Until now, every message you sent from MojoTxt went to a subscription list. That is still the right home for most announcements. But a lot of the texts a church office wants to send do not line up with a list: a thank-you to everyone who gave to the building fund, a reminder to the volunteers for Saturday, a follow-up to the people who voted in Sunday's poll, or a quick note to everyone who has ever texted your number, whether or not they joined a list.
The audience picker on New message now offers all of those. It is part of every plan at no extra cost.
Who gets this message
Open Messages in the left-hand column, under Sending, and click New message. The first box asks who gets it, with a Send to row of buttons, each carrying the icon of the tool it comes from. Add as many of these as you like, and anyone who belongs to at least one of them is in:
- Everyone. Anyone who has ever texted your number or been added to it, whether or not they joined a list. Choose it and there is nothing else to pick.
- Lists. One list, several, or Any list, which also covers lists you create later.
- Donors. People who have given to a fund through text-to-give, or to any fund.
- Auto-responders. People who texted one of your keywords, such as INFO or PARKING.
- Polls. People who voted in a live poll.
- Daily programs. Subscribers to a devotional or reading plan.
- People. Type a name or number and add a few people by hand.
Every option shows how many people it reaches right now, and the line under the box adds them up: "842 people will receive this". Click that number and you see who they are, by name, before you send. Someone who is on two of the things you ticked is counted once. People who have replied STOP, and numbers you have blocked, are always left out, so the count is the number of texts you will actually pay for.
Tags are the filter
Under the row is a link, Only send to people who also have a tag. Tick the Sunday Updates list and narrow it to the Volunteers tag, and the message goes to volunteers on that list and nobody else. To text everyone you have tagged, whether or not they are on a list, choose Everyone and then the tag. The count updates as you change it, and so does the credit estimate.
Three examples
Thank the givers. Who gets it: gave to Building Fund. Message: "Thank you! Because of your gift, the roof goes on in March. Watch for photos."
Rally the volunteers. Who gets it: everyone, only people tagged Volunteers. Message: "Hi {first name}, Saturday's serve day starts at 8. Coffee and donuts in the lobby. Reply if you can't make it."
Reach everyone, once. Who gets it: everyone on this number. Message: "We're moving our Christmas Eve service to 5 PM this year. Details and parking: [link]". People who only ever texted a keyword for directions get this one too, which is the point.
Repeating messages and the People page
A repeating message can use the same audiences, so a weekly reminder can go to a tag or a program rather than a list. On the People page, selecting a few rows and choosing Send message still works exactly as before, and that send now appears on the Messages page with everything else, shown as hand-picked people.
Where to find it
Step-by-step instructions are in the user guide (sign in first). To see how churches use lists, keywords and follow-up series together, start with church texting with MojoTxt, or read about text-to-give if the first audience you want to reach is your donors. 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.
