80 years ago, the youth was typically involved with their local religious communities; today that is not the case.
Community leaders are finding ways to engage the youth into their programming. One of those ways is through technology, specifically texting services. Text messaging offers a way to engage community members in a quick and efficient manner. Compared to traditional modes of communication, text has a 3-5x likelihood of being answered.
Did you know Americans send 6 Billion text messages a day?
Texting services can be very broad, but we define church texting services as the following.
Imagine you are running the communications for a Church and you need to utilize WhatsApp of iMessage to send updates. On the surface, it may be simple, but as you start to get a more engaged community; collecting RSVPs, segmented members, scheduling messages, and collecting data gets more difficult.
That's where Church texting comes in. It is a communication strategy that utilizes SMS (Short Message Service) technology to send messages directly to congregation members' mobile phones. This method allows churches to disseminate information quickly, efficiently, and on a large scale.
What's the point of using Texting over other modes of communication?
One of the primary advantages of church texting is the ability to reach members instantly. Unlike emails that may go unread or social media posts that can get lost in busy feeds, text messages are typically read within minutes of receipt.
Text messages boast significantly higher open and engagement rates compared to other forms of digital communication. While only 21% of marketing emails are opened, studies show that 98% of text messages are read by recipients.
Church texting services offer an affordable alternative to traditional communication methods like printing newsletters or making individual phone calls. Many providers offer budget-friendly pricing plans suitable for churches of all sizes.
Text messaging can engage members across all age groups, ensuring that important communications reach the entire congregation, regardless of their tech-savviness or social media presence
Leveraging engagement platforms such as Evant, community leaders can use Texting to collect RSVPs and engagement data. For instance, with one-work RSVP triggers, communities can have participants text "Sunday" to RSVP for Sunday mass.
Read more about the benefits of church texting platforms in our recent article Why Church Texting.
Evant stands out as a RSVP tool that has unique features such as one-word RSVP's, member data collection, and dedicated support for community leaders. Evant's one-word RSVP triggers can be followed up by automated questions flows. For example, after a community member text to RSVP's, you can set an automated follow-up question, "Are you bringing any guests?". Lastly, you can track engagement data from your members by seeing in their backwound info and how many prior events they've attended.
Evant also stands out with their extremely affordable pricing compares to other texting services.
DialMyCalls ease of use and versatility has made it a popular choice amongst church leaders. Key features include: mass texting, messaging templates, polling & surveys and subgroup creation for targeted messaging. They have been around for a while and are particularly popular amongst larger churches.
DialMyCalls offer's affordable pricing and no contract commitments.
Clearsteam is another popular choice amongst church leaders. Their platform includes workflows, live surveys, texting and HIPAA compliance for sensitive information. Clearstream maybe tougher for non tech-savvy individuals to get a hang of, as third-party integrations can get complicated.
Text in Church is popular amongst leaders for their seamless technology integration capabilities. Text in Church also has email functionalities as well, offering the full suite of communication features. Text in Church does not offer group messaging, live streaming and RSVPs.
Text in Church's platform has a strong focus on church goer retention strategies.
Flocknote is known for its simplicity and affordability, making it a great option for smaller churches on a budget. They offer both email and text messaging capabilities, along with group messaging and survey functionalities. Flocknote even has a free plan for very small churches.
EZ Texting is popular amongst larger churches with complex communication strategies. EZ Texting does not have email or group messaging capabilities but users do have the option to add MMS (image) and scheduled messaging to their communications. Higher tier plans even have their on dedicated account manager.
Church leaders have been evolving their means of communications and it will be interesting to see where the next wave of church innovation will take us. For now, with the advent of text, church's have the ability to communicate, engage, and collect faster than ever before. To learn more, read our Church Texting guide.
To find more platforms to choose from, check out our article on Subsplash alternatives.
Check out Evant's unique community engagement system for RSVPs, rich data, and clean engagement.
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