How to use bulk SMS for churches

Your church congregation expects to hear from you on a regular basis.

But, social media channels like Facebook and Twitter don’t guarantee your posts are shown to your Church members. 

If someone isn’t logged on at a particular time, they’ll miss your post.

This can lead to lower engagement with your content, and reduced Church attendance.

In this article, I’m going to show you how you can start boosting engagement with your Church congregation and members through text messages.

You’ll learn:

• Text Message Marketing for Churches: What Do We Mean?
• Benefits of Using Bulk SMS At Your Church
• Use Cases for SMS At Your Church

Sounds good?

Let’s jump straight in.

Text Message Marketing for Churches: What Do We Mean?

Text message marketing, also known as Bulk SMS or mass texting, is a communication strategy that involves sending text messages to your list of Church members.

You’ll need their phone number, and permission to text them. As long as your congregation expects you to provide value with your text message campaigns, most will be happy to opt-in to your text campaigns.

It’s an ideal way to improve your Church growth rate, helping you engage with both new and existing Church members, and ensure you always have a direct line of communication to your members.

Next, I’ll show you a few of the main benefits of using bulk SMS at your Church.

Benefits of Using Bulk SMS at Your Church

Reach Everyone at Once

If you worry about your congregation members missing important messages because they’re not checking Facebook, Twitter, or their email, SMS is ideal.

98% of text messages are read, and 90% of those are opened within 3 minutes of receiving them.

There’s no other marketing channel that sees read and open rates that high - which is why so many Churches are starting to look to text message marketing as a key communication channel.

If you have older members in your congregation, they may not use social media or even regularly check their emails. But, chances are, they’ll always check their phone when they receive a text message.

Reduce Marketing Costs Compared to Traditional Channels

As Church membership has declined over the past 20 years, it’s more important than ever to budget effectively.

This membership decline is likely reducing total donations your Church receives, so you need to find cost-effective channels to communicate through.

Mass text messaging is a cost-effective way to send out important updates to your members. Using a platform like Instasent it costs less than $0.01 per message, and you only need to spend money when you send texts. 

You’ll avoid expensive monthly subscriptions to most email marketing platforms, and avoid having to pay for expensive Facebook or Twitter Ads that don’t guarantee your members even see your announcements. 

Personalized Communication

Another benefit of text messaging is that you can personalize each message. For example, you can include special fields like:

• First name
• City
• Church name

Considering 74% of marketers say that personalization increases their engagement rates, finding ways to personalize messages is a simple way to improve your campaigns.

As well as that, your Church members will feel more included and closer to the Church.

Use Cases for SMS at Your Church

There are various ways you can use SMS at your Church to increase engagement and help grow your membership. Here are some of the most effective:

Daily Readings

Even if your members can’t attend Church every day or week, many still want to be mindful of their faith.

You can use mass text messages to send a daily Bible verse or prayer to your congregation. It’s a great way to keep your members engaged and build a close relationship, even with congregants who can’t attend Church as regularly as they wish.

Notify Members of Important Updates

If you ever have timely, important updates to send your contacts then SMS is an effective channel.

Examples of updates you could send could include:

• Notify of Church closure or changing opening hours
• Local news relevant to the Church
• Reminders for Church events and important dates

The use cases are flexible - you can send updates that you believe your members will be interested in.

Promote Engagement with Church Activities

It can be hard to promote Church activities if you don’t have a clear line of communication to your congregation. Your members have busy lives, and there’s always a chance they forget about an upcoming event, even if they planned on attending.

You can use bulk text message capabilities to remind everyone in the run-up to events to ensure your audience is always aware, and never accidentally forget an event.

You can also run follow-up text campaigns to ask Church members their feedback on how they felt about events. It’s a simple way to gather constructive feedback that you can use to improve how you engage with your members and run events.

How Much Will It Cost to Use Text Message Marketing At Your Church?

Compared to channels like social media advertising, email marketing, or even direct mail, text messages are an inexpensive channel for most Churches.

It’s also faster, accessible to anyone with a phone (new or old), and easy to manage.

With Instasent, you can send texts for as little as $0.0091 per message (subject to change). You can calculate how much it’ll cost using our handy calculator, available here. There are no hidden monthly fees, and no surprises.

It’s a great way to ensure your congregation stays up to date, and never miss an important event or update.

SMS: A Simple Way to Improve Your Church Communications

As you can see, bulk SMS services for Churches are a powerful way to:

• Boost member engagement with your Church
• Increase attendance at regular events
• Send daily or weekly updates
• Save on marketing costs

They’re quick and easy to set up - a platform like Instasent will help your Church get set up with your own bulk SMS systems in minutes. Our platform also enables you the ability to verify phone numbers to ensure you’re never sending SMS’s to non-existent phone numbers.

If you’re ready to get started, you can contact our team to learn more, sign up instantly by clicking here or check our prices: