fields are sent right away, one by one.

Why can’t a field be called “name” or “phone”?

Because {name}, {surname} and {phone} already exist for every contact. Give the field a different name, such as Member name or Mobile 2.