AUTORESPONDER CAMPAIGNS FOR FIRST-TIME GUESTS By Chuck Scoggins
autoresponder campaigns for first-time guests Those of us who work in churches have a responsibility to leverage the tools available to us to advance the mission of the church and the cause of the gospel. One set of tools that s taking the business world by storm is autoresponders. Autoresponders, or drip campaigns as they re also known, are emails that you set up once using an email delivery software such as MailChimp, then they automatically send, in sequence, to names added to your list. In business, the drip sequence usually begins after someone signs up for a free product (sometimes called a lead magnet), then drives the consumer toward a product or service available for purchase at the end. Churches can leverage these same tools to engage with people who are new. Autoresponders are inexpensive to set up (some services are even free), simple to implement, and extremely effective at giving people valuable content in order to build trust. In this resource, I ve given you an overview of an autoresponder campaign for first-time guests to your church. Cue them up in an email application, then schedule them to automatically send out once a week. After you read through the summary of the email campaign, be sure to jump to the end of this document where I ve taken away all of your excuses and given you copy and paste-able sample emails for you to use. Simply replace the content I ve included with your church s pertinent content and press send. A couple of words of warning If someone has given you their email address, they ve give you a precious piece of their trust. Steward it well. If you re going to add to their inbox noise, make sure you are providing as much value as possible. Also, be sure to use an email system, such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, AWeber, etc., that helps you manage your lists, helps automate the content delivery, and helps keep you compliant with CAN-SPAM laws. Let s use all of the tools at our disposal to lead people to Jesus! Ready? Let s get started.
Autoresponder Campaign for First-Time Guests Hopefully you have a way of knowing who your first-time guests are. If not, close this document and go figure that out. Once you ve figured out a way to collect some of their information, set up a drip campaign to help them know more about your church. Email OnE: Simple Thanks Thank your guests for visiting, and let them know you re going to send them a few emails to help them become familiar with the church. Give them an opportunity to opt out here. It s better to let them go than annoy them. Email Two: Mission and Philosophy Tell them about your church s mission and philosophy. Let them know why you exist. Tell them some of your church s standard operating procedures. How do you minister to the community? What are your values? This email should set up the third email, information about your ministries, very nicely. Email Three: Information About Your Ministries This email should highlight three or four top-level ministries (students, singles, adults, etc.). If your church has a lot going on, resist the urge to make this a long email. Think about your demographic and give them information about ministries that will best serve them. Point them to your website to learn about additional ministries. Email Four: Meet The Staff This is a pretty straightforward email. Introduce your top-level staffers and explain how they can serve your guests. Remember to include photos and contact information! Email Five: Information About Following Jesus Now that you ve established a relationship with your guests through the first five emails, send one that tells them how to take the next step of following Jesus. Again, keep it simple. Perhaps point them to a video on your website with the gospel message. Also, make sure to give them a way to let you know about any decision they ve made. Important: The point of this email isn t to convert people, but rather to let them know how to find the information when the Spirit moves in them. Email Six: Information About Small Groups Assuming your church is a small groups church, the next logical email should help them get connected to a group. If you do Sunday School, use this email to connect them to a class. Explain why your church values small groups and what benefit there is for the guest. If you only have a few groups, list them in the email. If you have a multitude of groups, point people to the spot on your website where they can get connected.
Email Seven: General FAQ s Answer a few questions a newcomer to your church might have. For example: Why does the pastor wear blue jeans? Why do you play songs I might hear on the radio to kick off the services? Why does middle school meet separately from high school? Where does money from the offering go? How can I get connected or take a next step? How can I meet the lead pastor in person? How do you pick which songs you sing in worship? How can I learn more about what the church believes? Don t stop reading now! Turn the page for some customizable copy to get you started on building your very own autoresponder sequence for first-time guests.
