Did you know that, according to Google Trends, more Americans search online for the word “church” around Easter than at any other time of the year? You’ve probably noticed a higher visitor volume on Easter, but our data suggests that Easter is bigger than you may have realized. Let’s take a peek at the data:
Easter = Lots of New Visitors
You know this, but it’s our starting point for demonstrating the impact of Easter. Our records indicate that F1 churches entered an approximate total of 165,000 new records on Easter weekend. Exciting, but not unexpected.
After Easter = Lots of New Visitors
What surprised even us was that the increase in new visitor records continued for almost 2 months. F1 churches entered an additional 994,000 new visitors in the 7 weeks following Easter before returning to their normal new visitor rate. That means visitor welcome and assimilation, the pastor’s sermon, and the worship experience in the weeks following Easter should support the awesome first impression you worked so hard to create on Easter.
Easter Impacts Online Giving
It will take more observation to understand the reason behind this interesting stat, but our review of the entire year showed that giving spiked at Easter and then climbed over the 7 weeks, mirroring the curve of new visitor rates. The spike is not consistent across all giving modes, however, and this is what’s interesting: On Easter, online givers gave 4.49% more per donation than in-person donors. During the 7 weeks following, online giving donation amounts were 3% higher than in-person donation amounts in that same time period. This is a very good reason to have online giving in place before Easter and to increase awareness of this valuable tool.
More Visitors = More New Members
Not all visitors will become members, but with a little bit of knowledge, churches can turn a higher number of visitors into regular attenders, which translates to increased giving, greater mission outreach, and a larger potential audience for your offerings year round. What is this knowledge we speak of? Hang on, we’re almost there.
Better Visitor Processes = More Visitor Assimilation
Where can you go to learn about better visitor processes? Glad you asked!
We recently hosted a 60-minute live webinar on this very topic, and the recording is now available. The time to prepare for Easter is now. Click the button below to register and receive immediate access to the webinar.
We hope to see you there!
