Common reasons a message might not send in your Automated Workflow

Oh no! Your message wasn't sent as you planned; we know how frustrating that can be!

No worries, it's probably something small that can be corrected to make your Workflow work as you need it to!

There are some common things that can happen that would cause a message not to go out as planned, but nothing that can't be easily remedied.

Check to see if your message and Workflow are active:
If the message is not set to active, it will not send. You can tell if a message is active or not by the color of the dot to the right of the message.

If it is red, then it is NOT active. If it is green, then that message is active.

You can toggle the message back on using the toggle by the message's scheduling, and you can activate a Workflow by clicking the Activate button in the upper right hand corner while editing!

Timing of when you added the Workflow Step:
If the message was scheduled after a person had joined, they can't get a message set to "Upon Group Join".

Always make sure to set up your Workflow BEFORE adding people to the Group.

This is because some Workflows can operate based on when a person joins a Group.

Here’s an example: a person was in the Group for three days, and you set up a message to send two days after joining, then that person would not get the message, as they would have been in for three days already.

If your Workflow message shows as missed for someone:
This indicates the Workflow step won't be sent because the recipient missed the scheduled date.

This often applies to Calendar Date Trigger Workflows, where late joiners won't get missed steps. Missed steps can be rescheduled in the Workflow Report!

Check to see if the person is opted in:
If the person opted out of getting messages, they will not be sent messages. You can check this by clicking on their name in the People section.

Have them text START to the number they texted STOP to, to opt-in and get messages again.
Permission Settings When Adding Contacts:
When manually adding contacts, ensure you toggle the "I have permission to message this person" option. This is critical for compliance and message delivery.
Check to see if anyone is in the Group:
If no one has joined or been added to the Group, the messages won't be sent yet.

You can see who is in the Group by going to the Members tab of the Group.

The message was created in the wrong place:

It's possible you want a message to go out at a specific time and date for all members of the Group.

If that's true, it may be easiest to send a one-time scheduled message instead of setting up a Calendar Date-triggered Workflow, which is best used to send a series of date-specific messages.

To learn more about the differences between Automated Workflows and Scheduled messages click here.

'Repeat this Step' Toggle Not Enabled:
If the 'Repeat this Step' toggle is not enabled in that Step's scheduling, recurring messages such as birthday texts will not be repeated.

Solution:
Go to the relevant Workflow in Text In Church.
Locate the step.
Ensure the 'Repeat this Step' toggle is on, then set up when the message should repeat and how many times it should be repeated.

Enabling the Toggle After Messages Have Been Sent:

If the 'Repeat this Step' toggle is enabled after the message has already been sent, it won't retroactively apply to schedule future instances.

This can be resolved by creating a new Workflow.

Solution:- Note: Enabling this toggle after messages have already been sent will not apply retroactively.