Reach People with Custom Mobile Push Notifications
Today, people need fast and easy communication that they can easily access and grasp. Emails get buried and texts are easy to miss. Announcements in your church app don’t always stick. Many times, you’re trying to keep members in the loop about events, forms, new content, or news in general, and the message doesn’t always land. Guests are even harder to reach because they’re not yet fully part of your community. The result is low attendance, delayed responses, or members who simply didn’t know what’s going on. The long-term result, and the more undesirable one, is an inactive and unengaged congregation.
Mobile push notifications are nothing like the communication channels of the past, because they are seen right away, with no roadblocks in-between your message and your members. This is why ChMeetings is well-prepared to give you the features you need to send push notifications very easily. Use them for general communication, as part of automated tasks, or in relation to events, forms, or, for our branded app users, to media content. To equip you with all these tools, we recently updated ChMeetings’ push notification capabilities and we’d love to share them with you in this post.
Reach Members without Friction
With ChMeetings, you don’t have to wonder if your message got through the plethora of old-school communication channels. Here is why:
- You Can Reach Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: Mobile push notifications are like a friendly nudge that pops up right where people are most likely to see it: on their phone screen. You can send instant alerts straight to members’ mobile devices, as long as they have your church app installed and are logged into their accounts. You can send people anything from reminders to direct links to an event, or form; making it easy for them to engage or take action right away. Notifications can even run automatically through scheduled tasks, so important messages go out without increasing your workload.
- It’s Easy to Communicate Just-In-Time, because you can schedule all your push notifications in ChMeetings. This way you can rest assured that your members receive them at the right time, not in the middle of the night or at who knows what other inappropriate hour. There’s even a Notification History Report, where you can check your sent notifications and delete any scheduled one that you no longer want to send out.
- There’s an Optional Branded Experience: If your church uses our branded app, notifications can also highlight media series, giving your community quick access to sermons, or other resources. Branded apps also come with guest push notifications, so even people who are not members, but have installed the app can still receive general or dedicated communication from your church.
Boost Communication with Custom Push Notifications
ChMeetings helps you boost your church communication by reaching members easily, with a variety of push notification scenarios, ready for you to use, right within the app. All notifications are fully customizable and can be scheduled; so you can send any message you need, when you need it. Let’s explore them below:
1. General Communication
You can send a notification to your whole community or a specific group at any time. It’s perfect for quick reminders, encouragement, sharing last-minute updates, or anything else you can think of. You can even attach files to this type of notification, for people to access when tapping.
2. Event Notifications
When you’re hosting an event, push notifications can link directly to the event record. Members don’t just read about the event, they can tap the notification and instantly view details, register to attend, or choose to volunteer.
3. Form Notifications
If you’d like to get responses to a form faster, a push notification is the ideal way to draw attention to it. Recipients can open the form directly from the alert, making it more likely they’ll complete it quickly, because they no longer have to search through texts or emails.
4. Automated Notifications
Not everything needs to be done manually. With automated tasks, you can schedule notifications to go out at the right time without having to worry about this yourself. You can send push notifications for birthdays or anniversaries, to send automated reminders, or to greet newcomers or new event attendees. Automated tasks are available to all churches using any of our paid plans.
5. Branded App Exclusive Features
If your church has a branded ChMeetings app, then push notifications can be sent to guests who have installed your app but don’t have an account yet. We’re aware we mentioned this feature already, but it’s so valuable that it’s worth repeating ourselves.
With the Branded App you can also send notifications in relation to media series. Members and guests alike can tap the alert and dive straight into the content you share. It’s a simple way to keep your community engaged throughout the week, not just on Sundays.
What About Member Preferences?
No worries; we got this covered. If members don’t want to receive push notifications from your church, they can easily turn them off from under their Notification Settings.
Here’s the Best Part
Oh, no, we didn’t get to the best part yet. Here it is:
Push notifications are completely free, and unlimited, with any paid ChMeetings plan. That’s right; one of the most powerful engagement tools out there costs your church nothing extra. Members or guests don’t pay to receive them either.
Turn Communication into Connection!
Push notifications are quick, they’re seen, and they get people where they need to be; whether that’s an event, a form, or a sermon series. For admins, they cut down on repetitive work and save hours that can be better spent caring for your church community.
If you haven’t tried reaching members this way, we encourage you to give it a go and see the results yourself. If you need help using this feature, you’re welcome to check out our dedicated guide on Sending Push Notifications, or to get in touch with our team for further assistance.
