The Church App Platform: Better Than Free

You’ve probably seen it before….a company offering a “free” app if you sign up for one of their other services. Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? After all, apps can be pretty expensive. Why not save some money and get one for free? This logic makes sense, but do you know what’s way better than not paying extra for an app? Getting an app that saves you thousands of dollars! Here at Subsplash, we can make that happen for you.

So how is this even possible? Let’s say your church is currently paying $99 per month for online, mobile, and text giving with a 2.5% processing rate (a pretty standard offer these days) and processes $50,000 per month. We’ll assume that you got a free app included with this deal as well. So how does this bundle stack up against Subsplash? Not very well. In this scenario, using the Subsplash platform would SAVE your church $2,640 each year.

Let’s also take a look at what you would get in addition to those savings. Each Subsplash package includes:

• The premier custom app platform trusted by over 50 of the top 100 churches in America and thousands more of all sizes

• A robust online, mobile, and text giving solution with Subsplash Giving and GrowCurve (rates automatically go down as giving goes up)

• The best sermon delivery software on the market….publish to your app, website, and podcast with just one upload

• Digital bulletins to help you save money on printing costs

• Cloud hosting and storage for all your media files

• A dedicated platform specialist and client success manager who will help your church see success with your solution

Are you excited about this yet? We certainly are! And we have been for years….from the beginning, the mission of Subsplash has been simple: provide churches and ministries with the best, most affordable engagement tools so that more people can hear the good news of Jesus. That is the heart behind everything we do, whether it be adding innovative new features to our platform, lowering our processing rates, or drawing up big plans for the future. If you’d like to learn more about how your church can save thousands and take advantage of the Ultimate Engagement Platform, you can contact one of our ministry consultants here.

Get the Most out of Your App

“Hey, can Subsplash do (insert awesome app feature here)?” We get this question a lot, and we love being able to respond with an emphatic “YES!”.

2016 has been our busiest year yet….so far, we have rolled out close to 70 new features and updates to our platform! We don’t build these features simply to check off a box that says we have them available, but to provide churches and ministries with the best tools for engaging with people on a deeper level than ever before.  

In addition to providing churches with the best engagement tools, our team is also passionate about helping churches use those tools to their fullest potential. If you are looking for some examples of what the Subsplash platform can do or some inspiration for updating your app, you are in the right place. We’ve compiled a list of some of our more popular features and capabilities alongside some examples of churches that do a great job utilizing them. Simply click the links to download each church’s app and see for yourself.

Home Tab - Oahu Church of Christ

Having a custom home tab (or an “Aloha” tab as our friends in Hawaii call it) is a great way to provide quick and easy access to key information within your app. Oahu Church of Christ does a great job with this and even has some great graphics to go along with it.

Media Delivery - Influence Culture Church

Does the idea of having to upload your media files to multiple different places make you sick? Yeah, us too. The Subsplash platform allows you to upload your media files just one time and publish them to your app, website, and podcast. Our system can even extract the audio from your video files and publish both, giving users the option to watch, listen, or download. This makes it easy to manage your media while simultaneously providing the best experience for your congregation.

Subsplash Giving - The Shoreline Church 

Want to increase generosity in your church? Why not make giving easy in the main place your congregation is going to access your content? Subsplash Giving is fast, secure, and takes place right inside your app. You can read more about our giving solution here.

Digital Bulletins - Church on the Queensway

Adding bulletins to your app is a great way to reduce printing costs and provide your congregation with an easier way to participate during Sunday services. With our digital bulletin feature, you can add fill in the blank sermon notes, free form notes, or entire Sunday bulletins into your app. Your users can simply download the notes when they are finished - no more searching for that elusive piece of paper from Sunday's service! We love how Church on the Queensway uses this feature for their weekly sermon notes.

