Effortlessly communicate with your church community using Elvanto's messaging features. Whether reaching out to individuals, groups, or the entire congregation, this guide simplifies the process of selecting recipients and crafting messages via email, SMS, or letter. Learn to activate SMS Text Messaging, draft emails, and send letters within your account, along with tips for managing recipient lists and message specifics. Ideal for administrators looking to enhance engagement through targeted communications, this article ensures your messages are effectively delivered, respecting preferences for replies and sender ID visibility.
Contacting an Individual
- To reach out to an individual in Elvanto, navigate to their profile page and click ‘Contact’ located at the top right-hand side.
Contacting a Group
- For group communications, go to the desired group’s page and select ‘Contact Group’ from the top right-hand side.
Contacting Multiple People
- To communicate with multiple individuals, such as the entire congregation or specific demographics, utilize a People View or perform an Advanced Search. After generating your list, click on ‘Contact these People’ at the top right-hand corner.
Composing Communications
From the "Contact People" window you will be able to choose between "Send Email or SMS" or "Send a Letter".
- Email: Click "Email Only" to begin drafting your email. Further guidance on composing an email is available here.
- SMS: Select ‘SMS Only’ to start composing your SMS. This function is available if SMS Text Messaging is configured in your account. Learn more about getting started with SMS in Elvanto here.
- Email & SMS: Alternatively, you can also select "Both Email & SMS" to compose and send an email plus a SMS at the same time to the same recipients.
- Letter: To start drafting a letter, select the ‘Send a Letter’ tab. Instructions on letter composition are provided here.
Identifying Recipients
- View all intended recipients in the right-hand side pane of the ‘Contact People’ window. Icons indicate whether each individual can receive emails or SMS, and if they have a mailing address for letters. Recipients can be removed by clicking the red cross next to their name.
- Additionally, Elvanto will display a blue pop up identifying any intended recipients which may be missing contact details or that may have unsubscribed. Click "Show Names" to view the full list of recipients who cannot be contacted via the selected communication method.
Scheduling Emails and SMS
To schedule your email and/or SMS for a future time and date, simply select the box next to 'Schedule this email or SMS' to enter in the desired date and time. Note, the selected time is an approximate time due to request processing times.
SMS Specifics
- Monitor your message’s character count and decide if you wish to allow replies. Allowing replies means SMS will not be sent from the specified Sender ID in settings. Without reply functionality, messages will be delivered from your Sender ID. Learn more about allowing 2-way SMS here.