As a church, you’ve probably seen the crazy spike in your attendance with Easter visitors on Easter Sunday. They may be completely new or maybe they’ve visited your church before. Whether it’s the desire to get out in a new outfit or to celebrate the risen Christ either online or in-person, people tend to flock to churches on this desirable Easter Sunday morning.
Preparing for this day by engaging your Easter visitors may help people see you are more than just a building to be visited or streamed once or twice a year. But don’t feel overwhelmed if you don’t have a plan yet! We’ve gathered three ways to engage church visitors on Easter so you can get people connected.
Communicate with Previous Attendees
One way to engage more people is to do it prior to Easter. That way, they show up and experience the gospel message.
Send mass communication to previous attendees. This can be done via email or text message. Maybe they were at your services last Easter. You’ll be able to run a report through your church management software (ChMS) to find those people and reach out. Invite them to this year’s Easter programs.
When you send a message, let them know the important information like time and place or point them to your church website with an Easter landing page.
Collect Visitors’ Information
A helpful way to communicate with Easter visitors after the holiday is to gather their information. You won’t be able to follow up if you don’t have their contact info. One way to do this is through a connect card. This can be physical or digital. They can fill out their information on the card that is provided in the seatback in front of them or in the bulleting. Or online through your church website.
e360 ChMS integrates well with your church website, so when people fill out the form, it will automatically update in your member database. This eliminates having to duplicate efforts and saves your staff time.
On your connect card, include things like name, phone number, email, and address. Don’t forget other extras like spouse and kids. It will make check-in for children’s ministry even easier. Consider including a prayer request section as well. This will allow visitors to express what they need prayer for and shows you’re committed to praying for them.
Follow Up with Visitors
Following up with your Easter visitors after the service is just as important as welcoming them when entering your church. How do you follow up? After your Easter visitors leave, you need to take any information they have given you and put it in your church management system. (Unless they did it digitally, then it will automatically happen!).
It is important to have a follow-up plan in place for later that week before the next Sunday arrives. The faster you can contact your visitors, the better. That’s because it allows your them to remember their experience at your church and make plans to go back. It will also help remind your Easter visitors to know you care about them and sincerely want to see them again.
Following up with your Easter visitors doesn’t have to be complicated! Having a sound church management system to house their information can simplify the process. e360 ChMS has an excellent platform for you to follow up with your new Easter visitors, set reminders for each follow-up, and create tasks for others to reach out, too. You can streamline the communication process even more by creating workflows to automate your messaging.
