Broadcasts, email or SMS: which to use when

Hubb gives you several ways to reach people, and the honest answer to “which should I use?” is that it depends on how urgent it is, how much it costs, and whether you want a conversation back. This is the short version.

The quick answer

• Email for anything long, anything that needs to be found again later, and anything going to people who may not have the app.
• Broadcasts for short, timely news that everyone needs on their phone now. At no extra cost. See How Broadcasts work, and what your church controls.
• SMS for genuinely urgent messages to people who may not have the app at all. It costs per message, so keep it for when it matters.
• Group chat when you want people to talk to one another rather than just be told something. See How to turn on chat for a group.
• Safe Messaging for anything going to a child, whichever of the above you use. It is not a choice; it happens automatically. See What Safe Messaging is, and how it works.

How they differ

• Reach. Email reaches anyone with an address on file. SMS reaches anyone with a mobile number. Broadcasts reach only people who have your app installed, allowed notifications, and subscribed to the channel.
• Urgency. A Broadcast and a text both arrive on a lock screen within moments. An email waits to be opened.
• Length. Email takes as much as you need. Broadcasts and texts should be one or two sentences.
• Cost. Email and Broadcasts are included with your plan. SMS is charged per message.
• Replies. Only group chat gives you a conversation. The others are one-way.
• Findability. An email sits in an inbox and can be searched for months later. A notification is gone once it is dismissed.

Worked examples

• Sunday service cancelled at 7am because of snow. Broadcast, and SMS as well if you have older members without the app. Email too, because some people check that first.
• The monthly newsletter. Email. Nobody wants a newsletter as a notification.
• Reminding the welcome team about next Sunday’s rota. Group chat, because someone will want to swap. You can also see who has read it.
• A prayer request from the leadership. Broadcast, kept short, with an email if there is detail to give.
• Telling the parents of your Sunday group that the venue has changed. Email or Broadcast to the group, with the Substitute children option switched on so it goes to the parents rather than the children. See Sending a mailing or Broadcast to a group that includes children.
• Encouraging a young person before their exams. Safe Messaging, one-to-one, with their parent approving it. See How to send a message to a child.
• Settling which week suits your small group. A poll in the group chat. See How to use polls in a group chat.

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Good to know

• For anything genuinely important, use more than one channel. People are subscribed to different things, and no single channel reaches everyone.
• Every channel respects consent. Someone who has opted out of a channel will not receive on it, however you send.
• Whatever channel you choose, a message to a child goes to their parent or guardian for approval first. That is automatic and cannot be switched off for a particular send.
• The quickest way to annoy a congregation is to use a notification for something that could have waited for the newsletter. Ask whether it needs to reach someone in the next hour. If not, email it.
• If a Broadcast did not arrive, work through Why didn’t my Broadcast arrive?