Your weekend services are too important to let any new guests fall through the cracks.
Let us help you reach more guests by adding our Digital Connect Texts to your service this weekend.
The PastorsLine proven system helps you connect and follow-up with first-time visitors using two important principles involved in human interaction.
Smart personalized automation through data capture, grouping/tagging, and integration.
The whole idea is to digitally reproduce a natural conversation. So, when guests opt-in, the system automatically captures and merges-in their personal contact details (name, email, etc.) for a more natural communication that promotes conversation.
When we speak face-to-face, we try to communicate what our listener wants to hear, not what we THINK they want. Tagging does this by going beyond just grouping contacts. It also includes creating broader groups of contacts to help you segment your list and communicate what your audience wants.
To continue the conversation, PastorsLine also integrates with other church solutions which you are probably already using (MailChimp, digital newsletter, church management platform, etc.) so you don't have a drop in communication between your church’s digital tools
Personal, authentic
dialogue using a unique
but familiar local phone number.
Forget digital connect cards, let’s talk about connect texts. PastorsLine keeps the conversation going with texts (not links) via a local unique number. Short codes are great for quick, easy opt-ins to connect with what’s happening at the moment (incoming) but isn't always going to promote dialogue -- build relationships. Local numbers give a more human, less spammy experience (outgoing). This means that our super slick interface gives your local team the ability to communicate on a daily basis using the same interface they are already accustomed to.
At PastorsLine we’ve got our eyes on the here and now...AND the future.
We believe that digital tools should help your church do what you need to do now; that these tools should be based on best practices and current church needs.
We also think that clients shouldn’t be able to outgrow their digital platforms; instead, digital platforms should develop and adapt so clients don’t have to keep switching tools.
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PastorsLine has been a fantastic tool which has enhanced communication with out church family. As with any tool, the secret is in learning how to use it effectively. I have been most excited when I see my church members telling their very own unchurched friends to text “PRAY” to our pastorsline number and have them join our prayer sessions.
Paolo Esposito
Pastors, RGF Church
The text messaging service we use is: www.pastorsline.com. Excellent web based interface. You can send texts, voice broadcasts. Very easy to use. One of the best new tools I have integrated in my evangelism is what [PastorsLine] provided... Can’t praise it enough!
Richie Halversen
Pastor @ College Drive Church
The text message bible study invites are working great. We saw a huge increase from 5-6 to 10-12 and the numbers stayed consistent.
Zeke Vas
Pastor
[PastorsLine] works well for us and has been very successful.
Carmela Houston-Henry
Communications @ Union Baptist Church
[Text messaging] has made it easier to contact members on Fridays wishing them a Happy Sabbath and to let them know of Sabbath activities...
Pedro Trinidad
Pastor @ Concord International
We hired [PastorsLine] to assist us in a new “Small Group” initiative we were launching at our church. The tools they provided us with helped us monitor and take action on hundreds of responses. Our workflow was cut in half and our ability to track, monitor and follow through with the data gathered more than doubled.
Chris Elliott
Associate Pastor, New Believers
When we finished our evangelistic event in Houston, 70% of those who were baptized, communicated with me through PastorsLine...it had a big influence.
Wyatt Allen
Evangelist, End Time Hope
Exciting! Just sent out my first text and I'm able to interact with them. On top of that, Chrome [sends notification] and it tells me when I get texts!
Jerrod Boling
Bible Worker
PastorsLine helps humanize your guest follow-up flow.
The ‘one-size fits all’ follow-up approach no longer works because
the text messaging market has matured and people are not really impressed with mass text marketing from churches. Hence, texting is becoming like emails where people are taking back the control over what they receive and respond to.
Automation and personalized automation aren’t the same.
One is spammy, sending a preset one-way form of communication. The other uses data, actions and feedback to connect with your first-time visitors in the most natural, social way possible. Chances are, if you are planning to use, or are using, a scheduling approach, you are not connecting naturally with more of your first-time guests and failing to scale the personal touch Jesus has given us as an example.
There’s really no excuse anymore for impersonalization.
Using data tagging and integration, connect texts are like the texts you send your friends, not impersonal messages that feels like a someone is shouting at you. Our system captures essential information such as the name and email. Then, you can devise a PastorsLine follow-up campaign or send this data over to your current church management system and use their process.
Digital connect texts are where you can capture follow-up data via text without having to send your guests or members to a link (digital connect cards). In our experience, digital connect texts see higher engagement as they mirror exactly the way people communicate on their phones.
Here is an example how a personalisation tweek makes all the difference
Your church
Hi Jason, we are having a special service this weekend and I would love to have you join us?
Hi, thank you!
Higher response. Instant RSVP. More likely to attend!
This message will get much higher response than this one.
Your church
We are having a special service this weekend and I would love to have you join us?
Ignores blast . Uncertain RSVP. Less likely to attend.
And here is how easy is to do do it in our system:
Hi [First Name], we are having a special service this weekend and would love to have you join us
You can use merge fields to make one message feel special for every user even if you are sending to thousends
PastorsLine is not out to ‘recreate the wheel’ and be all things for all purposes. We prefer to be streamlined, doing what we do best and letting other systems do the same.
For example, when a guest subscribes to your list by texting JOIN to xxx-yyy-zzzz, we not only can collect and store their name, email and phone number in a conversational way, we can ALSO send that info to your email newsletter system, Church Management System (ChMS),etc. Syncing the contact details from your email newsletter system or ChMS is also a great way to merge data you have already collected and continue to build that future member’s profile. We plan to aggressively integrate with solutions that are in high demand.
An example of tagging is adding a ‘prayer’ tag to those who mention that need. Then, you can follow-up with “Need prayer?” to just those tagged contacts. However, tagging is much more. It also allows you the option to segment your list and never blast. 10 first-time guests do not necessarily mean 10 people who need Bible study. Sending to all 10 may turn off a significant percentage. With tagging, you can segment each conversation into details that your team can use to better engage. The end result? Fewer ‘spammy-feeling’ messages. Additionally, PastorsLine can send those tags over to your other communications systems as well.
More about personal, authentic dialogue using local unique phone numbers.
When first time guests opt into your keyboard, they don’t have to click on a link. Using text means that digital connect cards always happen through text, never through links.
Some company offers short codes like 79000 or 41414. As their name implies, short code lengths makes them easier to remember. Also, you can also send high volumes of messages without overloading the cell phone system. The timeframe is also fast - about a million messages in 5-10 seconds. However, these messages are subject to more TCPA restrictions. Also, unsubscribing from the shared number is an unsubscribe from everything.
Long codes are used for the continuing relationship for three important reasons:
- Long codes rarely send spam.
- Long codes include a local area code which is associated with a more human, personal experience.
- The ‘human at the other end’ feeling encourages people to respond—give answers, ask questions, etc.
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