A first-time guest texts your keyword from the couch at 11:47 PM on Sunday night. The welcome goes out right away, which is what you want. The trouble starts with the rest of the series. Your "3 days after joining" follow-up lands on Wednesday at 11:47 PM, and the "see you tomorrow" message you wrote for Saturday morning arrives on whatever day happens to be six days later. Automations have always counted minutes, days or months from the moment someone joined, and that moment was never one you chose.
Two changes to list Automations fix that. Both are part of every plan at no extra cost.
A time of day for each step
Open a list, click its Automations tab and choose New automation. Under When to send, a step counted in days, weeks or months now carries a time of day: "3 days after joining at 9:00 AM" goes out on the third morning after they join, not at the hour they texted in. New day-based steps start at 9:00 AM in your account's time zone, and you can change it to anything. Steps counted in minutes or hours still count exactly from the moment they join, which is what a "reply within the hour" message needs.
A day of the week after joining
The second choice is new: On a day of the week after joining. Pick a weekday and a time, and the message goes out on "the first Saturday after joining at 9:00 AM" no matter which day of the week the person joined. The second, third and fourth weekday are there too, for a series that runs several weeks: "the first Sunday" for a see-you-tomorrow text on Saturday, "the second Sunday" to invite them back, "the fourth Sunday" to mention the newcomers lunch.
The count starts the day after they join, so someone who joins on a Saturday morning gets a "first Saturday" message the following Saturday, not an hour later. While you set it up, the editor shows exactly when someone joining right now would receive the message, so you can check the timing before you save.
A guest follow-up series, with the new timings
Here is a three-step series for a GUEST keyword at a church that meets on Sundays. Each step is one automation on the list.
Step 1: Immediately after joining
Welcome to Hope Church! We are so glad you came. Tell us a little about yourself: [link]
Step 2: 2 days after joining at 9:00 AM
Hi {first name}, it was great to meet you on Sunday. If you have any questions about Hope Church, reply to this text and a real person will answer.
Step 3: The first Saturday after joining at 9:00 AM
Hi {first name}, see you tomorrow? Worship is at 10, doors open at 9:30 and coffee is on.
Whether the guest texted in at 11:47 PM on Sunday or at noon on Tuesday, step 2 arrives at 9:00 in the morning and step 3 arrives on Saturday morning. The {first name} tag fills in their name, and a list can ask new subscribers for their name by text right after the welcome, so step 2 usually has one to use.
Nothing changes for automations you already have
Automations you set up before this update keep sending at the time of day each person joined, exactly as before. Open one whenever you like and choose a time of day or a weekday; the change applies to people who join from then on.
Messages and Automations, across every list
They now have a panel of their own, Sending, in the left-hand column just above Tools. Messages shows your sent, scheduled and repeating messages across every list on your number, and starts a new message without opening a list first. Automations lists every automation on the number with the list that triggers it, so you can see the whole welcome experience in one place, and you edit it right there. A list's own Messages and Automations tabs open the same pages filtered to that list. The dashboard now shows what is scheduled next and how your latest sends were delivered, in place of the old Messages and Automations cards.
Where to find it
Step-by-step instructions are in the user guide (sign in first). To see how churches use a keyword and a follow-up series to welcome first-time visitors, read about church guest follow-up by text, or start with church texting with MojoTxt. New to MojoTxt? Start a free 30-day trial with 250 message credits. Before your first send, the mobile carriers require a one-time registration of your number, which we walk you through inside your account.