Done-for-you, Copy-and-Paste First-Time Guest Emails Autoresponder Email One: Simple Thanks Dear John, We wanted to send you a quick email to say thank you for checking out New Hope Church this past Sunday. We know your time is valuable and we consider it an honor that you chose to spend some of it with us. If you didn t get a chance to stop by our newcomer lounge on Sunday let us know. We have a gift we d like to send you. Don t worry though; nobody is going to come by your house, and we promise not to do anything creepy. Also, we d love to hear from you! If you have any questions, would like to give us feedback about your experience, or just want to chat, you can reach Pastor Jimmy, our connections pastor, at (123) 456-7890. We d like to send you a few follow-up emails over the next several days just to give you some additional information about New Hope Church. If you re not interested in those, you can click [this link] and unsubscribe with no hard feelings. Again, we feel so honored you were our guest. Let us know how we can serve you in the future. Sincerely,
Autoresponder Email Two: Mission and Philosophy Hi John, If you have a moment, we wanted to let you know a little more about New Hope Church. Our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. You are a big deal to Jesus, and we would be doing you a disservice if our mission was anything short of introducing you to him. So, that s what we re all about. One of the ways we do that is through relevant Bible teaching. We believe the Bible has a significant bearing on what is happening in our life, and our teaching pastors make every effort to approach their teaching times with that point of view. No stuffy lectures here. We also believe that authentic worship is essential to a life full of joy and purpose. You ve probably already picked up that we worship God by singing songs, but we also worship him by giving money, serving one another, and serving in our community. Finally, we feel that we grow best when we re connected to others in genuine community. We have growth groups that meet either at the church building or in homes in the area every night throughout the week. Life is better when we are in it together! Those are some of our top values and how we approach our mission. If you have questions or would like to discuss it further, we d love to hear from you. You can either reply directly to this email, or call Pastor Jimmy, our connections pastor, at (123) 456-7890. Sincerely,
Autoresponder Email Three: Information About Your Ministries Hi John, Did you know New Hope has many ministries to serve folks in different areas of life? Children s Ministry Our children s ministry is called New Hope Kidz. It is for children ages birth through 5th grade. New Hope Kidz meets during the services on Sundays and offers environments tailored to help kids in different age groups grow. Children get to sing songs, hear Bible teaching, and experience small group community. For questions about New Hope Kidz, contact Morgan, our children s ministries director, at (123) 456-7890. New Hope Students (NHS) NHS is our ministry for students in middle school and high school. Middle schoolers meet on Sunday mornings at 11:15 am. High schoolers meet on Sunday nights at 5:00 pm. Once a month, they come together for a time of worship together called The Mix. NHS provides students with the opportunity to worship, learn about God, and have loads of fun together. Contact Kevin, our student pastor, at (123) 456-7890. Growth Groups Growth Groups are New Hope s small group gatherings where adults at various life stages meet with other like-minded folks to grow through Bible study and doing life together. Our groups coordinator, Kate, would love to answer your questions about Growth Groups. You can reach her at (123) 456-7890. We also have serving opportunities, gatherings for men and women specifically, retreats and getaways, and many other ministries too numerous to list here. You can find all of that information on our website [link]. We re confident there is something for you at New Hope! Let us know how we can get you connected! Sincerely,
Autoresponder Email Four: Meet The Staff Hey John, We ve sent you three emails by now, but we haven t even taken the time to introduce ourselves. Here are some of our key staff people who would love to connect with you sometime: Bill Smith Lead Pastor Dre Carter Worship Pastor Jimmy Bradshaw Connections Pastors Morgan Jones Children s Ministry Director Jeff Mace Executive Pastor Chad Bennett Creative Director Kate Johnson Groups Coordinator Kyle Myers Technical Director Kevin Williams Student Pastor There are others too, and we couldn t do everything we do around here without them. You can find a full list of staff on our website at newhope.church/staff [link]. If you run across any of us, please say hi! We really dig getting to know new people. Sincerely,
Autoresponder Email Five: Info About Following Jesus John, In a previous email we told you we re all about connecting people to Jesus. It s our mission. It s our passion. If you aren t a Christ follower, but would like more information about what a relationship with him looks like, we d love to chat with you about it. Don t worry: We re not here to pressure you or try to talk you in to anything. Making a lifechanging decision to follow Jesus is a big deal. We just wanted to let you know that when you re ready, we re here for you. In the meantime, check out this video [link] where Pastor Bill talks about how he began his faith journey with Jesus. You can connect with one of our pastors by calling (123) 456-7890, or simply reply to this email and we ll get back to you. Here to Serve,
