Turn on text messaging

eCatholic Connect allows you to send messages to your members via email and text. Here are the steps to get started with text messaging.

How to activate texting in your Connect account

Log in as an organization admin and go to the Home screen. Locate the Turn on text messages box and click Enable.

There are two ways you can get started with texting:

1. Start a texting trial
2. Set up Twilio

1 - Starting a trial of texting in Connect

Activating a trial of texting in eCatholic Connect is the easiest way to start exploring how texting works in Connect. The trial will effectively allow you to give it a test run at your organization.

When you start your texting trial, you will be allocated a fixed number of free text messages you can send in Connect.

After your trial is activated:

1. Invite members to subscribe to receive text messages from your organization
2. Go to the message composer and send a text message

2 - Setting up Twilio to send unlimited text messages in Connect

To send unlimited text messages in Connect, customers must enter their Twilio account information in the Text Message Settings section on the Manage Organization screen.

1. Log in as an organization admin and navigate to the Manage Organization screen.
   1. Click your organization name in the main navigation bar, then click Manage Organization in the dropdown.
2. Locate the Text Message Settings on the screen and click Enable.
3. In the Enable SMS popup, click Set Up Twilio.
4. In the Set Up Twilio popup, click:
   1. Sign up for Twilio - to get instructions on the Twilio signup process.
   2. Next - if you already have a Twilio account and are ready to enter your account details to integrate it with Connect.
5. In the Enter Twilio Account Details, enter the following information from your Twilio Account:
   1. Account SID - Can be found on the main page of your Twilio console. Click on your organization name in the top left corner of the screen.
   2. Authentication Token - Can be found on the main page of your Twilio console. Click on your organization name in the top left corner of the screen.
   3. Message Service SID - Can be found in your Twilio console. Use the left navigation menu to go to Messaging > Services, then look in the SID column.
   4. From Phone Number - Can be found on the main page of your Twilio console. Click on your organization name in the top left corner of the screen.

Once you've entered your Twilio account details, click Enable and you're all set! You're now ready to invite members to subscribe to receive text messages from your organization and send a text message.