In times of social distancing, people face the same daily pressures differently. They felt the uncertainty of canceling services for the first time in history. They heard some conflicting counsel about the reopening and felt the angst of various political parties.
Basics about connect cards.
You might know that a connection card is one of the most convenient ways for people in the congregation to express their requirements, responses, and interests during or after worship service by manually filling out a card or tear-off form.
The card is one of the most valuable tools for pastors and staff so that they can hear from the people and respond accordingly. A digital connect card is ideally the same, but it is all done online. It can be a link on the church website that allows people to navigate by typing the address or scanning the QR code. It can also be a link in the email or a text that people regularly receive.
Currently, people use two-way texting, where attendees can text a keyword to receive the link to complete the process online. You might feel like you have been through enough, and it’s time to get back to understanding how things work.
Here are some reasons to use digital church connect cards:
Engage the live streamers
Several churches had online services even before the pandemic. But currently, all the churches offer live stream services. And it is here to stay as several churches already recognize that the majority of the people visit online before they attend live. Several live stream applications provide a chat or ability for people to connect with the church management system. Participants first need to enter the link address or text the keyword conveniently from the phone, and they can form different fields in the church for the advanced system directly.
Accommodate the live attenders
Social distancing has created significant concern for several people about touching each other or being close enough to hand out things like bulletins, but those restrictions will ease out gradually. Several people today have gotten so used to paperless living that the idea of handling a bulleted or filling up paper form feels quite uncomfortable, reminding them of unwanted mail. Having the ability to respond to an appeal on the phone is relatively easy and more natural for digital natives to communicate constantly.
Having one connection strategy for online and another for live ministry will confuse people if online services are here to stay. Instead, leaders must give various announcements as they know those online and help them out by providing the communicators with a clear, professionally consistent message that applies to the target audience.
Increase the website traffic
The church website needs to be organized and utilized perfectly. It is generally the hub of all that happens. Guests must feel welcome here, and members need to feel welcome. At the same time, people far from God need to feel welcome here. Once the digital connect card is filled out, online forms are designed to allow people to redirect the respondence to wherever they want. It is highly recommended to have a web version of the bulletin with links directly to the website, including the online giving.
Handwritten connection cards must be entered manually into the database, which takes time. At the same time, reading the writing can be a challenge. In addition, communication will bounce if a single letter in the email address or phone number is off. Original connect cards take the middle person, the data entry person, out of the equation. As soon as the complete form is available and the data is uploaded to the database, it is more timely and precise.
