Alternatives to Remind.com for Churches

Now more than ever churches are on the lookout for effective digital communication tools to help their parish stay connected. It’s no surprise that texting continues to rise above the competition thanks to things like:

• Sky-high open rates—90% of text messages are read within 3 minutes.
• Impressive interaction rates—SMS engagement rates are six to eight times higher than email marketing engagement rates.
• Frequency of responses—Response rates to SMS marketing are 7.5x higher than email.

But when it comes to church texting services, not all providers are created equal. Like Goldilocks, you may find yourself up against services that are too expensive, too basic, or too complicated. If your church has checked out Remind.com, there’s a chance it falls into more than one of the categories above.

So, depending on your needs, we’ll help you find the plan that fits just right.

What Features Do Church Leaders Need Most?

When searching for the right church text marketing provider, it helps to know what you’ll be using the service to do. Your sweet spot is typically the provider that gives you access to the most features/tools without needing to pay an extra arm and leg.

It’s also helpful to find out exactly what your money pays for. For example, SimpleTexting plans are on a tiered pricing structure built so you only pay for the volume you need. However, our full suite of features is available across all plans and even on our 14-day free trial. Other providers may charge per message, per feature, or a combination of the two. 

When you text-enable your church, you’ll most likely want a program that does the following things.

Sends Messages to Groups

In just a few clicks you can send a group text message to as many parishioners, volunteers, staff, or visitors as you’d like. You can even include links to your website, attach photos, share a short video, all within the body of your text! Just type your message, select your list of recipients from your contacts, and either send now or schedule it for later.

Import Contacts

If you already have a list of contacts who have given you permission to send them texts, easily upload them right into your platform. From there, organize them into lists to help get your messages to the right people. At SimpleTexting there’s no contact limit within your account, so your lists can continue to grow year after year. 

Create a Text-to-Join Keyword

When it comes to signing folks up to receive your messages, a simple, automated solution is text-to-join keywords. An SMS keyword is a word or phrase that your customers can text to a 10-digit number or designated text short code to add themselves to your contact list. 

P.S. Check out how Central Church uses keywords to keep its congregation connected and up to date.

Connect to Other Software

With Zapier, you can connect to thousands of apps like Planning Center, Constant Contact, Facebook, and more. Make your apps work together with a few simple clicks, no coding required!

SimpleTexting vs. Remind.com

To make comparison shopping a little bit easier between these two specific providers, here are the main differences between the texting service Remind.com provides and the SimpleTexting platform.

*Only available with paid plans

SimpleTexting has over a decade of experience as an industry leader in the text marketing space. Our product is designed to meet the needs of the tech-savvy and the not-so-savvy alike. 

We’re talking send-a-text-to-my-whole-church-in-a-few-clicks kind of easy.

Not to mention our focus on fostering a space for two-way communication. Not only are all incoming messages free, but they’re easy to sort, annotate, and snooze so you never leave someone in the dark.

SimpleTexting Church Case Studies

We’re lucky to work with hundreds of different religious organizations across the country and across different denominations.

To see how they’re all using texting to strengthen relationships, check out some of our church success stories!

• Why Milestone Church Uses Text Messages to Engage Its Youth Ministry
• Why C3 San Diego’s Church Welcomes First-Timers with Texts
• Eagle Brook Church Drives Hundreds of Decisions for Christ with Text Messaging
• How Life Chapel in New Jersey Uses Texting to Engage Their Youth Ministry

Spreading the good word shouldn’t just be easy, it should be affordable and accessible. That’s why we don’t ask for any credit card information to access our free trial. We want you to be sure we can assist your parish with all of your needs, and we hope we’ll get the chance to do that!