Giving people too many choices is almost as bad as giving them none.
4. Make it personal
When a new person gives you their contact information, that information shouldn’t go into some random pool of member info, and they probably shouldn’t receive your weekly newsletter. Whatever you send them should be specially catered to someone who just came to your church for the first time—because that’s who they are.
All they know about your church is probably what you showed them during your last service, so you should talk to them like someone you just met, not like a 30+ year member of your church.
Maybe you can introduce them to your staff, with a letter explaining a little more about the pastor they just heard preach. Or an explanation of your church’s mission—why you exist, and what you hope your church can be for this new person. Or some of the best ways to get to know people at your church.
Your “new people” email/mailing/calling lists should have a clear, straightforward progression that addresses where people are at when they leave the door of your church, and helps carry them back the next week, and the next week, and the next week.
Use their names. Talk to them like real people. Show them what your church is all about. Not a generic, cookie-cutter creed, mission statement or calling. Tell them about the people at your church. The story of your church.
People will come back to your church because of the people. That’s what your church really is, after all. When you’re trying to show Christmas visitors what your church is like, show them what your people are like.
