Text In Church Reviews

Pros

The Text In Church has been amazing for me and my church. It simplifies communication, eliminates emails that go straight to junk mail, first time guest follow-up systems made simple, and the list goes on. THIS MORNING someone said, "I really appreciated how I got a personal text from Epiphany this morning telling me they were praying for me today". It is the small things. I have been in ministry for 10 years and this is one of the best things that I have had in terms of communication with people on a weekly basis. Before, when I asked people if they got the information via Email, FB message, IG, Twitter, ect, about 30% of the people would say that they got it, but didn't look at it. Now, over 90% of the people I ask not only got it but read it and appreciated it. It has even been a game changer for our teams. If you want to be apart of the setup team, text SET UP...If you want to be apart of the hospitality team text HOSPITALITY...I honestly don't know what I was even doing before in communication. I will never go back.

Cons

The app through iOS could be better. As I am traveling, it would be great to set up a quick text from my phone. The capability is there, but it glitches out sometimes. Great idea, just needs some improvement.

Pros

The product has great training tools. The customer service is excellent. I agree wholeheartedly with the concept, everyone has their cell phone all the time.

Cons

It is very difficult to sit down and watch all of the training videos. By the time I get back to the videos I feel like I have forgotten a lot of what I learned. Also, there is a fatal flaw in the system. People can fill out the digital card and never put their name. I have ended up with just a bunch of numbers. The solution, according to the company, is to create yet another list to follow up on to get the names, which is why I bought the product to begin with.

Pros

Text in Church enables me to communicate with hundreds of people at the same time, in a personal way. This has enabled our church to grow exponentially by being able to connect more effectively. The Plan A Visit features through Text in Church allow guests to be connected and for barriers to be removed before they even enter our parking lot.

Cons

I wish that they offered multiple lines / user accesses within the same account. I also think that the "app" for mobile use is rather clunky and slow - this is probably the only piece I don't like. I expect that they will improve this soon.

Pros

I like the ability to text hundreds of people instantly. The groups function is an easy-to-use tool. The ability for people to opt themselves out of communication is also important. Church members feel updated any time they receive an email or text.

Cons

I don't like that they charge us per text. Many times I want to send messages over 160 characters to our church members, but am forced to limit the message to conserve the number of texts I use per month. I also think some of their formatting and setup of certain templates is clunky and not user-friendly.

Pros

Ease to send out scheduled messages, follow up.

Cons

Sync issues, duplicates after sync issues, app glitches

Pros

Automated responses and keyword texting are our favorite features of Text in Church. The ability to set in motion automated responses is both time saving and provides consistency to our constituents. Keyword texting and the automatic formation of groups within the software is especially valuable with first-time guests and useful when we are interested in building a group for communication within a specific interest or project.

Cons

Have not found one "con" in almost two years.

Pros

The Text In Church software is very easy to use and quite user friendly. We've been truly surprised by how our congregation has embraced this communication tool. Now, we mainly send out text messages with pertinent information, and minimal emails. The response rate is amazing as the majority of our people are getting and reading our messages to them. Can't say the same about emails, though.

Cons

Don't like how the text messages split up into multiple messages if you go over the character limit. It's way too easy to put in too much information and bam...you're over the limit.

Pros

I love how Text In Church makes the flow of communication simple and easy for our employees and our congregation. When we need to get information out, it's really easy to do so with Text In Church. It makes my job much easier.

Cons

We've only used this software for a relatively short time (less than two years), but so far, I've not discovered anything that I don't like.

Pros

It is easy to use, quick to set up and lets us focus on relationships rather than administration.

Cons

Nothing really. If there is anything to complain about it that the software does not notify you via text/email of interaction. You must be in the software/app to get notifications.

Pros

I love the Text in church system! I like this system for so many reasons some including it's ease of use and it's ability to help us automate our assimilation system. The workflows help us keep in touch with our guests and members while at the same time creating an authentic sense of community amongst our spiritual family. I have learned that Culture is by Default of Design and text in church helps you design your culture rather than the alternative of what it would default to.

Cons

I would love the ability to know the average amount of text that we send out a month. Knowing that information would allow us to measure it and utilize our resources best or know when we are not using it the best.

Pros

It makes in-house communication very easy as well as gives us unlimited ways in outreach.

