This guide is about SMS texting best practices and guidelines for Life.Church.
Life.Church Short Code: 75433
The 5-digit number (75433) that attenders send to and receive messages from that is unique to Life.Church (75433). We use our short code to send targeted information to people who opt in to receive it.
Example: Texting EDMBaptism to 75433 would send information about baptism at the Edmond Campus.
Keywords: Campus Standards
All keywords should start with your designated two or three-letter campus code, followed by the event or promotion. Do not forget to include this code or the opt-in text will not go to the correct campaign within TLConnects.
Example: RRNBaptism or EDMBaptism
Getting Permission
- You are required by law to have someone's permission before you send them a text campaign. He or she must sign up for each individual campaign. Anything else is spam and can lead to fines. For example, you cannot send a message about 30-Second Theology to people who signed up for texts about baptism.
- The attender must sign up from their mobile device. To be in compliance with anti-spamming laws, we cannot allow individuals to sign up for a texting campaign using a signup sheet, communication card, or online form. The individual must use their mobile device to initiate signing-up for a Life.Church texting campaign.
- Never use Rock RMS as a source to pull numbers for your text campaigns.
- SMS will not be used for product sales.
Text Campaigns
There are two different types of text campaigns:
- One-time campaigns only send a message or two in a single interaction. An example is sending a sign-up form for an event.
- Recurring campaigns are used for subscribing to alerts or multiple notifications, such as sending information to LifeGroup leaders. Recurring campaigns must use double opt-in methods (See additional information in the example below).
Types of Lists
All campaigns will have a list of individuals associated with it. Those lists cannot be used for any other campaign.
If a list is used for an event-based campaign, such as the Chazown Experience or a sermon series, the list must be expire at the conclusion of the event.
Setting Expectations and Required Text
As part of the text campaign, you must set expectations on how the organization will be interacting with the recipient on a specific campaign. These expectations apply in the SMS campaigns and must be included within any print (such as potty pub or lobby art) or social media images promoting the texting service.
Required Disclaimer Wording: On the first auto-reply, you must include the phrase "Msg&data rates may apply." This reminds the attender that further text messages may incur a cost on their wireless billing plan, depending on what their SMS texting plan is.
Frequency: Also on the first auto-reply, you must set an expectation for how many texts they could receive as part of this campaign. For instance, if you are only sending a link, you would say "1msg/1txt." If you were to send two texts per week, you would include "2 txts/wk."
Help and Opt-Out Wording: Lastly, on the first auto-reply, you must let the attender know how to receive help and/or unsubscribe using the phrase "Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel."
Planning for Timing of Text Campaigns
As you send initial or follow-up text messages, be sure to be mindful of the time of day. As a general best practice, between 10:00am and 9:00pm daily is a good window to send texts to avoid early morning and late night interruptions, unless the attender initiates an interaction outside that window.
One-Time Campaign Opt-In Example
Call to Action: Text EDMBaptism to 75433
Text from Attender to 75433: EDMBaptism
Auto-Reply: Life.Church: Find out more about baptism: http://go2.lc/edmbaptism. Msg&data rates may apply. 1 msg & call/text. Reply HELP for help, STOP EDMBaptism to cancel.
Action: Attender visits link that directs to your sign-up form.
Recurring Campaign Opt-In Example
Call to Action: Text EDMSwitchLeaders to 75433 to sign up for Edmond Switch Leader updates.
Text from Attender to 75433: EDMSwitchLeaders
Auto-Reply: Life.Church: Reply Yes to confirm sign up for approx. 5msg/month from Edmond Switch Leaders. Msg&data rates may apply.
Attender text: Yes
Auto Reply: Thank you for signing up for Edmond Switch Leader updates. Reply HELP for help, STOP EDMSwitchLeaders to cancel.
Opting Out
An attender can opt-out, or unsubscribe, from texting campaigns. The attender can opt-out of a single campaign or out of all campaigns.
When someone opts-out, communications must stop through SMS immediately. You can see opt-outs in your TLConnects campaign lists or by running the opt-out report.
Opt-out of a single campaign
To opt-out of a single campaign, text STOP KEYWORD (replaced KEYWORD with your campaign's keyword). to 75433.
Example:
To unsubscribe from Baptism Alerts, text STOP EDMBaptism to 75433.
Opt-out of all campaigns
To opt-out of all campaigns, text STOP to 75433.
Example:
To unsubscribe from all Life.Church alerts, text STOP to 75433.
Definitions
Short Code: A 5-digit number that the user sends to and receives messages from that is unique to Life.Church (75433)
Keyword: A word or name used to identify which campaign an individual wants to receive information from.
Opt-In: When an SMS user gives permission for Life.Church to send them text messages. This is required for every campaign, not just one time per user.
Getting Started
Ready to get started?
Here are some next steps:
- Create a Keyword.
- Create the campaign. Is it a one-time or recurring campaign?
- Create or update your Go2.lc link.
- Create or update your form, if needed.