Agreement to texts and email, and STOP

HoW sends a campaign text or email only to adults who have said yes to that kind of message, and it records each yes or no per person, per channel, with when and where it came from. Anyone can stop at any time by replying STOP to a text or using the unsubscribe link in an email, and HoW honors it at once.

Where agreement is recorded

Open a person in People and find the Communication section. It has a line for each channel: Email, Text messages, Phone calls and Postal mail. Each line reads one of:

• Not asked: nothing recorded. HoW treats this as no.
• Opted in on date, followed by where it came from.
• Opted out on date, followed by where it came from.

“Not asked” and “Opted out” are kept apart on purpose: one is someone you can ask, the other is someone who said no. Campaigns use Email and Text messages; the phone and post lines are there for your own records.

How a yes or no gets recorded

1. By a staff member, on the person’s record. In the Communication section, choose Opt in or Opt out beside the channel. The record says “Recorded by staff in the dashboard”. Do this only when the person has told you their answer (see “What staff must not do” below).
2. From a form on your website. Add a Consent to be contacted field to a form and choose what it is for in Consent to receive (Email, Text message, Phone or Post). The box is never ticked in advance, and a text-message box shows the carrier wording beside it (who is texting, how often, that rates may apply, and how to stop and get help). When someone ticks it and sends the form, HoW matches them to your people by email or mobile number, or adds them, and records their answer at once; the record names the form and the day it was sent. If they match someone you know and the form gives an email or number that person’s record doesn’t have, nothing is recorded until they confirm by email (“form: [name], [date], confirmed by email”); a STOP or unsubscribe they send in between wins (see Form submissions). When HoW isn’t sure who they are, the message shows Needs you and the answer is recorded when a staff member chooses Add this person (see Form submissions). A yes to texts is recorded only for the number the form gave, and at sign-up only on a form marked This form is for adults (18 and over); otherwise staff confirm it with Record their yes to texts.
3. By the person, in the member portal. Under My profile, the card What you agree to receive lets a member choose Yes or No for each channel. Their choice is recorded in their name and applies at once.
4. By replying STOP or unsubscribing (below), which always records a no.

An unticked box records nothing: it never counts as a no. People imported from Planning Center arrive with no answer recorded, except that an email address Planning Center had blocked arrives as a no to email.

STOP, and the opt-out line on your texts

• Every campaign text and every answer from the texting inbox ends with a line naming your church and how to stop, for example “Grace Church: Reply STOP to opt out”. HoW adds it itself; it can’t be removed or edited, and the template editor counts it in the message’s length. The welcome and confirmation for your text-to-join keyword carry your own wording instead, which must include STOP (see Text-to-join).
• Replying STOP (or STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, OPTOUT or REVOKE) records a no to text messages at once. The reply has to be just that word, in any capitals, so “End of the service was lovely” is not an opt-out.
• A STOP from a number HoW doesn’t know is honored and kept too.
• Replying START does not turn your church’s texts back on in HoW. The person’s record keeps its no until they say yes again (on a form, in the portal, or by telling you).

Unsubscribing from email

• Every campaign email ends with “You get this email because you agreed to hear from sender.” and a Stop these emails link. Mail apps that offer their own unsubscribe button use the same link.
• The link opens a page asking “Stop email from your church?” with a Stop these emails button. Choosing it records a no to email at once and says “You are unsubscribed”. It works without signing in, and it stops email only: texts are not affected. The page also says: “Changed your mind? Tell your church and they can switch it back on for you.”
• Marking a campaign email as spam counts as unsubscribing.

Children are never messaged

A campaign never texts or emails a child, whatever the audience’s filters say and whatever their record says about agreement. Someone is a child when their birth date says they are under 18, or, with no birth date, when they are a child in a household. Someone added from a form has no birth date, so they are treated as an adult until you add one; that is why a form’s yes to texts waits for staff unless the form is marked for adults, and why HoW never attaches a sign-up to a child’s record by itself. The audience editor shows how many children an audience would otherwise have reached.

What staff must not do

• Never record a yes the person did not give. The Opt in button records that this person agreed; press it only when they told you so (in person, by phone, by email), not because they gave you a number.
• Never opt someone back in after STOP or an unsubscribe unless they ask you to. HoW lets you press Opt in again, because people do change their minds, but the request has to come from them. Asking them to fill in a form or answer in the member portal leaves the best record.
• Don’t use a parent’s agreement for a child. A child is never messaged; reach the family through the parent’s own record.

Good to know

• Agreement is checked twice. HoW checks it when a campaign is scheduled, and again for each person just before their message goes. A no recorded a minute before sending is honored.
• The text-to-join keyword does not record a yes. Someone who texts your keyword gets your welcome and confirmation, but your campaigns still need a yes from a form, the portal or your staff. See Text-to-join.
• The record of each answer is kept for five years, as DCX Logic’s privacy policy says, so your church can show where a yes came from.
• See the whole church at a glance. People, then the Who we can contact tab, shows for each channel how many have agreed, how many have not (or asked not to be contacted), and how many have no number or address, and opens the list behind each number.
• Who can do it. Owners, administrators, membership coordinators and communications managers can press Opt in and Opt out. Add this person on a form message needs access to forms, people and consent together: owners and administrators. Anyone who can open a person’s record sees the Communication section.

If something isn’t right

• “Not saved. Check your access and try again.” under the Communication section: your role cannot change someone’s answer. Ask an owner or administrator.
• There are no Opt in or Opt out buttons: your role can see the answers but not change them.
• Someone says they replied STOP but still got a text. Check that their record says Opted out for Text messages. A text already on its way when they replied can still arrive; nothing is sent after the no is recorded. If the record still says Opted in, contact DCX Logic support.
• A form said yes to texts, but the record shows no yes. The form isn’t marked for adults (open the message and choose Record their yes to texts if you know they are 18 or over), the form gave no number, or the person is texted at a different number and you chose to keep it. Ask them to confirm, or record the yes once they have. If the message says Waiting for [name] to confirm by email, nothing is recorded until they press the button in that email.

What DCX Logic support can do

Support can check how and when a person’s answer was recorded, and whether a STOP or an unsubscribe reached HoW. Support does not record a yes for anyone.

Coming from Planning Center

In Planning Center, emailing a list reaches everyone on it with an email address, except those who unsubscribed or whose address is blocked; for texts you build your own “consent to text” form with a yes/no field and add a condition to your lists. HoW asks for a recorded yes for email campaigns as well as texts, and does the checking for you on every send. STOP works the same way in both. Two differences: in Planning Center a person texts START to resubscribe and administrators cannot resubscribe anyone, while in HoW START does not resubscribe, and staff record the yes again when the person asks; and Planning Center lets an administrator invite someone who unsubscribed from email to resubscribe, while in HoW the person tells you or answers in the member portal.