To make sure your church's communication reaches everyone effectively, it's crucial your members take specific steps to avoid issues like blocked messages. Follow these steps to ensure that your emails and SMS messages are delivered without any disruptions.
In order to prevent important emails from being marked as spam or blocked members must add your church's email address to their contact lists. Email providers often filter out emails from unrecognized addresses. Adding your church's email to contacts ensures it reaches their inbox.
If your church or members use private domain emails (e.g., john@smithfamily.com) or Microsoft services like Hotmail and Outlook, it's especially important that they whitelist "churchtracmail.com", "churchtrac.com", and any other private domains to ensure messages don’t get blocked. They can do this by adding your church’s email to their safe senders or contacts list.
Your unique keyword is the part of your Church Connect URL that comes before the first period. Here’s how you can find it:
Members should also add the Church's SMS number to their phone contacts to guarantee they receive text messages. Some carriers, such as T-Mobile and Verizon, may block messages from unfamiliar numbers by default. However, this is a setting that can be modified.
Members must opt-in to receive text messages from your church.
Provide a digital contact card that includes both your church's email and SMS number. Share this card through email, your website, or your mobile app, so members can quickly add it to their contact lists with just a few taps.
Take advantage of your Sunday services or other gatherings by showing instructions on the big screen. This helps remind members to add the church's contact information and opt-in for SMS messages.
Include your church's email address and SMS number on any physical or digital connect cards you provide to visitors or members. This serves as a simple reminder for people to add the church to their contact list.