Here is the complete youth ministry visitor follow-up process. Our four-touch follow-up strategy has been field tested in ministries both big and small. This resource is yours to borrow, use, or adapt! So, feel free to make any changes to contextualize these steps in your ministry.

In my experience, the perfect youth ministry visitor follow up sequence has:

1. Automation. You want to ensure your communication goes out quickly. A CRM like Mailchimp or planning center are your best friends for achieving the goal of fast, focused, and polished communication.

2. Personalization. You want to make the experience extremely personal. Use their name; remember a little detail about them; write a letter by hand. People love personal touches, so be sure your follow up sequence is full of them.

3. Appreciation. They took the time to visit, so be sure to thank them. Your follow up must have an attitude of gratitude the whole way through. Be sure to say thank you and give them a gift (or two).

Here is the four-step youth ministry visitor follow up process that we have used:

1. Hand them a connect card.

Recently, I was talking to a pastor at a massive multicampus church. She said that they’ve tried to collect information with texting, QR codes, and even iPad kiosks. Apparently, nothing is more successful than an old-fashioned pen and paper. That’s why we encourage a connect card to be your first step.

In our youth ministry, we incentivize students to bring their cards back with a big collection of expected and unexpected snacks at the welcome center. The goal here is to get them to bring the card back and show some appreciation at the very first step.

2. Send an automated email the moment they sign up.

When their email enters your database, you should set up a welcome email to trigger immediately. The email should be short, gracious, and ask them a question. Why that last part? Once they reply, they’ll always see your emails in their primary inbox. A reply automatically adds your email to their contact list. That’s why we suggest asking them for a t-shirt size or an easy piece of information like their birthday in your welcome email.

We added our welcome email script in the resource link below! All you have to do is swap out the blanks and you’re ready to go!

3. Send a handwritten letter from a leader.

Before they leave for the night, have their small group leader write them a card to mail out the next day. This is your chance to personalize your workflow. Write their name. Acknowledge their comment in small group. Say you’re looking forward to seeing them again. Be sure to give the student a call to action.

For us, we loved giving out shirts, so it said “Come back next week for a free t-shirt!” (This also gave context to the t-shirt question in the email.)

4. Text them “See you tomorrow!”

Lastly, text the student to invite them back to your next service. Be friendly and make sure you convey that their presence would be appreciated. These sorts of text work great either the day before or the morning of your gathering.

There you have it! That was your ready-to-implement youth ministry visitor follow-up process!

This Youth Ministry Visitor Follow Up Resource Includes:

-3 Ready-to-print Connect Card templates

-1 Sample Follow Up email template