Reach Your Community with Neon One’s Text-to-Communicate

Communicating with your supporters can feel challenging, especially if you need to share information quickly. Inboxes are crowded, reach on social media is declining, and direct mail takes a long time. 

If you need to reach your community quickly, text messaging may be the tool you’re looking for. Texts have a 98% open rate, and 90% of people will open a text within the first three minutes. It’s a great channel to use if you need to share important information or send personal-feeling messages—but how do you do it?

What Is Text-to-Communicate?

Simply put, “text-to-communicate” is a tool you can use to send SMS messages—or texts—to people who have opted into hearing from you.

Text-to-communicate is just one of the text message-based tools available to nonprofits. Here’s a quick summary of the three most common options.

Text-to-Communicate lets you, the nonprofit, send text messages to your community. Supporters opt into receiving messages, and you reach out to those groups of people by using a text-to-communicate platform to send mass messages.

Text-to-Donate is a tool that lets people initiate a donation to a nonprofit by texting a keyword to a special number called a “short code.” Shortly after they do so, they receive a link to a simplified donation form where they complete their gift.

Text-to-Give is another text-based fundraising tool that lets people initiate a donation by texting a keyword and donation amount to a short code. That donation amount is added to their phone bill. After their billing cycle is complete, those funds are sent to the nonprofit by the service provider.

How Does Text-to-Communicate Work in Neon CRM?

Our text-to-communicate tool is built right into Neon CRM, which means you can easily reach your constituents from the same space where you manage your fundraising and events. When people opt into hearing from you via text, you can then build segmented contact lists in your CRM that let you send highly relevant, targeted messages.

Here are some examples of how you might use this feature:

• Send important information and reminders to registrants ahead of an event
• Share scheduling updates and details with volunteers 
• Create and send time-sensitive appeals
• Relay timely information during urgent situations
• Send thank-you messaging, impact updates, and success stories after a campaign

And, since text-to-communicate is part of the same Neon CRM platform that you can use to create and send emails, track phone calls and organize direct mail campaigns, you’ll get to enjoy all the benefits of a unified communications suite and easily track which of your supporters has received messages from you across all different channels.

How Do I Start Using Text-to-Communicate in Neon CRM?

While pricing varies slightly based on the package you’re using, text-to-communicate is an optional add-on that’s available to every Neon CRM client. Here’s how to get started.

Getting Started as an Existing Client

Navigate to the “Global Settings” area of your control panel. Find the “Texting” > “Set Up Text Messaging” link and click to begin the application process. We’ll email you when you’re approved!

You’ll also want to enable the SMS Consent option in your Global Settings, too. That will give supporters the option to opt into receiving texts from you.

Here’s where you can learn more about text-to-communicate and how to start using it.

Getting Started for Non-Clients

Not a Neon CRM user yet? We can help!

If you’re still getting a feel for the platform, you might like joining one of our group demos to learn more about how it can work for you. We have them weekly—here’s where you can find a date that works for you!

You can also schedule a personalized tour of the system to learn more about specific tools and features, talk to our team about your goals, and discuss how to get started. Here’s where to book a demo and talk to us.