Virtually most churches today offer some form of online giving. Although some churches have been quite hesitant about adopting financial technology, the COVID-19 pandemic has made taking the decision even necessary. The reception of online giving by church members is yet a far cry from what you’d have for offline givings.
Electronic giving is an effective way to promote a steady giving culture and donations for churches; as such, implementing it shouldn’t be a difficult task for church leaders.
And so, the following tips should help in making the process less complicated.
Make The Church Online Giving Process Simple
Sometimes the reason churches don’t get as many responses as they want as regards online giving is due to the complicated church online giving process they’re using. Consider your own church’s giving process – perhaps try walking through it yourself – to evaluate whether or not you need to look into a better online giving solution. Simplifying the process will encourage more people to donate. Your members need to be able to locate and complete your giving forms efficiently, or else they may leave without completing the process.
To get the best of online giving, make sure you update your church website’s navigation. Once your church members find your site, it should be immediately apparent to them where they should go to submit their offerings. Use large CTA buttons on the home page to draw their attention.
One more thing, do not neglect your mobile site. It is one of the common mistakes churches make when designing their website. A recent statistic shows that 52.03% of the overall web traffic comes through mobile phones. Your site should be easily accessible from a mobile device for members on-the-go.
Create A One-Step Church Online giving Form
Imagine being presented with the option of going through a very long process to give or using a one-step method, which would you choose? You’ll certainly go for the latter.
Don’t require too much information on your online giving form. Sometimes, we may want to ask anything and everything from donators on church giving pages. However, this can make the process tiring for your church members. Instead, make it quick and easy for them to give.
Create only one single step in the church online giving process. A donation form provider with only very few necessary steps to complete the donation should do.
Keep Your Church Online Brand Consistent
The brand that you’ve developed should be incorporated into everything you do, including your church online giving. Keeping your brand consistent helps encourage even more church online giving.
When your members are redirected to a third-party site that looks nothing like your brand, it can cause them to be skeptical about giving. One way to make people trust your website is to maintain your brand on it.
You can do this by keeping your images consistent. Following the same style of images will help establish the brand of your church and your website as a whole. Use the brand colors of your church in all pages of your site, including the giving page.
Having a consistent brand and employing it across your church’s website will make your members feel more comfortable about donating or giving online.
Communicate with Your Congregation
You probably have established a communication process to hold your church together during this difficult time. But if you haven’t, it’s not too late to do that. You can create an online community for your church on ChurchPad where you can manage your members and engage them regularly.
In communicating with them, you can inform them of the different ways they can give online.
Encourage Mobile Giving During Meetings
Mobile giving during church services is also a great way to make your congregation give to the needs of the church. Due to technological advancement, your members may not always have cash to give when ushers pass around the offering plate. Mobile giving makes it easy for anyone to give wherever and whenever they want to.
ChurchPad provides a giving platform that allows your members to be faithful with their giving. With ChurchPad, you can easily set up recurring giving which could be weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly.
ChurchPad also provides a Text-to-give feature that involves donors sending a quick text with their donation amount to a preset number set up by your church. Once the text is sent, the donor will automatically receive a reply with a link to a pre-written email that, once sent, will submit their donation. It is very suitable for international giving.
ChurchPad is a complete church management tool that provides a host of technology products which eases the processes associated with church growth. Learn more at www.churchpad.com