Bible Reading Plans - Reach Church

When Subsplash’s very own Chris Sharpe was looking for a plan to help him read through the Bible in a year, he didn’t have to look any further than the phone he carries with him everywhere he goes. His local church here in the Seattle area has an amazing app with daily Bible reading plans available to help their congregation dive deeper into Scripture. Subsplash provides a native Bible feature, the ability to add custom reading plans, and even the option to integrate with other Bible apps such as YouVersion and Bible.is.

Form Integration - Rise City Church

Did you know that you can integrate custom forms into your Subsplash app? Whether you have sign up forms through your ChMS, a third party form provider, or Subsplash Connect (our own custom form builder), we’ve got you covered. Rise City does a great job of incorporating forms into their app.

Multi Campus Support - New Life Church

Does your church have more than one campus? Maybe even more than 10? With our custom tab builder, you can organize your content by each location. New Life Church does a fantastic job of using this feature to make navigating by your selected campus easy. You can even use our custom tab builder for anything, not just multiple locations!

Blog Reader/Daily Devotionals - Love God Greatly

Want to tie a blog, devotional, or other web content into the app? Our blog reader tool not only connects your content to the app, but automatically redesigns it to be the best mobile experience. Love God Greatly is an awesome app that uses our blog reader feature for daily devotionals.

We could continue to go on, but then you’d be reading this blog post for hours….there are hundreds more features available on the Subsplash platform and thousands more churches that use them well. If you have a question for us or want to share an awesome app, we’d love to hear from you. Click here to get in touch.

5 Reasons Subsplash Giving is the Best Solution for Your Church

Choosing an online giving solution for your church can be a hassle. How do you know which online giving solution is right for your church? What constitutes a fair processing rate? How do you measure success?

At Subsplash, our heart is to provide churches with the best possible engagement tools, and that approach was no different when we rolled out Subsplash Giving. Here are five reasons why Subsplash Giving is the best solution for your church:

Enterprise-Level Software

Subsplash is pretty new to the giving world, right?

Not exactly. We created the mobile giving experience for the first ever church app back in 2009, years before most current giving companies even existed. Our giving team has decades of experience building enterprise-level donation software, so this is not our first rodeo.

The result? You get a giving solution that is robust, beautiful, fully PCI-compliant, and built specifically for the church by people who have been doing this for years.

Beautiful. Fast. In your app.

Not all giving solutions are created equal. If your system requires users to jump through too many hoops to complete a transaction or re-enter their information each time they give, then it’s likely that quite a few people in your church simply won't adopt it. Simplicity and speed are important factors in increasing generosity.

That's why we've built Subsplash Giving to be the easiest, most user-friendly solution available to churches. Our system is clean, easy to navigate, and allows users to give in just 6 seconds. The best part? It's also fully integrated into your app and website.

Lowest Rates in the Industry

The current industry standard has churches paying high monthly fees and inflated processing rates just to access a giving solution. We’re not buying it. As a ministry leader, you should not have to negotiate for a reasonable processing rate, nor be forced into paying a monthly fee. So we decided to turn the tables and take care of that for you.

With GrowCurve™, you start with a low processing rate, and your rates go even lower as your giving grows. We want you to keep as much money as possible so you can pour it back into your ministry. $0 per month, no hidden fees, and the lowest rates on the market that decrease as you grow with us. It's that simple.

Future-Proof

Do you want to manage your donations through your ChMS (Church Management Solution)? Need a complete donor management system? Thinking about moving to a new ChMS? We've got you covered.

Subsplash Giving can integrate with the best Church Management Software, and also provides the ability to manage everything through our secure online dashboard. No matter how your finance team prefers to manage donations, we have a pain-free solution for you that is completely flexible with whatever direction you decide to go in the future.

The Ultimate Engagement Platform™

Engaged communities lead to generous communities. A good giving solution in of itself isn't going to increase generosity if people aren’t already engaged with your content.

