SimpleChurch CRM vs Clearstream: Which is a better fit?

Joshua P.: Hi, my name is Josh. I'm a youth pastor. And today I'm giving SimpleChurch a five star review. For more reviews like this, you can click below. So before we switched to SimpleChurch, our church was using a system called Blackbaud. Blackbaud was a great system for big companies and corporations but not so great for a smaller church like us. It had a lot of intricate systems that you could use, but didn't provide good customer service for people who weren't computer literate or really tech savvy. And so the training aspect wasn't really at our level. We didn't understand how to use a software and there wasn't someone down on our level of training who could help us to understand how to use it. It also wasn't a customized package that fit our needs. So SimpleChurch came along and provided us with something that really was tailor fit for a church and really was customized to the size of our church's needs so that it fit our budget and fit what we needed to do in our ministry. When SimpleChurch came along, one of the things that we really loved was that they had an integrated app that went along with the software. So not only could we control the software from our end with web-based, but it was mobile. It was something we could take with us as a leadership team, which meant that in our pocket wherever we went, we could access it from our mobile phones. That also extended to our church membership and lay leadership so that they could access the mobile giving or the attendance right from their cell phones. And it wasn't just limited to iPhones, but to Android devices. And the check-in options were great for attendance. We kept finding more and more features that they were adding once we got involved with the software and their customer service was over the top. I was really concerned with the transition from such a complicated software like Blackbaud to SimpleChurch, that we were going to lose data or that it was going to take a long time to get our data over and that we weren't going to know how to use it right away. It actually took us less than an hour to get all of our information over into the system. SimpleChurch took all of our info, converted it, and showed us how to use it, how to find it, and we were up and running in less than a day, feeling confident, and actually using it better than we were using our other software in less than a day. If you're thinking about making a switch to a new church management software, I would recommend calling and talking to one of the sales specialists. They won't push you into anything, but they'll talk you through what your needs are, what is unique with your ministry, and they'll tell you whether this software is a fit and what options might be there for your church. If this isn't a fit, they have other products that might be a better fit for you and they can point you in the right direction.

Glen: Hey, my name is Glen. I'm the connections and communications pastor at my church and I would totally give Clearstream a five-star rating, they're just fantastic. And so for more reviews like this, just click below. Hey, we've been using Clearstream now for quite a while and the reason why we went with Clearstream is because before this, we had a combination of I believe there were three different texting services that we were using. We were using Google Voice for one-on-one texts with different people because we could have multiple accounts and different things like that through all of our different ministries, we were using Mozeo for just exclusive push communication where it was just a blast out to thousands of people at one time which was great when it came to just pushing stuff, but there was never any two-way communication. And then we were using Text In Church which is a fantastic organization for a lot of our follow-up and some of the more detailed-oriented kind of communicative things that are two-way sometimes. And so there were just a lot of bits and pieces and parts that were a combination of all of these. So we took all the things that were working really good out of all of them and then we decided the parts that we really didn't want to do anymore, and Clearstream seemed to be right in the niche. It fit all the different things that we were needing which was one, we pushed things out in mass from time to time. And by doing it with Clearstream, you can actually get great responses back, and it's all categorized in an inbox which works really nice. And then you can also use keywords and you get multiple ones depending on which level that you go with of course. And then with the Google Voice thing, it was one thing that we set up for the different areas of ministries that they have their own little inbox, but the sub accounts part of Clearstream cleared all that up for us too, so all of our different areas of ministry have their own sub-account, where they can log in and design their own workflows and all those different things that they use on an individual ministry basis. And so we started it with the connections ministry because we by far used most of the text communication in the whole church, and then we started teaching all of our other areas of ministry to use it for all of their followup on the individual basis with their teams like creative arts and kids and students and guest services and small groups and all those different groups use their own stuff too. And so we've just found that over the last probably six to maybe about nine months now, I've been using it very heavily, it's really been fantastic. And so, I mean, nothing's perfect, but Clearstream by far not just