First-time guest follow-up

Every first-time guest at this 280-attendance church hears from a person within 48 hours. Planning Center People holds the guest list, Mailchimp sends a plain welcome email Monday at 9am, and the connections pastor sends each guest a personal text on Tuesday. Total cost is $29-43/month.

By Caleb Brooks · Published August 2026· Editorial standards · Conflict of interest

Field guide page: steps and costs from hands-on church-tech work, written under a pen name. Church names stay private. See how we write and verify.

What do you need before you start?

You need a Planning Center People login, a Mailchimp account (free plan is enough here), and a Clearstream account. One person should own Sunday card entry and the Tuesday texts. If that person is out, name a backup before you launch.

Why did this church build this workflow?

Guests were falling through the cracks. The church counted cards on Sundays, but follow-up depended on whoever remembered. Most first-time guests heard nothing until the next Sunday’s announcements. The connections pastor set one rule: every first-time guest hears from a person within 48 hours. Everything in this workflow exists to make that rule survive a busy week.

The whole setup took one afternoon, mostly deciding what not to automate. The email is automatic because it is the same for everyone. The text is manual because that is the message guests reply to, and replies are where second visits start.

What would they do differently next time?

They would skip the fancy newsletter-style email they started with. Open rates doubled when they switched to a plain, three-sentence email that looks like it came from a person. They would also have set up the week-two checklist on day one. For the first six months, second-time guests got the same follow-up as first-time guests, and a few slipped past both lists.

Monday checklist

1. Confirm every Sunday paper card is in Planning Center People with a first-visit date.
2. Verify the first-time guest list matches Sunday’s cards (no sticky notes left on desks).
3. Mailchimp welcome email fires at 9am. Spot-check that replies land in the connections pastor inbox.
4. Prepare Tuesday Clearstream texts: name, pastor name, one invite. About 15 minutes at current volume.
5. Move second-time guests onto the week-two checklist with named owners and due dates.
6. Clear anything overdue from last week’s Monday report before starting new names.

Common mistakes

• Automating the Tuesday text. Guests reply to people, not campaigns.
• Leaving paper cards until Tuesday. The 48-hour rule dies in the office pile.
• Fancy HTML email. Plain three sentences outperformed the branded template.

Field note after a do-not-contact ask

A guest replied “please do not text again.” The old process had no place to record that, so a second volunteer texted the next week. Now the People record gets a do-not-contact note the same day, and Tuesday texts skip that household. Hospitality includes hearing no.

Field note after a three-channel pileup

A guest got email, SMS, and a personal Facebook message the same Tuesday. They muted the church. Follow-up is now one Monday email and one Tuesday text max, with a stop rule. Hospitality includes restraint.

Field note after a pastor-only bottleneck

Only the lead pastor sent Tuesday texts. Vacation weeks stalled. They trained a second sender with the same soft script.

Subject: Thanks for being with us on Sunday

Hi {first name},

Glad you were with us this week. I'm the connections pastor. Reply to this and I'll actually see it.

If you're looking for a next step, Sunday at 10 is the same service you visited. I'd love to meet you at the welcome table after.

Hi {first name}, this is {pastor first name} from {church}. Glad you came Sunday. If you have questions or want to come back, just reply here.