UMConnect - Visually build multichannel messaging & voice bots

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Visually build interactive SMS applications anywhere in the world.

What is UMConnect?

The United Methodist Church now has a new way to reach people locally and globally – using today’s most commonly available form of communication…the text message, also known as SMS.

Through a unique collaboration called "UMConnect," United Methodist Communications and TextIt have partnered to provide group messaging to communicate throughout the world.

UMConnect allows church leaders to build their own mobile databases, easily reaching those who may not have access to internet and email, or those who prefer text messages. Send important news and updates quickly, and even automate replies to simplify correspondence among large groups. In addition to texting, UMConnect also offers Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and the ability to connect with audiences via Twitter and Facebook Messenger.

To learn how your United Methodist organization can access UMConnect, contact UMConnect@umcom.org.

Get in the flow

At the core of UMConnect lies our exclusive Flow engine. With Flows, anybody can create engaging SMS and voice applications without the need of a programmer or expensive consulting company.

Get a new phone number your customers can text or call to in minutes and build your app today, no code required!

Add your own logic

Each interaction in UMConnect is defined by a step. By drawing arrows from one step to another, you define how users of your application will move through the flow.

It's easy to create logic in flows to route users based on their responses.

Take action

At any point in the flow, you can trigger actions, such as sending an SMS, email or even calling an external API. UMConnect allows you to customize messages using information you've collected from the user allowing for personalized messages and increased response rates.

How does it work?

Flows are powerful, but UMConnect presents them in a way that makes them easy to understand. Watch our overview video to see how easy it is to deploy your own custom SMS application with UMConnect.

Real-time analytics

Every interaction with a flow creates a datapoint that is automatically associated with each user. UMConnect lets you easily get that data into Excel for further analysis, or you can use our powerful real-time analytics to let you compare datasets across populations.

Ongoing Campaigns

Campaigns allow you to build your own SMS reminder system or even a drip marketing program. Choose what messages to send and on what schedule to keep your users engaged.

You can even send your users through a flow at any point during your campaign.

Manage SMS just like e-mail

You need to know when your audience is trying to reach you. That's why UMConnect highlights unexpected messages, helping you identify users who have questions or problems, making it easy for you to address their concerns. Send and receive SMS messages and organize them using labels, just like email.

Personalize Broadcasts

UMConnect allows you to easily broadcast an SMS to a group of users, even allowing you to customize the message just like a mail merge. You can send broadcasts immediately or at a later time even repeating them on a set schedule if you like.

Know your audience

Keep track of every user who has interacted with UMConnect using Contacts. UMConnect automatically creates a Contact for each user and saves their full message history.

You can group contacts however you like and add custom fields that are appropriate for your organization.

Available everywhere

UMConnect already works anywhere in the world, instantly. Simply download our free Android application to create an instant, reliable and inexpensive connection to UMConnect. Messages will then be sent and received using that phone's local SIM card automatically.

If you are in the US, Canada or the UK, you can easily connect your Twilio account to take advantage of instant low cost messaging in your country.

Read our deployment guide to see how to use UMConnect in your country.

UMConnect also provides an exhaustive API so you can integrate it with your existing website.