Getting information from guests is a constant battle. For some reason, people feel a bit squeamish about giving churches their info, which is hilarious given how much of their business they willingly put out on social media.
However, not everyone is a paranoid libertarian like myself, so a “guest card” is still a helpful publication to have around. To that end, here’s my church’s guest card.
The ‘Why’ Behind the ‘What’
Guest cards are a tricky design to perfect because you want them to look sharp but they have to be immensely practical as well. You have to use each side wisely—avoiding needless white space—without asking for too much information, and yet you can’t really give the guest any information on the card because they’re not going to take it with them.
Front
What can I say about this side? It’s really basic, but that’s exactly what it should be, since you’re asking for the guests’ basic information. We did add the “grade” slot of the kids because our new database—CCB, yo!—gives us space for that. Also, we extended the lines for the kids’ names because, after seeing some filled out versions of the old card, the line was too small, which is due, in part, to the rise in children with last names different from their parents’.
We also added more boxes for the “I am…” section. “New to the area” was important for me because then we can assist that person in fitting in and finding their way around. “New to church” and “returning to church” were added to help us tailor our program offerings to these individuals. I don’t want that to sound like we’re working a sales pitch, and yet it’s wise to offer people what makes the most sense based upon their personal history.
Back
“How did you hear about us?” is one of those questions that gets asked on all kinds of surveys, so I hope it gets answered, despite it’s location. It simply wouldn’t fit on the front without reducing some of the white space that I’d tried to give for people to write in. The options here are fairly standard. We did add “Facebook” because our presence in Zucerkbergland has increased over the past year, and we wanted to see if this translated into more guests.
The main section on the back is an idea that our connections pastor brought to us: offering guests a chance to make a donation to a third-party charity. Basically, if the guest brings the card back to our welcome center, we’ll donate $1 to one of three local charities that we know, trust, and work with on a consistent basis. Our hope is that this will communicate our heart to our guests right off the bat: we’re givers who are focused on being good neighbors by supporting organizations that are already working to improve our region.
That brings this series of posts to an end. Looking back, there are a lot of elements of these designs that I don’t like, but if we spend all day “fixing” our designs, we’ll never actually use them.
If you’d like to use this guest card as a template for your design, you can download it here (ZIP containing one Pages file, version 5.2.2. I haven’t updated to Yosemite yet). If you do download the file, please share this post on the social media platform of your choice, as a “thank you.”
[Editor’s Note: This is part 3 in Phil’s series. Be sure to read part one and part two.]
Richard Smith says
Thanks Phil. Something we recommend to churches who are taking on our church management system is the need to include some line regarding the data protection act. As this data is being stored and used there is a need to inform people and gain their consent regarding how their data is being used.
Phil Schneider says
Richard, I’m not aware of the data protection act. Can you give us a link?
Richard Smith says
Hi Phil,
Depends which country you are in but all relates to privacy, storing of peoples personal information, permission to capture and retain and use that information, their right to access data you hold on them etc. etc. It’s in part related to spam legislation too as people need to be aware they have subscribed to something – so if your church starts sending them emails they need to have identified they are willing to receive it:
Wikipedia link for shows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_privacy_law
The USA isn’t as tight as Europe or some other parts of the world in this area but it should be considered and policies made by each organisation. This link is helpful: http://www.hg.org/data-protection.html
Example from New Zealand – http://www.mondaq.com/NewZealand/x/231560/data+protection/Data+Protection+Laws+of+the+World+Handbook+Second+Edition+New+Zealand
Phil Schneider says
Hey, Richard. Thanks for the links, but if I’m reading this right—big if—there is nothing requiring a disclosure of a ChMS. However, since I live in the US, which has almost no privacy protection, I am far less concerned with this than someone from a country that has a tradition of personal privacy. For those individuals, I would side with you and include a check box disclaimer just to be safe.
Eric Dye says
AMAZING series.
Phil Schneider says
Thanks, Eric!
LisaGLier says
Thank you for your informative articles I am learning quite a lot.
I’m working on a project for our churches women’s ministry and have been looking for alternatives in ways to get information for it. One of our longstanding projects is our Military ministry to let our military members know how much we appreciate them and are praying for them. Twice a year we send out a card along with a calling card or some other small gift. This is for our church members and family members of our congregation. Since I now “own” this project I am looking for ways to update our contact list of who is in the military and of that list, who is “Deployed” and or assigned to a “Forward Area”.
Putting an announcement in our bulletin for 3 weeks running has gotten 2 responses. NOT exactly what I/we expected. I’m afraid it is getting lost in the other things listed. I’m now thinking of putting an insert into the bulletin, such as the visitors cards, our cards are in a little slot sat the back of each pew… this card would be in every bulletin for maybe 2 weeks. Do you have any advice as to the best way to word this and what is enough but not too much information o ask for?
Thank you once again!
Lisa Lier
Phil Schneider says
ChurchMag Comment
Great question, Lisa, but it would be hard to answer since I don’t know how your church does things. However, I think you could…
1) When we need to give something a lot of attention at our church, we give it a special announcement from the pulpit during our opening. In your case, I would see if you could get a service person to give a testimony about the impact of receiving the card and then make an appeal for the information.
2) I started getting more responses to special requests for info when I added an online form (Google Forms) and shared that form through our social media platforms.
Those might be good places to start.
LisaGLier says
Thank you very much, I’ll be talking to my pastor and my group about your suggestions.
Lisa
Phil Schneider says
Awesome!
JIMMY says
Hey Phil, I was trying to design a connections card and ran across this site. I’m not very good at this so I thought your template would be awesomely helpful but when I tried to down load the template it says I’m missing an index file. I do have yosemite– is that why I can’t open it. Thanks– Jimmy
Phil Schneider says
That might be the problem. Are you wanting the connection card or the guest card? I can try to email you a version in a ZIP that might work better.
Jimmy says
I was looking at the card you give to a guest when they come to visit the church. Thank you.
Phil Schneider says
I just sent you a ZIP copy. See if that works.
Michelle says
Is it okay to download this, change the name, and use it for our small church? If so, how might I download this to edit? Thank you! It will save me SO much time!
Phil Schneider says
Totally! I’m going to give you a link to a newer post with updated templates. They’re all placed in ZIP files. Once you open those, you’ll need Pages (Mac app) to edit them. If you need different formats, please let me know.
https://churchm.ag/free-connection-guest-cards/
Michelle says
Oh my goodness you are wonderful! And fast! So my Pages on my mac doesn’t have the newer fonts you used. How do I update those fonts so I can open the document correctly–as you designed it so beautifully?
Phil Schneider says
You’re very welcome! Close the file and exit Pages. Download the font from the link below. Install it, and reopen the file. That should do it.
http://www.dafont.com/bebas-neue.font
Michelle Coursey says
I am trying to download the guestcard and edit it, but I’m not able to. I have a laptop PC.
Phil Schneider says
Hi, Michelle. These are all Mac specific files, but they’re also really old. Check out this new post:
https://churchm.ag/free-connection-guest-cards/
It has updated versions of these cards. If you’d like one of those templates in a PC format, I can try my best.
Thanks!
Corliss Broussard says
Hi Phil! I know this is REALLY old but I am working on some cards on a PC. Is there a link to a PC version of these cards? They are awesome! Thanks in advance for your assistance!
Phil Schneider says
Here you go, Corliss: http://www.dropbox.com/s/ha8jeutyou23s3e/guest-card-2.docx?dl=0
If that doesn’t work for you, check out this post and let me know if you’d a PC version of it: https://churchm.ag/free-connection-guest-cards/