Could Digital Payments Give You a Jolly Holiday?
Digital Payments Have a Jolly Holiday. That was a recent Wall Street Journal headline of an article that tracked Black Friday Cyber Monday sales for 2023. This year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were flat, rising only 1.1% over last year. However, e-commerce sales were up 8.5%. The real winner was mobile shopping via a smartphone. Consider this stunning fact:
“People did more of their shopping on their phones. A record 79% of e-commerce traffic was on mobile phones from Nov. 21 to Nov. 27, up from 76% last year, according to data from Salesforce.”1.
“What do you see as the number one trend that will impact churches in the future?” That was a question a pastor asked me about a year after Apple introduced the iPhone. I took mine out, held it before the pastor, and said, “This.” He gave me a shocked look. That conversation happened in early 2008. No one is shocked now.
Let me illustrate with my use of a phone at my local church. Yesterday, while attending church, I used my phone to read the Bible passage my pastor was preaching from. I also used that phone to download the sermon study guide to better follow along while listening to him preach. My wife used her phone to look up and play the sound a camel makes when one of our four-year-olds in the pre-school class we volunteer in asked what sound the camels made who came to see baby Jesus. We also give to our church using our phones. None of this was possible before smartphones.
Are you interested in finding out how to use your pastor’s sermons digitally? Read how our clients use our platform to do this at: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/improve-retention-with-sermon-notes.
The Internet, especially digital payments, has greatly changed my strategy for end-of-year giving. Early in my ministry of helping churches in stewardship, the main tool of our end-of-year strategy was sending out a compelling USPS snail mail letter to donors asking for additional gifts. The depth of my creativity was in coaching my clients to put a self-addressed envelope in the envelope, making it easier for people to give. I still recommend that, and at OG, we have a great tool that allows you to scan those checks in quickly and seamlessly into your system. See this post: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/announcing-our-new-check-scanning-capability
Mailing out snail mail appeals still works, especially with older donors; however, 90% of Americans own at least one smart device that allows them to receive instant communications and gives them the ability to give quickly. And with our donor base getting younger, we must embrace the technology they love, and younger attendees love using their smartphones. This is why we focus a great deal on providing you with over ten various platforms for giving, from Crypto to smart devices.
With 90% of your members and attendees owning a smart device, wouldn’t it make sense to have systems allowing you to communicate with them through that device? You can accomplish that with our amazing app. We have found that an app is the most dependable line of communication between you and your church body. Read more about how our app will help you better communicate with your members at: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/todays-church-bulletin-board.
But wait! There is more. Our custom form platform allows you to communicate and interact with your members instantly. Today, the typical “active” church member, on average, comes to your main campus less than twice a month. We must keep in contact with these members. Our Custom Forms feature is designed to help you engage with your members easily and quickly. From quest sign-ins to baptism sign-ups to prayer requests, you can use our system to design customizable forms to better engage with those who attend your church. To read about this amazing system, go to: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/remarkably-custom-forms.
The above are a few ways you can use our system to engage attendees digitally this Christmas season. The more you engage people digitally, the better the chance they will give to help support the life-changing work of your church.
This past Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales show digital payments could give you a jolly holiday. At OnlineGiving.org, our platform and tools will help you see an increase in digital, giving you a jolly holiday! Contact us to find out more at (615) 206-4000 or drop us a line at support@onlinegiving.org.
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