Texting is “in.” It’s been fascinating to hear how a number of ministries are beginning to leverage text messaging as a significant part of their ministry strategy, especially with the younger generations.
Some ministries have seen huge bumps in their attendance as a result of their usage of text messaging.
Sounds like a worthy investment to me! So, when someone passed me this link the other day and I thought it was worth mentioning here on ChurchDrop: EZ-Texting for Ministries.
Essentially it’s a simple, low-cost solution that powerful and easy to use.
Has anyone had any direct experience with this platform and care to share? Love to hear your thoughts in the comments (and if you have any other alternatives that you’d recommend).
Here are some of the features:
Cost Effective
- Pay-As-You-Go – Pay only 2.5 cents per credit
- Discount monthly group text messaging plans are now available, starting at only $9/month!
- See the group sms pricing page & start your free trial now.
Powerful Texting Features
- Personalize your Bulk Texts by inserting first names into text messages
- Send Messages to Groups or individually selected contacts
- Send messages directly from your phone using our Send-From-Phone feature
- Schedule your messages to go out immediately or in the future
- Forward replies to an email address or your mobile phone
- Auto-Reply for keyword opt-ins may be updated anytime from your account
- Attach images to your text campaign using our WAP Link feature
- Click here to see all advanced features
Intuitive Sorting Tools
- Upload Unlimited Phone Numbers and organize your contacts into groups.
- Receive reply messages in your Ez Texting Inbox
- Our group messaging software automatically removes duplicate phone numbers
- View & Sort Signups (and Opt-Outs) by Website/Social network/Keyword
Easy Mobile Marketing
- Subscriber Signup Widget available for your website/email blasts
- Send out Voice Broadcast Messages with Ez Voice
- Upload Demographic Information such as names, email addresses, & notes
- Smart Opt-Out allows your subscribers to automatically remove themselves from your list(s)
Enterprise Features Available Including Custom Short Codes, API Integration, and more.
I don’t have any experience with this platform but am so passing this on to the rest of our communications team! We’ve talked about text messaging for ministries for a long time and have never done it.
cool man! dude, you’re going to introduce like everything to your ministry!
I think our church is still at the point where we’re more interested in receiving texts than sending out bulk messages (i.e., we’re really starting to get into the Q&A during the service in which people can text in questions). It seems like this service does that, but I wonder if there’s something out there that does this more centrally. I haven’t looked into it too much, but something like that would be pretty helpful.
take a look at the Dallas Seminary post a day back.
John,
Thanks for giving your readers a heads up about Ez Texting.
We’ve been working with churches, youth ministries, and others for years now – over 1,000 at last count
The page you linked to has two great case studies about how ministries have already used Ez Texting, successfully. If you or anyone else has any questions about the service, I can answer them for you. Feel free to email me at josh – @ – eztexting.com.
We also do regular webinars to introduce people to group text messaging: http://www.eztexting.com/webinar.html
Thanks again.
P.S. – We’re closed for President’s Day today, but we’ll all be in the office tomorrow morning.
sure thing! thanks for stopping by!
Looks promising. Finally an SMS service that supports Cellular South.
hehe.
This seems like something that most churches could use easily.
FYI WordPress needs to be updated fella.
yeah……… trying to launch a site here…
I’m skeptical of the lifespan of SMS as a means of non-persona, mass communication. With web-enabled phones gaining more and more market share among all mobile devices, SMS will become old hat.
i think so too. but, it’s gotta be worn first before it can be old…!
We use texting for our student ministry area and have had success with it. Use it as a mass broadcast for reminders of Wed. night student program and when we have special events going on (like a concert this weekend). We’ve seen attendance grow from 225 each Wed. night to 325+ over the last 6-8 weeks. Texting is not the ONLY reason for this but I’m sure it plays a part. Even if that part is small, it’s worth it.
We’ve also used it in “big church” for in-service polls and engagement (interactive ways to engage the congregation). Not sending text msg. to people but allowing them to text in during service for on-screen polls, etc.
wow! i’d love to see that in action.
EZ Texting is great but the standard text messages they send are not “standard” texts as you might think. It really costs 5 cents a text to send a text like you would send from your phone. Textboom starts out at 3 cents and Opt It starts at 2 cents. That can add up to quite a budget if you pay 5 cents over 2 or 3 per text. Better do your research before spending tithe money.
thanks man!
Not sure how many UK based readers you’ve got but we use http://www.clicksms.co.uk for both sending (event reminders) and receiving (Q&A sessions) texts at my church.
thanks chris!
We’ve been using a site called MemberHub that allows an organization to send SMS and email announcements simultaneously. It also has a group calendar, whiteboard, photo gallery, file sharing, and discussion boards. It’s free for up to 3 hubs per organization or 30 people. Check it out at http://www.memberhub.com
hehe. nice plug!
Dear Brother,
Greetings
I am from Pakistan. I have studied your web site, and have found it to
be one of many wonderful sites offered on the internet which gets to the
Truth of the Word of God. As is the case with others whom I have
contacted, you have created material which is full of knowledge
concerning development of religious faith. Living in Pakistan, we
Christians face many obstacles in getting access to God’s Word. Most
people in Pakistan speak Urdu, and are not capable of understanding the
English language. Because of limited access in our native tongue, my
people have a true hunger for fresh Christian Perspectives.
Proficient in both English and my native languages, I would like to
offer my services as a translator to you. Presenting your material in
both Urdu and Punjabi would be a true blessing to the Pakistani and
Indian people. For a nominal fee, I will enable you to bring the message
of Salvation to a most deserving people. Please contact me for
reasonable rates.
Blessing you in advance for your consideration,
In Him,
Mehwish
Email: mehwishtts@gmail.com
Great information. We decided to use ESI TEXT because we paid less than $100 per year and we got unlimited texting to unlimited subscribers. Our church has better communications than we have ever had. You can contact them at info@esitext.com. We are very happy we found them. It saved us $3200 per year.