The Future of Digital Marketing

Today, I want to discuss another type of process that is likely underdeveloped and not fully thought through for it to become a system, which impacts church growth. Many church websites provide information about areas where people can volunteer or get involved in some capacity. Still, they don't have a form that users can fill out pertaining to these opportunities. Some churches have a form, but it redirects users to a third-party website like Google Forms. Most times, the user completes the form, but they are never redirected back to the church website, and a confirmation email is never sent out.

Plan and Execution

Forms are a way to obtain user input, and they also provide an opportunity for you to connect with users at a later time for reasons other than what they originally filled out a form for. If a church has a volunteer team for the media department and puts a form on the church website for volunteers to sign up, but then there is no follow-up email confirming the receipt of their filled-out form, the user will feel uncertain, and their trust level in your church will decrease. Some churches don’t have a process in place for reaching out to people who filled out forms on their website, which is not good.

Process

Data can easily get lost without a process in place for managing that data. That's where follow-up emails come into play. It's important to have follow-up emails confirming that the church received a form submission, and the email should include the next steps that the user needs to know about. Most of your forms will need an email address field if it require some form of follow-up from the church. If a follow-up email is not necessary, then make sure there are success pages or error information that inform the user of what to do next.

Thank you email

The act of gratitude goes a long way. Sending a thank you email after receiving a donation from a user can make someone feel appreciated and thus open the doors to receiving more giving. This can also turn into a list of emails that you can use to inform them of a fundraiser your church is conducting in the future because you know that they are an active supporter of the church. This not only opens the doors to more receiving, but it is a great way to update givers on the progress of the church or fundraising that they gave towards.

When users see that you follow up, they feel more like you pay attention to your website and you care about their engagement with your church. So, having a church website is one thing, but having the systems and processes in place to respond to user interactions on your website is equally as important. Be ready to answer questions such as: What happens after a person fills out a form indicating they would like to volunteer? What if positions are filled? How do you update the user about the next steps? What are the next steps after filling out a form on your church website?

These questions need to be asked and answered, so processes can be created and systems put in place to handle interactions with your church website. It's not just about the follow-up email, but the thought process behind why the form is needed in the first place. Based on the answer to your "why", it will be easier to move forward with a clearer sense of intent to implement structure and consistency for a clearly defined process that can evolve into a system.

Manifestare has forms all figured out. Check out Manifestare.com and get your church's online presence ready for real growth, instantly. If this helped you, leave a comment. I would love to hear about it. I will continue this series on systems, so check back for another one soon.