Are you struggling to get first-time guests or existing members to fill out your connection cards in your church?
Do you feel like a broken record as you keep plugging and showing the card in your worship services, only to have 1 or 2 cards get filled out in service?
My church had this problem too. But then we decided to change our connection card completely. We went from having just a few filled-out cards, to collecting dozens of cards in a single worship service! Keep reading to learn what makes the best connect card, and how to make it. It's a quick read, so keep scrolling ⏬
They say that the answer to many questions is usually the simplest. In this case, it's 100% true.
It sounds silly, but isn't our goal to get guests and members to actually fill out the card? Of course it is!
We're on the same page about what the best connect card is... now let's look at 4 easy ways to get you from "Empty Cardsville" to a fat stack of completed cards from your people!
Creating a connection card that actually gets filled out is a lot like baking a cake. You can make any flavor you want, but you have to follow the recipe. Why? Because if you don't it will come out terrible! Much like my Christmas Vanilla Bundt Cake Disaster of 2017 (I still hear about that one at family reunions).
I'm no baker, but even I can follow a recipe if it's easy enough. And this recipe only has 4 ingredients...
It can be a challenge to have a new guest or even a long-time attendee take the time to fill out a connect card. With the exception of the scripture or taking notes in a service, the average person's attention span doesn't go past 60 seconds. "TLDR" (too long; didn't read) is a real and common practice amongst all ages. I'm the first one to admit that the last thing I want to do is read and answer a multitude of questions on a card during a worship service. Keep a connect card short to avoid having people not read or fill it out.
Connect cards should be able to be read and understood in under 10 seconds. Your questions should require recall thinking, NOT critical. Asking for a person's name, email, and phone number are great examples of questions in which a person answers out of sheer muscle memory. If you must ask a question that requires thought, make it something easy like "would you like to be contacted" or "are you interested in serving".
The only questions you should ask on your card are the questions that you will actually record within your database. Don't ask questions unless you intend to do something with the information. Asking irrelevant questions not only creates noise, but it wastes space on your connect card that can be dedicated towards something else.
You can have the best connect cards ever made...but what's the point if they are not easily accessible? This is where I talk about physical and digital connection cards.
Have it on the back of the pews, chairs, at the welcome center, and anywhere else you can think of. Make sure all your volunteers and staff have a few on their person so that they can easily hand them out to guests and members. Don't forget pens, too, as many of your church people may not have any with them.
Connection cards can also take the form of a digital form card that can be filled out online. Create a digital form card that your people can easily go to from a smartphone. They should be able to scan a QR code and begin filling out the form in seconds.
Struggling to get responses? Create church forms that people can fill out in seconds by scanning a QR code with their smartphone.
It's best to have your connection card in a digital and physical form. It's kind of like fishing. The bigger the net, the more fish you can catch.🐟
Every church is unique and different. Some churches may opt to have unique cards for multiple things like connecting, prayer requests, and serving. To get some inspiration for your connect cards, check out our Pinterest page.
The best connection card is one that actually gets filled out. Keep it short, simple, relevant, and most of all... easily accessible. If you do these 4 things, you'll have a new problem; what to do with all that info your people give you! That's where ChurchTrac comes in.
Wes
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