The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) requires that organizations receive consent before sending texts. Create an opt-in form to allow people to confirm their consent to receive text messages. This will allow you to text only those who have consented, preventing your texts from being marked as spam.
Tip
If a person wants to receive texts again after unsubscribing, they can text START to your church's toll-free number. Administrators cannot resubscribe someone.
To track who has consented to receive texts, create a custom field that appears on their profile.
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Select the People page from the top navigation.
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Select the ⚙️ settings icon.
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Choose Customize fields from the dropdown.
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Create a new tab using the Add tab button at the bottom of the left sidebar.
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Name the tab "Consent to text".
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Select New field. You may need to scroll back up to the top of the page if your organization has a lot of custom tabs in the left sidebar.
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Type "Consent to text" in the Name: field.
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Select the dropdown menu in the Type: field and select Yes/No.
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Select Save.
Add this custom field to a form. You can create a new form to gather consent or add these fields to any appropriate form.
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Select the Forms page from the top navigation.
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Select New form in the top right corner.
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Type "Consent to Text" in the Untitled Form field.
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Drag the 📞 Phone number field from the Add a field section on the right and drop it into the body of the form on the left.
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Drag the 🪄 Custom field field from the Add a field section on the right and drop it into the body of the form on the left.
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In the Question field, type "Do you consent to receive text messages?"
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In the Description field, copy and paste the text below, making sure to fill in your church's name and email address:
You are consenting to receive reminders and announcements via text message from <your church's name> . Text message frequency varies, and message and data rates may apply. Reach out to <your church's email> with questions. Reply STOP to unsubscribe from messages.
Warning
You must include the paragraph above exactly as written; otherwise, mobile carriers will reject your application for a dedicated phone number for texting.
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Use the Tab and Field dropdowns to select the Consent to text field you created in the section above.
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Select Required so a person must answer to submit the form.
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Select Save.
On the public side of your form, submitters will see the full description before opting in or out.
If people log in to Church Center before submitting the form, their response in the consent to text field is automatically added to their profile upon submission. If they don't log in first, they must verify their form submission before the field will update.
To send texts to only those who have given consent, add a condition to your lists that looks for people who answered Yes in this custom field.