Cons

Being an automated service for texting and email, it takes some time to learn.

Pros

I am able to connect better to our guests and am receiving way more communications than with just emailing.

Cons

Sometimes the groups feature times out but it usually fixes with a refresh.

Pros

The software has a very clean and professional look. Defiantly proud of using it. Very helpful in communicate with the body of Christ.

Cons

What I least liked about it, is that I can’t set a specific date and time for my emails or text messages to be sent for individuals already in the system for automatic responses at a certain time frame.

Pros

Currently our Plan Your Visit guests are able to sign up for service and get a response immediately as well as multiple staff getting notifications that a new guest has signed up.

Cons

App software needs to be updated allowing the user to have access to the same features as a desktop. We also wished that guests can input their birthdays as well as choosing what service time they plan on attending.

Pros

Who would have thought that Texting would be a good thing in a congregation? However, this software understands that people, especially Millennial generations, use their phones for communicating, giving, and worship. This is an efficient software product that uses modern technology and teaches congregational leaders the value of texting for ministry.

Cons

We used this as a trial and it seemed to work well. Was difficult and that is why we were not able to stick with it--and we had limited funding.

Pros

Great program with good features.

Cons

If you have a problem, good luck getting ahold of a person on the phone to resolve the issue. Also, importing large amounts of contacts isn't as easy as it seems.

Pros

Hands down what I like most about Text In Church is the automation!

Cons

I didn’t care much for the limited number of texts you’re allowed to send per subscription tier. I’ve used another texting service that allows unlimited messages to be sent for one flat rate. This way, I feel like I can freely communicate and hold conversations without feeling like I’m using up valuable text credits.

Pros

Ease of use, features, workflows, support, etc. This company and software has it all. If you want to make follow up easy and get away from all the confusion, look into text-in-church. This isn't a replacement for real people connections but will be the main tool in your toolbelt to making those first connections.

Cons

We are not jumping on board yet as we are not at a church size that can't handle our connection cards and our system without a text service. Our teams are more than capable to connect and help with next steps. As we grow and the system gets more complicated, we will be jumping on board.

Pros

I appreciate the ability to set up workflows to ensure I am staying on top of communication. When people respond I am able to engage at a deeper level.

Cons

I would love the ability to create my own automated workflow template that I would be able to open and set the specific date to trigger the workflow. All the templates are designed to trigger based on the day an individual is added to the group. I would like to have people be able to join a group over a period of time and then all receive the same communications on the same day. For example, have people sign up for an event through the month of Sept but then everyone receives a series of sms during the week prior to the event the first Sunday of Oct.

Pros

Simple and practical to be used. The system allows you to navigate along all the functions and jumping from one to the other in seconds. Which makes the interaction and workflow more effective.

Cons

Sometimes they cut the text in two parts. Also, does not support Spanish grammar. Also, there is a message always advertising you about not to send too many MMS messages because of spamming warnings. This is something that other products manage better and openly promoting it instead of warning you.

Pros

It is a great tool for sending out brief announcement reminders, event changes, service updates, etc... The congregation gets the information immediately and you don't get a full mailbox of responses either.
You could set-up various groups and send only to the groups. We have a group named ASM (Access Student Ministry) for our youth group. That all our parents and students are on so that everyone gets the information.

Cons

Using it for our first time visitors was not successful for us. Many of our guests did not or would not give us their cell phone #. We had set-up a flow of email and text messages that would be sent out through out the course of 4 weeks to our guests but with out a cell # that would only received part of the follow-up.

Pros

The features of automation texting and campaigning.

Cons

The desktop view is a little difficult to maneuver around.

Pros

The ease of being able to communicate with members at one time from one place.

Cons

I do not like that there isn't a reporting feature. I must report to the Pastor monthly on the number of new visitors we get each month. When exporting from TIC to excel, it's like pulling teeth to short through the information.

Pros

The ability to communicate with​ a wide range of people. I see over and over again how much more people will respond to a text communication than an email. If you need people to actually come to an event or sign up for an event, text in church is the way to go.

Cons

Overall it is a great application and don't have too many complaints.

Pros

The program provides a means for us to communicate with our members through texting. That was my main focus as I researched such programs however, I was sold when I learned of its guest followup features.

Cons

There is a learning curve to understanding how to maneuver all the features unique to the programs design, this been my only concern.