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Goal: Send a form in bulk to a large number of recipients, based on an Excel file containing the information needed to pre-fill your forms. A campaign lets you send a specific form to a large number of people at once. In this guide, you will learn how to — starting from an Excel file containing data that maps to your form fields — send a campaign to your recipients. This guide walks you through every step: from creating a campaign to scheduling your sends.

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Part 1: Prepare your Excel file

Your Excel file is the source of data for your campaign. Each row represents one recipient, and each column represents a piece of information — either about the person to contact, or data to pre-fill in their form. The column headers must match the variable names used in your Penbox form. Penbox will use these to map each column to the right field when you upload the file. Once your file is ready, save it as a CSV file — Penbox requires a CSV format to import your data and launch the campaign.
For contact variables, the standard Penbox names are: user.given_name (first name), user.family_name (last name), user.email (email), user.phone (mobile number).
Make sure every mobile number in your file respects the following rules:
  • One mobile number per field
  • In one of these formats: 00324… · +324… · 04…
To find the variable name of a field in one of your forms: go to Templates → Forms, open the form, click Edit, find the question, then click the six dots icon next to it. The variable name appears next to the </> symbol.
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Part 2: Review and test your form

Before launching your campaign, make sure the form you want to send is ready and works as expected.
1

Go to your workspace

Navigate to Templates → Forms.
2

Open the form

Click on the form you want to send as a campaign.
3

Test it

Click New request to send the form to yourself and verify that everything looks correct.

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Part 3: Create and configure the campaign

1

Open Campaigns

Click Campaigns in the left-hand navigation.
2

Create a new campaign

Click Create a campaign.
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3

Name your campaign

Give your campaign a clear, recognisable name.
4

Add data

Click Add data.
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5

Select the form

Choose the form you want to send in bulk.
6

Select the file type

Choose CSV as the file type.
7

Upload your CSV export

Upload the CSV file you prepared in Part 1.
8

Upload the files

Click Upload files.
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9

Check the mapping screen

Review the mapping screen that appears and confirm that all fields have been imported correctly.
10

Validate the mapping

Click Validate mapping.
11

Preview the forms

You will now see a preview of the individual forms that will be sent. Take a moment to check the content of a few.
12

Validate options

Click Validate options.
13

Start creation

Click Start creation to generate all the individual forms. This may take a moment.

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Part 4: Schedule your sends

1

Open the scheduler

Once the forms are created, click Schedule to define when and how sends go out.
2

Configure your send schedule

Fill in the following options:
  • Sends per wave — how many forms go out per batch
  • Start date — when sending should begin
  • Send time — the time of day for each wave
  • Send days — the days of the week on which sends happen
Example: 3 sends per day · send days: Monday and Wednesday · send time: 11:00 AM → 3 forms will go out every Monday and Wednesday at 11 AM.
3

Start scheduling

Click Start scheduling. This may take a moment.

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You’re done 🎉

Your campaign is created and your sends are scheduled. Well done!

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What’s next?

Form Notifications

Configure the invitation and reminder emails your recipients receive.