Text Broadcasts are the ultimate time saver and the best way to get quick, direct communication to your people! It only takes one minute to send a message to all of your people or groups of your people. Everyone receives the message as if it is a personal message.
How to send a text broadcast
Under your Communications menu navigate to Outbound -> Broadcasts. Click Create New Broadcast.
First, you need to select who you want to send the Broadcast to: individuals, groups, or your entire congregation. Just check the boxes next to the people or groups you'd like.
As you add people and groups, the total number of expected recipients will live update in the top right corner.
If there is a group or individuals you'd like to exclude, just add them in the exclusions section. For example, maybe you'd like to send your Broadcast to everyone except for the visitors group. Just select Send to Everyone and then add the visitors group to the exclusion list.
Craft your message. Note the credit count to know how many messaging credits this Broadcast will cost per recipient.
Pro Tip: Enhance your messages in 5 different ways:
Boost your message by adding an image (up to 525kb) or video (up to 500mb).
Add a more fun and personal touch by using emojis - but remember this affects your credit count.
Personalize your message by adding user data so that each recipient receives the text with their first, last, or full name inserted. Note that if the person you are sending to does not have a name, this will be left blank when sending the Broadcast to them.
Attach a Memo for additional formatting options and longer messages.
Clean up the message by shortening any URL's you've included.
Gloo+ members also have exclusive access to our AI Help Me Write feature! Click this tool to use powerful AI to instantly adjust the clarity, tone, and grammar of your Broadcast. You can make it more Biblical, more casual, shorter, longer, etc. If you find a version you like, just click Apply to copy it to the message text. From there, make any changes you want before finalizing!
You can send the message immediately by clicking Send Now. Or you can Schedule for Later, and select a date and time for the message to be sent. Remember to note the credit usage per recipient.
If you have a Gloo+ membership, you can also set your Broadcast to be recurring! Select the Recurring option and choose how often you'd like the Broadcast to be sent (daily, weekly, monthly), and a start and end date.
Also note that at any point, you can save your Broadcast as a draft that you can come back and edit/complete later.
Make sure you have the Broadcast the way you like it. On the right side of the page you can preview how the message will look to recipients. At the bottom of the page, note the total number of credits that will be used to send this message (Number of Recipients x Number of Credits per message).
Once you've verified all the information is correct, click Send broadcast to send your message.
Viewing all of your past and future Broadcasts
In your main Broadcasts tab, you'll be able to view and manage all Broadcasts that you've previously sent, all Broadcasts scheduled for later, any drafts you may have saved. All Broadcasts will be shown with the following information available:
Type: Whether this Broadcast was normal (no icon) or Recurring (green arrows)
Groups/People: Which groups and/or individuals this Broadcast was sent to
Status: The Broadcast's sending status (Pending, Sending, Sent, Scheduled, or Scheduled- Recurring)
Credits: How many total credits this Broadcast cost
Recipients: How many total recipients the Broadcast was sent to
Message: The content of the message
Sent/Scheduled: The date and time the message was sent at or scheduled for, depending on which tab you are viewing
Creator: Which Gloo team member created and sent the Broadcast
Any Broadcast that you have sent in the past will be displayed in the Sent tab. You can change the sort order any way you'd like, but by default the Broadcasts will be displayed in the order that they were created.
Note that this is slightly different from the order they were sent, since it's possible you created a Broadcast and scheduled it for later, but then sent another one in the meantime. To order your Broadcasts by their actual time of sending, simply click the arrow in the Sent column.
If you have scheduled any type of Broadcast to be sent later, you can always view those under the Scheduled tab.
Finally, you can view, edit and delete any drafted Broadcasts under the Drafts tab.
Needs Attention Broadcasts
Free Gloo accounts are entitled to 500 free messaging credits each month, and Gloo+ accounts are entitled to 15,000 messaging credits each month. In general, if you try and create a Broadcast that will exceed that limit, you will be immediately warned and be unable to schedule or send the Broadcast. But what if you schedule a Broadcast for next month, but by the time that date comes around you've exceeded your credit limit for that month? That's where the Needs Attention tab comes in.
If a the date comes around and you don't have enough credits to send a previously Scheduled Broadcast, that Broadcast will not be sent, but will be moved to the Needs Attention tab. It will explain the reason it didn't go out (insufficient credits), and help you take steps to get it sent out.
If you have a free Gloo+ account, you'll need to upgrade to Gloo+ in order to send more messages during that month. For you, this page will display a banner for Gloo+. Click Get Gloo+ to learn more.
If you already have a Gloo+ account but have used all 15,000 credits, you'll need to purchase a Powerpack in order to send more messages during that month. For you, this page will display a banner for Powerpacks. Click Add a Powerpack to purchase.
If you do choose to purchase either Gloo+ or a Powerpack, you can return to this tab afterwards and send the Broadcast by clicking the 3 dot drop down on the right side and selecting Retry. You can also Edit the Broadcast from here before retrying.
If you choose not to purchase, you can also Delete the Broadcast to remove it from your account entirely.
Duplicate, edit, or delete Broadcast messages
The contents of any Broadcast can be easily copied and pasted into a new Broadcast, in case you need to send several very similar Broadcasts. Just hover your mouse over the message in your Sent log and click the copy icon that appears. The text will be copied, and then when you open a new Broadcast just right-click your mouse and paste the message in.
You can also duplicate a message by clicking the 3 dot drop-down to the right of the message and selecting Duplicate. This will immediately open a new Broadcast with the old content copied in, and you can make any adjustments you need before sending.
If you click the three dot dropdown menu on the right side of a Scheduled Broadcast that has not yet been sent, you can edit or delete the existing message, duplicate it, or send it right away. If you delete a Scheduled Broadcast before it is sent, this message will not be delivered to anyone.
