Church Connection Cards: The Complete Guide
The main goal of a Church is to spread the Word of God and try to help as many people find (and stay with) our Lord and Savior. Behind that, the goal is to acquire members and retain those members in your Church for as long as possible. The best way to retain members is by collecting their information and staying connected with them. Church connection cards are the medium by which your church will collect that information.
Read all the way to the end and you can get your FREE DIGITAL CONNECTION CARD!
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. – Romans 12:4-5
What is a Church Connection Card?
Connection cards, also known as Church Welcome Cards, are a collection form that Churches use to gather member/guest information so that they can stay in touch with or “connected” to those people. This information can be their name, email, phone number, how many times attended, prayer requests and other similar fields. Information such as this is important to collect so you can stay in touch with and better understand each of your visitors/members.
Types of Connection Cards
Physical Connect Cards
These are cards printed on a thicker paper that are passed out to the congregation each week. They will need to be filled out with a pen/pencil and then collected back at the end of the service.
Pros:
-Easy to make sure members receive one
-Can be branded specifically to your Church
Cons:
-Expensive
-Sometimes handwriting can be hard to read- affecting information collected
-Requires pens/pencils which adds another frictional element of price and effort to fill out
-Bad on the environment due to the amount of paper consumed to make each card
Digital Connect Cards
These are online forms that can be filled out either on a computer or mobile device that collect the visitor/member information. These can be filled out and submitted seamlessly.
Pros:
-Inexpensive- created once, endless amounts of submissions
-Easy to read and access data
-Can easily be accessed through an online link or a QR code that people can scan with their smart phone
-Online-based, so nowhere close to harmful on the environment
-Everyone keeps their phone on them making it an easy process to collect
Cons:
-No way to track who all scans/clicks the link to the form
4 Reasons Digital Connection Cards Are the Future
Cost
For many churches, budgeting and cutting costs where they can is a huge deal. Some churches will spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars every month on paper connect cards. A digital card will allow you to spend $0 and still collect the same information from people.
Friction
As mentioned above, physical cards can cause a lot of friction- the church budget, the members and guests need to write with a pen, the Church staff then must collect, decipher and then re-enter that information into another database (hopefully no spelling errors), round and round again.
With a digital connect card, it can be connected to a database to where information is collected and entered seamlessly, requiring not only no upfront cost, but also minimizing the work of the Church staff.
It also becomes easier for the Church-goer. Instead of having to uncomfortably try to write their information down on a card with a pen that doesn’t work all the while they are self-conscious about who will be reading their handwriting, they can now scan a QR code that will take them directly to the digital card, type in their information neatly and quickly (most people can type faster than they can write), hit “Submit” and they’re done. Simple, easy, effective.
Larger reach
With the ability to stream now, many guests and members are watching services from the comfort of their own homes and at times when they choose. If your focus was solely on physical cards, you would be missing out on a significant amount of people. Online viewers can simply be guided to a link for your digital connect card and can easily enter their information. Now you have the ability to reach that crowd in an easy fashion!
Timeliness
With less time and effort spent on collecting and transferring the information collected, the more time you will be able to spend taking action on the information that was collected. For example, say a family came to visit where their father had recently been hospitalized from a car accident and they needed a break from the hospital. They came to your Church because a friend mentioned it to them a month ago. The wife feels the Holy Spirit and she feels the need to fill out a connect card and puts their situation under their “Prayer Request”.
Instead of taking several days to sort through each card in the congregation and transfer information from one source to another, you and your team would easily be able to go over all cards within the same day or next day and come across that card. You can then pray as a group and even reach out to her and offer any help that you can and tell her you and the team have prayed for the family. Can you imagine the kind of impact that would have on the family? How do you think they would rate their experience at that moment?
Examples of Church Connection Cards
Okay, now that you know a little more about connect cards, let’s see some examples of both physical and digital cards.
The information overload connect card
Here is an example of a connect card that is gathering too much information from people. The more work there is to do, the less likely someone is to attempt it.
