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Attracting visitors to your church is the first step in achieving church growth. A survey for church visitors can help you learn who they are and how they found you!
Understanding the visitor experience can provide valuable information that can be used to create a first-time experience that makes the visitor want to come back – and hopefully join the church.
You might be interested in learning what adjectives the visitor might use to describe your church.
What Church Visitors Care About
When I visit a church, there are several things I pay attention to.
I like going somewhere that is welcoming, comfortable, and consistent with my belief system.
I am interested to see how well church leadership communicates and how well volunteers perform their duties.
For instance, if I have questions, I hope a volunteer in the lobby can answer those questions for me.
Churches want to know when visitors attend to welcome them and help them transition into members.
The challenge for churches is knowing who the visitors are – and reaching out to acknowledge them.
It can be easy to slip in undetected in a church of over a few hundred people, so creating systems that identify visitors and understand their experience can be very enlightening.
7 Questions to Ask Church Visitors
1. How did you hear about the church?
It’s important to know how someone hears about your church.
Word-of-mouth is the best avenue to get people to visit, but having a strong internet presence can also be helpful.
For example, when I moved to a new city, I Googled churches in my area, and that is how I found the church I now call home.
Whether other members are doing a good job inviting people or the SEO team is doing a good job getting search traffic to your website, you want to know about it.
2. Was this your first time visiting?
When someone visits for the first time, they assess the entire visitor experience.
Knowing this information can allow you to reach out and be available to answer any questions or merely offer a friendly contact.
My pastor does a great job with this in offering a visitor a cup of coffee and making himself available to share his vision and answer any questions someone might have.
3. Which service did you attend (if multiple services)?
If your church offers multiple services, knowing if one attracts the most visitors can be helpful.
This information can be useful as you plan and prepare for weekend services or special events.
For instance, if you have three Sunday services and you learn that most visitors attend the middle service, you may schedule more volunteers during that service to help with visitor interactions and questions.
4. What is your name, address, phone, email?
Capturing visitor contact information can allow you to share church event information with them.
Be sure to have a box they check to permit you to contact them.
Whether by phone, email, or regular mail, privacy laws have made people sensitive to receiving unsolicited contacts.
Be aware of this so you don’t inadvertently send the wrong message to your visitors.
5. Number of children/ages?
People with children are often looking for a church with good kids programs.
Knowing how many children are in a family and their ages can be useful when sharing information about church-sponsored events that target kids.
6. Do you have a prayer request?
People often visit churches when new to a city or going through a life transition. During life’s challenges, we all remember the importance of prayer.
For instance, a visitor attending church while going through a difficult divorce may seek spiritual support and prayers.
Allowing visitors to share prayer requests communicates that the church truly cares about its visitors and is willing to partner with them on prayer needs.
7. Would you like more information about our church?
Ask if the visitor would like more information about the church.
This allows you the opportunity to share information about church programs and events that might be of interest to them.
Meet with your team and consider what questions you might ask a visitor. The visitor survey could look something like this.
You can access an editable copy of this document by clicking here.
Find A Good Location For The Survey
Use your leadership team to help determine the best place to put this survey.
I’ve seen it as a tear-off in the bulletin, printed cards in pockets behind the seats, or handed out by the ushers. Walk through your facility and find the best location(s) to make it easy for visitors to access.
Determine the best spot for these and communicate where to place them once completed.
You can also go digital by embracing the mobile revolution and creating a digital connection card on your church mobile app.
This new concept not only saves time but also saves money by eliminating the paper!
Visitors Often Become Members
Church growth happens when a church does a great job, and new people join because they recognize the quality of the church experience.
This results from creating an environment that is welcoming, comfortable, and easy to transition into.
How do you gain insights into the visitor experience at your church?
Explore our growing library of church forms, documents, and job descriptions today!
