Visitor Path / New Member

Assimilation Funnel
St. Paul Lutheran
Update January 30, 2016

Visitor Path / New Member Assimilation Funnel

Current-State
Advertising

Brought by
Friend

Shopper Flyer
Ads

Events

Cantata
VBS
Easter Fair
Trunks n Treats
Get contact info

Sunday Morning Welcome

Walk In

Sign
Internet
Parade
Victorian Festival
Holy Spirit
Drive by
Buzz

Visitor registers on friendship

pad
Shepherd Spotter spots visitor

Pastor sends card / email to all

visitors

Visitor Follow-up

Margo sends prospects to BoE

Member of Month Contacts

Newcomers Class

Directed to welcome center &

receive bag / Introduce to
Pastor Chris (if possible)

Visitor Welcome / New Member Assimilation

Current-State Improvement Ideas

Sunday Morning Welcome

Visitor registers on friendship

pad
Shepherd Spotter spots visitor

Pastor sends card / email to all

visitors

Visitor Follow-up

Directed to welcome center &

receive bag / Introduce to
Pastor Chris (if possible)

Margo sends prospects to BoE

Member of Month Contacts

Newcomers Class

Improvement Ideas:
Sunday Morning Welcome
1. Train ushers to direct visitors to welcome center
2. Assign Shepherd spotters to welcome center
3. Pastor invitation at end of service for visitors to stop at welcome center
4. Form a Welcome Team and train them on what a welcoming conversation would be like. For example,
have dialogue to find out what their interests are. Invite the person to something St. Paul is doing that
aligns to their interests.
5. Train all members how to engage. Get good at facetime when people are here.
Example phrases
If Ive met you before, Ive forgotten your name
Glad to have you in church today
6. Get email addresses from visitors
7. Consider a way to snag people on the way out. e.g., a food table. Goal is to get 25% of members to stay
15 minutes after service.
8. During opening greeting, Pastor to ask members to welcome two people you dont know or have
forgotten their names.
9. Improve visitor/friendship pad
10. Pass friendship pad down your row then back to the row behind you.

Improvement Ideas (continued):

Visitor Follow-up
1. Make personal visit after attending St. Paul face-to-face Visitor Team or Pastor?
Visitor Team
Train people how to converse
Journal visitor conversation
Share journal with all members of team
2. Create menu of opportunities/ministries give to members for talking points & also give to visitors as
handouts
3. Asking something of visitor (make a contribution)
4. Generate additional letters to invite back: Easter, lent, etc.
5. Build an FAQ for common visitor questions give to Visitor Team and all also to all members so all are
able to answer questions about St. Paul
6. If they are not coming back, ask for feedback in the follow-up to find out why
Visitors In Transition
1. Rename Newcomers Class the word class may not be well received Pastor Chris is now calling it a
Newcomers Group
2. Assign a mentor to regular visitors
3. Keep visitors on our list for continued follow-up for a period of 2-3 years
4. Consider adding a Pizza with the Pastor as a step before Newcomers Class
Overall Improvement
1. Take field trips to other churches to see churches who do it well
2. Need better data collection and review of visitor data. Need to determine how to better leverage the
data and harvest. Generate statistics for our success rate at each stage of the funnel. Need to review
information of people in the funnel to ensure we are following up taking action.
3. BoE owns the funnel process. Have board focus on strategy. Move the tactical execution to committees.
e.g., Easter Fair, Trunks n Treats

Visitor Path
Current-State Improvement Ideas
Personal
Witness

Social
Media

Community
Engagement

Advertising

Brought by
Friend

Events

Shopper
Flyer Ads
Facebook

Northville
and South
Lyon
Chamber of
Commerce

Cantata
VBS
Easter Fair
Trunks/Treats

Walk In

Sign
Internet
Parade
Victorian Fest.
Holy Spirit
Drive by
Buzz

Improvement Ideas:
Personal Witness
1. Give members SPL business cards to invite people
2. Train members on what a personal witness looks like. e.g., pray before meals when out with friends.
Social Media
1. Add member experiences/witness videos and God Sightings on Facebook
2. Look into creating a presence on Pinterest
Community Engagement
1. Partner with someone doing something in Detroit. Offer the opportunity to serve with St. Paul to our
larger community.
2. Offer Family of God to our community as a way to serve our larger community with St. Paul.
3. Create opportunities for teenagers that need service hours (Rotary, National Honor Society, Scouts, etc.)
to get that by serving with/at St. Paul.
4. Do the blood drive again. Invite the community to participate.
5. Do more with Chamber of Commerce, e.g., lead the prayer at their prayer breakfast.
Advertising
1. Get better feedback on what's working/not-working. Add a how did you hear about us to the visitor
pads.
2. Consider getting back into the Northville/Novi area Welcome Wagons
3. Become a member of the Novi Chamber of Commerce
4. Consider advertising on Facebook
Walk In
1. Post Pastor sermon videos on internet
2. Somehow, someway get a street presence. i.e, there is no drive by (tucked away behind Hillers)
Events
1. Expand getting contact info Ensure School also gets contact information from events
2. Add an Easter Drama to our program
3. Look at what we are doing (or not doing) to get them to come back to St. Paul for a worship service,
Sunday School, or Bible Study.
4. Consider having Youth/Family Life Intern lead the Easter Fair this year.
Brought by Friend
1. Consider having more Bring a friend Sundays.

REFERENCES