The simple connect card
Below is an example of just a few fields that the person must fill out. Again, when collecting data, less is more. The fewer things they have to fill out, the more likely they are to fill it out.
The tiered connect card
This is an example of having different collection cards for different points in a person’s journey with your church.
This is a great method to move people “up the ladder” at your church. Sometimes members want to offer more help at the church, but are a little on the shy side as to why they are a little held back to pursue the path. These cards allow them a way to make it known they would like to help, without feeling like they are in the way or bothering people by trying to find who to talk to about helping.
The digital connect card
Below is an example of a digital connect card. Forms can easily be created/adjusted based on the needs of your church. For example, referring back to the image above, if the church no longer needed help with parking but needed to add another job, those fields can easily be added/removed without a hiccup. Physical cards would need to be reprinted, which the redesign again would cost more money.
How Do You Use Church Connection Card Information?
“Data is the most valuable asset in the world.” -Brittany Kaiser
Collecting information is only as valuable as your plan for how to use that information. If you are looking to collect information and do nothing, then I don’t suggest implementing collection cards at your Church. On the other hand, if you develop a plan for how you are going to engage with that information, then you have a powerful asset in your hands.
Develop a “Connection Plan”
You need to map out a plan for how you are going to be engaging with your members. Batch planning can be the most effective method where you will sit down weekly, monthly and/or even yearly and come up with your strategy. Here is where you can start using that information to segment the people into different categories and take them on their “Connection Journey”. You can send out a follow up email or text message asking if it was their first service or if they’ve been regular attendees.
Those people can then be segmented and you can engage with visitors in a different manner than you would with members. Visitors you may want to tell more about the Church, some things you have done in the community or your plan for the next year on how you will impact the people around you. Members you may want to nurture in a different way and tell them about men’s/women’s bible studies coming up, volunteer options or who can help in other ways.
As you can see, there is no limit to how creative you can be with what you do with the information you collect from the connection cards!
With a 98% open rate and 90% opened within five minutes, texting is top channel for staying in touch with your members and guests. Text2VIP can provide text marketing for Churches. Our software makes it easy to send out messages to your subscribers such as service updates, prayer requests and even the ability to segment you subscribers like I just mentioned. You can start your 14 day free trial here.
Act on Information
Some of the information that you collect can be critical. From abusive spouses to sick family members, there can and SHOULD be all sorts of prayer/help requests that your Church should actively be trying to find solutions to. When you collect this information, the faster you can address it, the larger the impact will be.
Don’t Give Up
This can’t be something you do for one month and then let it go to the wayside. Many Churches understand the value and the power of having connection cards and implementing them into their Church, so we know they work.
Progress = Action x Consistency x Time
What Information Should Be In Our Church Connection Cards?
The less information you collect, the more likely people are to fill out completely. You want to be able to know the person’s name and at least have one way to keep in contact with them in the future. Some other bits of information are nice to have, but not entirely necessary; especially right out of the gate. Have you ever noticed online a website doesn’t ask you for a lot of information? It will usually be just an email address they collect. That’s because it’s well known that just that email address alone will allow that site to stay in touch with you and move you along the “Customer Journey” and eventually a percentage of people will purchase and continue to purchase. Those consumer behaviors are no different when it comes to Church.
I recommend a simple form to start with collecting:
- First and Last Name (at least)
- Email (at least)
- Phone (if you can)
- Prayer Request (give the option)
In this kind of form, you’re most likely to get the largest majority of people to fill this out and complete whether that be new visitors or long-term members. You can then take them down the Connection Journey. Digital connection cards also make these easy to customize making some forms required while others are optional.
Summary and Free Digital Connect Card
If you’ve made it this far, I hope the information provided above has been helpful and can be of use to your Church! We covered what a connection card is, the different types of cards there are with examples, why you would use them, what you do with the information you collect and what information you should collect. I had the intention of making this the go-to guide for church connection cards, so I will be editing the information in here over time to make sure it is up to date and the best source.
Now, as promised, is your free connect card. Click here to get your copy!
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