You will need the Full SMS permission to perform this action.
A keyword is a word people can text to your church's number to get an instant reply, and optionally to be added to a workflow. "Text CONNECT to 833-555-0100" is the classic use.
Text messaging must be enabled for your account first. See How do I enable text messaging?
Create a keyword
Go to Messaging Center > Text Keywords and click Add New.
Enter the Keyword — up to 20 characters, no spaces. Case does not matter to the person texting in, since it is always matched in uppercase.
Enter the Reply Message, which is what gets texted straight back. It is limited to 1,000 characters and is billed like any other message.
Leave Active? on. Turning it off stops the keyword responding without deleting it.
Click Save.
Tip: A keyword costs your church twice — once for the inbound text the person sent, and once for the reply going back out. See How much do text messages cost?
The listing shows each keyword's Message, whether it is Active?, whether it has an Automation?, and its Usage count. Open a keyword to see the numbers and people who have texted it — this is what churches use to measure a campaign.
Adding an automation
Click more fields in the keyword window to reveal the Automation section, then turn on Enabled?. This is how churches build "text CONNECT and a pastor follows up" journeys.
Automation has to know who texted in. If the number matches exactly one person in your database, that person is added to the workflow and their number is upgraded to a mobile type if it was not already. If the number matches nobody, or matches more than one person, One Church Software cannot safely guess — so instead of the usual reply, the person is texted a link to a registration form with their number and the keyword already filled in. Once they submit it, you know who they are.
Tip: If people text your keyword and get a form instead of the reply, the automation is working as intended — those people are not in your database, or are ambiguous. That is expected for a keyword advertised to visitors. If you would rather everyone got the plain reply, remove the workflow from the keyword.
This is an advanced feature. Most churches get better results by sending a link to a form in the reply message and adding the automation on the form instead.
Words you cannot use
Some words are reserved, either because the carriers require them to behave a certain way or because One Church Software already uses them. Trying to create one returns Keyword is not available.
Stopping messages - STOP, END, QUIT, STOPALL, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE
Starting messages - START, UNSTOP, JOIN
Getting help - HELP, INFO
Text giving - GIVE, GIVING, DONATE, TITHE, PAY, EDIT, REFUND, CONFIRM
Tip: If you have an existing JOIN keyword from before this was enforced, it is still in your list and it has never fired — the built-in opt-in handling runs first and wins. Rename it, which saves normally because the new name is what gets checked. Saving it unchanged is now refused.
What the built-in keywords do
These replies are sent automatically, with your church name filled in from your account.
START or UNSTOP - "You have subscribed to receive text messages from [Church]. Message & data rates apply. Reply STOP to opt out." Opts the number in and clears any previous opt-out.
JOIN - "Reply CONFIRM to opt into receiving text messages from [Church]. Message & data rates apply." Grants nothing on its own — this is the first half of a double opt-in.
CONFIRM after JOIN - "You have successfully opted in to receive text messages from [Church]. Reply STOP to opt out at any time." Records consent and clears any previous opt-out.
STOP, END, QUIT, CANCEL, STOPALL or UNSUBSCRIBE - "You will no longer receive communication from [Church] via text message. Text START or UNSTOP to opt back in." This confirmation is the last message they receive.
HELP or INFO - Your church name, phone number, a note that message and data rates may apply, and how to opt out. Churches with giving enabled also get "Text GIVE to donate." The carriers mandate what this reply contains and it is not customizable.
When someone texts in something you do not recognize
If your church has never sent that number anything and they text something that is not a keyword, they receive: "Keyword was not recognized. This is an automatic service. Text HELP for more information." Messages from other toll-free numbers and short codes, which are almost always automated systems rather than people, are ignored rather than answered.