Our Automated Messages Campaign module (AMC) is an exciting PastorsLine feature.
Note: AMC messages are limited to 365 messages.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(3) Jump to a list of specific, help desk article links - including setting up a new AMC
WATCH A GENERAL VIDEO
About AMCs
There is no “one size fits all” method of texting. Each church has different needs and we want to support those needs and allow you to create what YOU want, and what will work best for your church! That is why we spend so much time adding integrations and adding features that give you the ability to create a process that works for you.
We want to save you time and money and still keep the focus on what is really important: building relationships! Here are a few things churches can do with it.
An AMC allows you to schedule a series of messages in one interface. Great for ongoing daily messages like 21-day prayer, 40-day lent, or 7-day devotional.
The # 1 way most churches use this feature is for guest follow up. With our most used digital connect texts and this AMC feature, you can get you guest info and do follow up all via text and only requiring them to text a word. That’s it. If you are doing physical connect cards as well, we allow you to manually enter their info. No problem. And with our integrations, you would be able to fully automate your guest follow up using your ChMS. This is a great way to do a member’s assimilation class where they receive a series of follow up texts. And with the option to do it based on days or date, you can make it everyday or date-based for more control. The list goes on.
You can use this feature for things like prayer campaigns, Lent, any type of follow up process, assimilation, guest follow-up. Pretty much anything that requires you to send multiple, scheduled messages to someone, you can do with this feature.
We recommend adding your automated messages on to a data capture campaign to ensure that you have their name and email address before starting your automated messages, but it is not required to set it up that way.
There are THREE ways to get your members into an AMC
Using a keyword as mentioned above. Bonus if you tied this to a data capture campaign as well.
Manually entering their information to trigger the automation.
Using our integrations (like CCB and PCO) to automatically trigger when new members are synced over.
HELP DESK ARTICLES TO GET STARTED
How to create an AMC:
Information about AMC triggers:
How do the left and right sides of an AMC work?
Setting the timer:
Evergreen vs Date based:
How to use the send after x days condition
ADVANCED AMC TIPS
Remember – Less is more sometimes.
The purpose is to CONNECT and build relationships – not to flood them with a bunch of links and forms right away. While inviting and informing is a good thing, we recommend a two-touch process first. The first two messages should be adding value and building the relationship – thanking them for coming and then letting them know you hope to see them again next weekend. They may not be comfortable giving more personal information or know if they want to be plugged in yet.
After you set up an AMC, we recommend connecting it to a data capture campaign if you plan to use a keyword option to get your guest to subscribe. See how to set up a data capture (formerly Autoresponder) here: https://help.pastorsline.com/en/articles/4441830-data-capture-from-the-campaigns-page-onwards
You can manually add contacts into a automated message campaign. You can add them through the campaign page by clicking this “add contact” icon and searching for their name, or you can add a group of people by searching for a tag or a group.
See how to do that here: https://help.pastorsline.com/en/articles/2365655-how-to-manually-add-contacts-to-your-automated-message-campaigns
You can also add people in the inbox by editing their profile on the far right side, searching for and selecting the automated message campaign name OR if your automated message campaign is set up to be triggered by group, you can also add them to that group and then click save on their profile.
We allow you to do multiple things from the main pages like the inbox, contacts page, groups page and the campaigns page in order to reduce the amount of clicking around required to “get the job done”, making it more convenient for you!
You can even add a new contact and drop them straight into an automated message campaign all at the same time, right from the inbox! This could be really powerful for churches who manually enter in names, or have a check in kiosk for new guests!
If your campaign is set up to be triggered by group, you can add people into your campaign by adding the contact (or multiple contacts) to that group. You can add people into groups through the inbox, the contacts page, or the groups page. In the contact page or the groups page, you can select and copy one person at a time, or choose multiple people at once.
One last way a contact or group of contacts can be added into an automated message campaign is through using our integrations. If you have a group or list of people in your Church management software and you sync that group to a group that is set up with an Automated Message campaign, all of those contacts will automatically be put into your campaign.
Once a person has entered your campaign, you can view the scheduled messages in the contact’s conversation box OR you can click scheduled messages and see all of your scheduled messages there. You can view, edit and delete scheduled messages in the conversation box as well. Find more information about this here: https://help.pastorsline.com/en/articles/1491672-how-do-i-see-view-edit-stop-or-delete-my-scheduled-single-or-group-messages-hub
We want to help you automate your process, but at the same time, not lose that personal touch that is so important for churches to have. We plan on adding even more options in the future – things like being able to see how many people are in the “queue” for each “step”, or being able to assign tasks internally to other users on your account as people enter certain steps.
Take your time, let them know that you care about them first, that they aren’t just another number. Build the relationship and earn their trust and let the pieces come together naturally. Check out the “Anatomy of a guest follow up process” on our website for some more suggestions and tips.
If you need more information about anything discussed in this video, check the help articles and if you can’t find what you need, please reach out to us! We’d be happy to help!
One final note: If you make any changes to your Automated Message Campaign (like scheduled date or time, etc), after people have already been entered into the process, those changes will NOT be reflected for them. They will only be applied going forward - to anyone NEW to the campaign.