replaced these three services for us, but then added all other levels of different ways that we can engage with people and different ways that we can have these one-on-one connections with a lot of folks in different ways. So the reasons we went with Clearstream are vast, but I'd like to boil it down to just a couple of small ones but massively valuable ones. One is it took all of the different services we were using into one. So we had one place to go for communication, one place to go for the go-to to send things and to get them back and so that was great. But the other one was that last year we discovered this huge need in our church and in our communities for people to just know that they're being cared for and loved on because a lot of folks had not been back to church, a lot of folks still haven't been back to church, but what we were finding is that people just needed to know that they were loved on and cared for. And so we started a calling ministry where people would actually just physically call people and that was successful for a couple of months and then it started to drop off. And so we wanted to be able to text everybody. So what we started was I think it was last October or November, right in the holiday season when Thanksgiving was kind of on everybody's radar and a lot of family stuff going on. So at the first of the month, we put a huge text together of a bunch of contacts that we had. It was about 3000 plus numbers, and we sent this out with a simple question, how can we be praying for you? And the response that we got back from that was overwhelming. I mean, just huge, and so what we decided was this is something we can't let go of. And so Clearstream became our go-to for this communication because we were able to get a team of volunteers to field the inbox of this particular sub account. And so every single month since then, we send out this text on the first of the month, or very close to it just saying, "Hey, August is here, Summer's wrapping up something real small and just very relationally connected. How can we be praying for you this month?" And so what happens is then within about two hours, we have literally hundreds of responses. And so our fiscal year wrapped up in June, so this is probably about a nine month total and we had more than 5,000 text prayer requests come in through Clearstream, and then a team of folks, as well as our church staff have been able to pray for these folks, we kind of just get a snapshot of where they're at in life and so huge massive value to our area of ministry with connections and just our church in general, and I'd be hard pressed to find something that would work better than what Clearstream has provided for us to be able to do this on a very, very large scale but keeping the person and their individual story in mind the whole time. So getting started with Clearstream, what I would do is I'd suggest using a smaller tier that they offer so you can just kind of get used to it, and then just have people try it out and see what they think and what it looks like. We did that. And then it became really apparent to us quickly that we were going to need to grow. And so we're on one of their larger programs now because it was so easy. And so getting started with them was easy, learning the software was really easy, and so if you're apprehensive in any way like that, just rest assured, you'll catch on quick and it's not really a difficult thing at all when it comes to administratively speaking with Clearstream, they are on it right away. They always have a little chat bubble if you're on there and you've got a question, you just click on that and they are on it super fast. They've got to like, real-time chat that you can have with somebody. And we got to know two people really well, because we had a lot of just pertinent questions to the way we do things. Their way was kind of simple what they offer, but we were like, "Hey, can it do this? Can it do this? Can I do this?" And the responses were great, and actually they really listened to a lot of things that we kept offering, and so one thing in particular like repeating texts, that's something they've added here recently, not just because we asked for it, but I'd like to think so because it was a really cool thing that they added. So they're really great that way and they really listened to customers for ideas and such. So if you are a church organization, especially that is wanting to connect with your people or connect with those who are marginally engaged in your church organization, if you have their contact information, you have the most valuable thing that they can offer to you. You have their name and a way to contact them. And if you're not maximizing every single way that you can then engage them in some way, you don't want to miss those folks because you just never know. Some people open up their snail mail, occasionally, somebody will read an email from time to time anymore, nobody listens to voicemails anymore so don't even bother. But if you're really going to connect with somebody, send them a text and I guarantee you, they'll read it and there's a really, really good chance that they'll respond. And so if you're a church out there who has not yet maximized the communication method of texting individually with somebody, Clearstream is really the way to go. I've been texting with people at church now for probably seven years or so, and started way back with what was available and it has really progressed down the line as far as the tech is concerned, and Clearstream, as far as I'm concerned, is right there where they need to be and so, yeah, check it out, you won't regret it.