One thing that I do not hear discussed is the reasons why you even need a website. In my consulting work, I will frequently ask if the client is sure that they need a website.
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A More Educated Church Guest
written by Ben Dubow
Friday, December 1, 2006
“THANKS TO THE WEB, WE ARE CONSISTENTLY SEEING A MORE EDUCATED CHURCH GUEST”
In a growing church, one of the tough dynamics is connecting to and following-up with guests. As the “buzz” surrounding a church increases, the stream of first-time guests will also increase. This fall at St. Paul’s Collegiate Church we have spent a lot of time and energy thinking about and working on a plan to increase the number of first-time guests who will become repeat guests who will become occasional attenders who will become regular attenders, etc etc.
Part of our plan includes weekly New Guest Receptions after each service, a free gift given at the reception (we give a “branded” Nalgene bottle filled with St. Paul’s stuff including a pen, a St. Paul’s chocolate bar, etc), an email from the lead pastor Sunday night (among other things, asking for first impressions feedback) and then a hand-written card (with a $5 Starbucks Gift Card enclosed) sent out within a few days of the visit. All of this is in addition to our newly revamped “First Impressions” team which includes greeters, shuttle bus hosts (for the shuttle bus we charter to pick up students from campus–bus2church.com), our hospitality team, and our facilities team.
It is too early to tell how successful our New Guest Follow-Up strategy is being; I think it will be at least 3-6 months before we can really evaluate how it is working.
But one of the interesting things I have discovered is that often we are connecting with a much more educated guest than I’ve experienced in the past. By educated, I mean “educated about our church”. In other words, a very high percentage of first time visitors have been on our website, listened to a sermon or podcast, read our blog, and checked out our statement of faith, mission statement, and other resources.
Church growth gurus have always suggested that most first-time guests will decide whether they are coming back within the first five or ten minutes of their visit — before any music, before the message. It’s interesting to see how this dynamic changes when people come already knowing about the church, having already heard a message or seen a video we’ve produced. Thanks to the web, we are consistently seeing a more educated church guest Sundays at St. Paul’s.
My gut is that it makes the first-time visit a very different and better experience. People ask better questions, have a better sense of what to expect, and we have already passed the “smell test” of sorts.
This is just one additional area where our website has become an indispensable tool for us as a church. It is our primary “marketing tool” as well as one of the best tools we have for connecting with guests and new attenders. The website allows folks to check-out and explore the church on their own terms without pressure–and I think this is a really great thing!
A couple of interesting statistics from St. Paul’s:
- 73% of first time guests indicate that a FRIEND is the primary reason they first came to the church.
- 15% of first time guests indicate that the WEBSITE is the primary reason they first came to the church.
- 12% of first time guests indicate another reason (Facebook ads, campus ads, Yellow Pages, referred by campus parachurch group, email campaign, etc) for their first visit. All of these COMBINED are less than the WEBSITE.
- Additionally, Over 60% of first time guests who come as a result of being invited by a FRIENDhave already been on our website by the time they first visit.
Given this experience, it baffles me why so many churches still have either no web presence or a (frankly) poor quality web presence. In today’s world, churches need to be on the front-edge in this area if we are going to successfully connect with the people God has called us to connect with.
Ben,
I was thrilled and delighted to see/read that your faith has marched on and grown since high school. You have no idea what a feeling of joy, peace and love I got when reading your article and seeing your name attached.
Time stopped at work for 5 minutes. Very cool.
- Laura
Laura Rusher (Vradenburgh) December 1st, 2006 at 4:33 pmThanks Laura for the note! Great to hear from you! Life here in CT at St. Paul’s is great. BTW, Vince Gierer is the other founding pastor for St. Paul’s. God Bless!
Ben
Ben DuBow December 4th, 2006 at 12:29 pmFrom www.ministrygreetings.com
Churches and Ministries are involved in a spiritual business and they can use the tools of traditional business marketing to meet their goals. Follow up is a proven method for business growth and Churches and Ministries should have a follow up plan for all visitors. An often overlooked marketing method for follow up and to help with growth is direct mail.
We are a Christian greeting card publisher, designing and publishing cards that help Churches and Ministries keep in touch with their members and reach out to their communities. We offer some retro-style, contemporary and mod style cards that appeal to an audience that is discerning in the marketing methods that catch their attention.
Greg Harrison January 11th, 2008 at 3:32 amWe believe that the personal effect of a visitor follow up card greeting card can have a very positive impact in this digital age. It’s an often overlooked means of communication for Churches and Ministries. Direct marketing is a valuable and effective partner to digital communication and we’ve been helping Churches and Ministries grow through this marketing medium for over 30 years. Thanks….Greg Harrison www.ministrygreetings.com
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