That is why we have not only built a great giving tool, but the Ultimate Engagement Platform as well. With our app, web player, digital bulletins, cloud hosting, and giving, you have all the tools you need to connect with more members of your congregation on a deeper level than ever before.

Most churches we partner with see at least 3x more app downloads than people in the congregation, an increase in sermon plays, time saved midweek by using our all-in-one solution, and most churches using Subsplash Giving are on track to see a 10-15% increase in giving over the first year. It's not just a giving platform. It's an engagement platform. When engagement increases, you can expect to see giving increase as well.

3 Reasons Our Apps are Easy to Launch & Maintain

It might feel intimidating to start the process of building an app for your organization. We have worked hard to make our Platform as user-friendly and intuitive as possible, but anytime you are familiarizing yourself with a new project and new technology, there's always a learning curve.

We want to ease your worries about building a customized app, because the rewards (increased engagement, donations, and reach just to name a few) are absolutely worth the effort. Here are the main reasons why you can expect a smooth and simple process when setting up an app with us.

Smooth Kick-Off Process

Our Platform Specialists will immediately be in touch once you become a client. You'll receive an email to schedule a kick-off call with a mobile expert and an open invitation from that point forward to reach out to our Platform Specialist Team with any questions or concerns about setup, maintenance, or tech support.  

Materials to Get You Started

Included with all app packages are a a few helpful materials to get you started. A "Get Your App Live" checklist, launch kit, app promotion slide to display at church or on social media, and Subsplash Giving promotion video are all included to help you feel confident in the process of getting your app or giving live! Our Platform Specialist team wants to set you up for success not only in building your app, but in helping people know about it!

Platform Specialists and Client Relations Managers to Help You Along the Way

Did you know if you work with us there is a dedicated group of people whose main job is to help you with your app?! The success of your app is a team effort and we want you to thrive. From implementation and tech support, to an ongoing account manager who’s with you every step of the way, we love serving you! 

To experience the unparalleled customer service that our team can offer, get in touch with us today! 

Apps We Love (And You Will Too!)

We use apps to stream our favorite music, get from point A to point B, track our schedules, local weather, and even our health. 90% of users spend their time in apps versus the mobile web, so we know we aren't the only ones who are enjoying a wide variety of apps to make our lives more enjoyable and convenient. 

Here at Subsplash, we genuinely love the apps that we help our clients create, and we use them in a variety of ways. After doing a survey of our awesome team of mobile experts, we thought we'd share our results for the most used and favorite Subsplash apps. Who knows, you might discover something new from this list!

1. The Village Church - Krissy, Marketing Manager

Krissy listened to Pastor Matt's sermons while running her first ever marathon.

2. Grace to You - Lars, Web Developer

Anytime Lars has trouble understanding a passage of scripture, he will search in the Bible sub tab of the Grace to You app to find a sermon covering that passage. 

3. St. Tikhon - Bill, Platform Specialist

Bill loves to listen to the Orthodox choir music in the Saint Tikhon app when he goes on walks. 

4. Reach Church - Chris Sharpe, Director of Sales

The Bible Reading plan resource in the Reach Church app helped Chris go through the entire Bible in a year!

5. Calvary Christian Fellowship - Bobby, Client Relations Manager

Bobby has loved getting to know the team at Calvary Christian Fellowship and learning the unique ways they are using Subsplash Giving. They have set up a special fund to help flood victims in Baton Rouge. 

6. Ransomed Heart Ministries - Eric, Director of Marketing

When Eric was considering moving to Seattle, the podcast in the Ransomed Heart Ministries app inspired him and his wife to take a risk and move here to help plant a church. He was encouraged by The New Normal episode - “Nothing changes in the circumstance but everything is changed in the way we live within those circumstances.”

There are countless more apps we could mention and praise, but then you'd be reading this blog post all day :) If you have a story of how a Subsplash app has blessed you, leave us a comment below! And if you are interested in learning more about our engagement platform, send us a note!