Automated Workflows in Text In Church let you send a scheduled series of messages and take automatic actions for people in your groups. This glossary defines every term, step type, trigger, and report element you'll encounter when building and managing workflows.
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Workflow Step Types
Automated Workflow
A series of messages and actions sent automatically to — or about — members in a Group. Steps can include emails, SMS messages, voice broadcasts, staff reminders, and several automated actions. Each step is scheduled based on a trigger and a wait period you define.
Email Workflow Step
An email message sent to the Group member as part of the Automated Workflow. Use this for longer or more detailed communication.
SMS Workflow Step
A text message sent to the Group member as part of the Automated Workflow. Best for short, timely messages like reminders or quick check-ins.
Reminder Workflow Step
An email or text message sent to a specific staff member or volunteer — not the Group member — as a prompt to take action. Common uses include reminding a staff member to call a new guest or send a handwritten note.
Send Voice Broadcast
A recorded voice message sent to the Group member as part of the Automated Workflow, delivered like a phone call to their number.
Workflow Action Steps
Add to Group Step
Automatically adds the Group member to another Group in your account at a specified point in the Workflow. Commonly used to move guests into an active members group after completing a follow-up workflow.
Remove from Group Step
Automatically removes a contact from a Group at a defined point in the Workflow — for example, when they've completed a multi-week series.
Send a Webhook Step
Sends the contact's data as JSON to a URL you specify. Use this to connect Text In Church workflows to other software platforms.
Create Task Step
Automatically creates a Task in Text In Church and assigns it to the User you designate. You set the title, assignee, priority, due date, category, and a description of the task to be completed.
Add Tags
Applies one or more tags to the contact as they move through the Workflow, helping you track or segment them later.
Workflow Triggers
Workflow Trigger
The event that starts the Automated Workflow. Triggers include: someone joining a Group, a specific calendar date, a date in a contact's profile, a Connect Card submission, or a Keyword being received.
Groups Trigger
Fires when a Person Record is added to a Group — whether by texting a Keyword, submitting a Connect Card, or being manually added. This is the most common trigger for guest follow-up workflows.
Calendar Date Trigger
Sends Workflow steps automatically based on a fixed calendar date. Steps can be scheduled a set number of days before or after that date, making this ideal for event outreach.
Person Date Trigger
Sends steps based on a date stored in a contact's profile — such as a birthday or anniversary — allowing you to automate personalized outreach each year.
Connect Card Trigger
Fires when a specific Connect Card is submitted. Steps are scheduled relative to when the Connect Card was filled out.
Keyword Trigger
Fires when a contact texts a specific Keyword to your assigned number. Steps are scheduled relative to when the Keyword was received.
Workflow and Step States
Active Step
A Workflow step marked as ready to send, indicated by a green dot. Only active steps will be triggered and sent to contacts.
Inactive Step
A Workflow step marked as not ready to send, indicated by a red dot. Contacts will not receive this step until it is set to active.
Templates
Pre-built Automated Workflows created by the Text In Church team, already in use by hundreds of churches. You can import a template and edit or remove steps to fit your needs. Learn how to access templates here.
Workflow Reports and Scheduling
Wait Days
The number of days (or hours or minutes) after the trigger that Text In Church waits before sending a specific Workflow step. Setting this to 0 sends the step on the first occurrence of your chosen time after the trigger fires.
Test Message
Sends a preview of a Workflow step to yourself without using a real contact record. Because no person record is used, variable placeholders (in { }) will appear as code rather than real data. To fully test a step with real data, add yourself as a member of the Group. Learn more about test messages.
Automated Workflow Report
Shows the total number of steps processed for a Workflow and the status of each individual step — including who is waiting, who has completed a step, and who may have missed one. From this view you can also skip steps or push them immediately to specific contacts. Learn more here.
Missed Workflow Message
Indicates that a Workflow step will not be sent because the contact missed the scheduled date. This most commonly occurs in Calendar Date Trigger Workflows when someone is added to the Group after the scheduled step date has passed. Missed steps can be rescheduled from the Processed tab of the Workflow Report.
Waiting Workflow Message
Indicates that a Workflow step is scheduled and waiting to be sent at its designated time. You can send a waiting step early by opening the Workflow Report, clicking the Waiting column for that step, and clicking the Send button next to the contact's name.
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