Wi-Fi Hack

Do you want the details of guest at your church?

What if someone told you that was not only possible, it was: easy, cost-effective, and automated?

Here’s the deal: it is all that and more.

So … what’s the catch?

Nothing. There is no catch. All you need is internet at your church and a few minutes to set up the hack, and you are ready to start capturing data on everyone who uses internet at your church.

But first, why do we want this information? 

Every church can expect at least 5% of new guests to their church every week. Let’s just say that your church averages 500 people in attendance on a weekly basis. That means every week you are serving roughly 25 new guests. Out of these 25 new guests, how many are apt to complete a connection card in person or online (or via app)? You can expect rough 25% of that crowd to complete that piece of the puzzle, which leaves you at a deficit of 19 people who did not complete anything. You have no information, no data, no ability to follow-up with someone at all. Side-bar: Don’t assume that people don’t want to complete a connection card. Sometimes churches make it difficult to complete it, so think on that piece too.

Now, what can you do about this and start collecting everyone’s information? 

You need to create a Wi-Fi Access Point that is open to all, if they accept your terms and conditions. 

There are multiple ways to accomplish this through both hardware or software. Since we are all about simple solutions, we want to give you the best of both worlds.

• Software: Like hardware, the software option allows an immediate welcome gate to guests attempting to access your free Wi-Fi, but are more robust with their back-end features. In addition to asking for emails, you can also set up automation queues that send out emails once guests enter their information. This can help drive engagement with your church, and all you ever needed to do was give them free Wi-Fi.
• Hardware: If you go this route, that means you will choose a router that can be customized with a welcome gate that immediately pops up when someone attempts to access your free Wi-Fi. You see this a lot with guests at hotels and at Starbucks. You can customize that splash page with whatever you want, like asking for name and email. You can add onto that as much as you would like, but recommend keeping it simple and just asking for an email address. Anything more may seem like a hassle to your guests.

In the end, the process will look like this to your guests: 

1. Your guest steps on campus.
2. Like everyone in 2017, they look for free Wi-Fi.
3. They find and click your “Guest Wi-Fi”.
4. A welcome gate immediately pops ups.
5. They accept your terms and conditions and enter their email address.
6. They are now onto your free Wi-F- network, and you have their email.
7. Automation queues start if they’re set up or you follow-up on your own schedule.

Is this cheating? 

Totally. But we’re cool with it, and your guests will be too. They’ll have access to free Wi-Fi and you’ll have access to their email address. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. And you know what? It only took you one hour to set it up … once. We often find timesavers to be one of the greatest values today, so if we can get you up on a new system that is cost and time-effective, it’s all gravy.

How do you take your next right step? 

If you would like to go the hardware route, talk to your IT department and see if they can figure out the welcome gate on their own. If it’s out of their wheelhouse or if you do not have the right hardware, consider picking up an Access Point from Cisco-Meraki. We’ve used their hardware and software together, and can attest to its effectiveness.

If you are considering going the software route, stop whatever you are doing and start using ZenReach. The platform is beyond epic, it gets email automation, and integrates with whatever hardware you have (they also sell routers). We have several church clients who are currently using the platform and love how easy it is to use and how it automates their follow-up process. For real, this system is legit.

Your next right step is the one that works for you. 

But you do need to get on this. Every week that you don’t have a Wi-Fi hack in place is a week that guests fly under your radar, and perhaps never seen from or heard from again. Because the church is in the people business, let’s do everything we can do reach and engage our guests week in and week out.

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Boom!

PS: We just spoke with ZenReach today and we’ve got a hook-up for you all.

Just leave a comment below or contact us directly, and we will help you take your next right step.