Autoresponder Email Six: Info About Small Groups Hi John, We believe one of the best ways to grow in any area of life is by doing life with other people people who can encourage, stretch, and support one another. That s why we recommend that everyone get into a Growth Group. A Growth Group is eight to 10 people who meet together once a week in a home, or at our church, to hang out and study the Bible together. Often, Growth Groups also get together for fun outside of the weekly meeting times. Most people in groups form lifelong relationships and support one another through life s most significant moments. We d love to get you connected with some folks who are in a similar life stage as you. If you d like more information about joining a Growth Group, reply to this email and we ll contact you with more information. Take Care,
Autoresponder Email Seven: General FAQ s John, We get a lot of questions from people who are new to our church. We thought we d share the answers to some of them here. Why does the pastor wear jeans instead of a suit? We try to be a church where life change is emphasized over formality and stuffiness. So, just as you want to dress comfortably when you re watching football on Saturday, we want folks to be able to dress comfortably on Sunday. So, the pastor leads the way by dressing casually. It s all part of our strategy to help people connect with Jesus. Having said that, if you re more comfortable wearing a suit to church, go for it. You won t be alone. Want to wear shorts and flip-flops? You ll be in good company in those as well. Why do you play songs I might hear on the radio to kick off the services? We want to help people relax, lean in, and be engaged in what we re doing on Sundays. If playing a song you hear on the radio helps with that, we re all for it. Why does middle school meet separately from high school? Even though the two age groups are pretty close chronologically, there are a lot of differences between the life-stages of middle schoolers and high schoolers. We offer separate environments so our youth teachers and leaders can minister to each group right where they are. However, both groups do the same kinds of things: sing worship songs, hang out in small groups, engage with great leaders who care a ton about them, hear a relevant message from the youth pastor, and more! Where does money from the offering go? Honestly, the money that people faithfully give goes toward a lot of things. We re happy to unpack that for you if you want specifics, but know this: We know that you work hard for your money and we consider it a privilege that people trust us enough to steward it for ministry purposes. We use it to lead people in worship, lead people into a relationship with Jesus, to serve the needy in our community, and to help people throughout the world. We realize that money can be a touchy subject that is an obstacle for a lot of people in getting into a relationship with Jesus. If you ever feel that way, we d encourage you not to give. We believe God cares much more about your life than he does about you giving money to the church. How can I get connected or take a next step? We d love to help you take the next step in your spiritual journey. One suggestion would be for you to join us at Next Steps, our class designed specifically to help you figure out where you re headed. To find out when an upcoming Next Steps will take place, check out the Happenings page on our website: newhope.church/events.
How can I meet the lead pastor in person? Our lead pastor, Bill, would love to meet you. The best way to catch him is to stop by the first-time guest hospitality room at the top of the stairs on a Sunday morning after each of the services. Or, if that doesn t work for you, simply respond to this email and we ll help you get a meeting set up with him. How do you pick which songs you sing in worship? Our creative team, including the worship pastor and the lead pastor, works together to pick out songs that fit the theme of the service and have a strong lyrical message they believe will help people to worship through music. They put a lot of time and effort into finding the right song for each moment in a service. How can I learn more about what the church believes? You can find out more about our beliefs by visiting [this link] which will take you to the beliefs page on our website. If you have any additional follow-up questions about what we believe, our mission, or how we seek to be people in a growing relationship with Jesus, please reply to this email and we ll try to explain more. Those are a few of our most frequently asked questions. Do you have a question that isn t on this list? Reply to this email and ask us! We love answering questions from people who want to know more about New Hope Church. Here For You, about the author Chuck Scoggins Chuck is the executive director at the Center for Church Communication. He s also an author, speaker, and leads a digital marketing company. Web: chuckscoggins.com Twitter: @chuckscoggins 2017. All Rights Reserved.