Designing an app to help Churches engage with newcomers.
Background
This project stems from an initiative at my church to help newcomers integrate seamlessly into our community. Every Sunday, we welcome new visitors and follow a process to connect with them and encourage their return.
To support our church’s growth, the Guest Services team give out Connect Cards to newcomers. These cards collect essential contact details, allowing us to follow up during the week and build meaningful relationships.
The purpose of following up is to understand their experience, make them feel welcome, and encourage a commitment to continue their worship with us.
Research & Problem
Currently, this initiative is managed using Notion. While Notion serves well as a documentation and data management tool, it has certain limitations that make it a less effective choice.
At scale, it’ll be more time-consuming and error-prone. Also, without third-party integrations, tracking engagements might be difficult.
To validate this, I reached out to members of the Admin and Hosting teams to better understand their challenges. My inquiries revealed the following issues:
Tedious Data Entry
Admins manually input guest details from Connect Cards into Notion, making the process slow and error-prone.
No Periodic Reminders for Pending Follow-ups
Hosts get a single Notion notification when assigned a guest but no reminders. Creating a potential for missed or delayed connections.
No Progress Tracking
Admins must check specific Notion pages to track engagement progress between hosts and guests.
Objective & Plan
To address the challenges identified in research, the design needs to:
Increase Productivity
By reducing manual effort for Admins and provides timely reminders for Hosts.
Encourage Structure
By giving Hosts easier access to resources for guest engagement. Enabling a consistent yet personalized approach.
Provide Visibility
By allowing Admins to track team progress and guest follow-ups in real time.
Design Requirements
The app should serve two primary user roles:
Admins – Manage guest-host interactions and oversee follow-ups.
Hosts – Engage with assigned guests and track their progress.
Admins should be able to:
Manage guest profiles – Create, view, search, edit, remove.
Manage host profiles – Invite, view, search, remove.
Assign a host to a guest profile.
Track engagement through visual reports.
Hosts should be able to:
View assigned guests in a dedicated list.
Access helpful resources for engaging with guests.
Both users should be able to:
Receive relevant notifications and reminders.
Report progress on guest interactions.
Manage their account (sign up, login, profile updates, etc.).
