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A connection card is a short form that guests fill out so your church can welcome them and follow up. In One Church Software, a connection card is a form. Guests can fill it out on their phone from a QR code, on your website, or on paper, and each card is matched to the guest's person profile. First-time guests get a new profile automatically.
This article walks through building a connection card from start to finish.
1. Create the form
Go to Forms in the left-hand navigation menu and click + Add New. You can also click + New at the top of any page and choose Form.
Enter a Name, such as "Connection Card." Optionally, choose a Category.
Click Save. The form opens on the Fields tab.
Tip: Already have a similar form? Open it and click Actions > Copy form, then edit the copy instead of starting from scratch.
2. Set up the contact information
Every form starts with a contact section at the top of the Fields tab that asks for a name and email. On a connection card this is the most important part, because it is how each card gets connected to the right person.
Click the 3-dots menu to the right of the contact section and choose Edit. The Editing Submitter Profile Information window opens.
Make sure Enable Submitter Fields? is turned on.
Under Options, check Create new profile if submission cannot be matched to an existing person profile? so first-time guests are added as new people.
Decide whether to leave Enable Login? on. When it is on, members can sign in and the form fills in their profile information for them. When it is off, everyone types their information by hand.
Under Fields, choose which profile fields appear on the card: Name, Email, Phone, Address, Campus, Gender, Marital Status, Birthday, and Contact Preference. Each field has four checkboxes:
Show - displays the field on the form. Name is always shown and required.
Required - the guest must fill in the field before submitting.
Update - saves the answer to the matched person's profile, but only if that profile field is empty.
Overwrite - always replaces the matched person's profile field with the answer.
If you plan to text guests, check Show text message opt-in? under Phone.
Click Done. A yellow note at the top of the form reminds you that unmatched submissions will create new person profiles.
Tip: One Church Software can only match a card to an existing person when Email or Phone is shown on the form. Show at least one of them, and ideally both.
3. Add your own questions
Type a short welcome in the description box under the form name so guests know what the card is for. Then click Add Field at the bottom of the form and choose a field type for each question you want to ask.
Questions that work well on a connection card:
Is this your first visit? - a Yes/No field.
How did you hear about us? - a Dropdown or Radio Button List field.
I'm interested in… - a Checkbox List field with choices like small groups, serving, baptism, or membership.
How can we pray for you? - a Paragraph field.
Your church's own profile fields - the Profile Custom Fields group lists the custom fields your church keeps on person profiles, such as a visit date, so you can collect them on the card.
Tip: Keep the card short. Guests are more likely to finish a card that asks only what you will use. To ask a follow-up question only when it applies, see How do Conditional Fields work?
4. Choose what happens after someone submits
Open the form's Settings tab. The settings are split across the General, Payments, Notifications, and Automations sub-tabs. A connection card uses three of them.
Thank guests and make the card public
On the General sub-tab:
Confirmation Message - the thank-you message guests see after they submit.
Is Public? - turn this on so guests can open the card without an account.
Require Login - leave this off so guests don't need to sign in.
Let your team know about new guests
On the Notifications sub-tab:
Routing Rules - click Add New to choose who receives an email each time a card is submitted, such as your guest follow-up coordinator.
Confirmation Email - turn on Enabled? to send the guest a welcome email. It goes only to the address entered in the Email field, so keep that field shown.
Start follow-up automatically
You will need the Full Write Workflows permission to add automations.
On the Automations sub-tab, click + Add Automation and choose a Type. Automations here run on every card that is submitted.
Group - adds everyone who submits the card to a group, such as "First-Time Guests."
Workflow - starts everyone who submits the card in a follow-up workflow, such as a welcome call and a thank-you note.
Click Add to save. To run an automation only when a guest picks a certain answer, for example "Yes" to "I'm interested in small groups," see How do I add automation to a form?
5. Share the connection card
The Share panel on the right side of the form gives you several ways to get the card in front of guests:
QR code - click the QR code icon to open the QR Code Generator. Pick your colors and an optional Label, then click Download. Put the QR code on your service slides, in the bulletin, or on a seat-back card.
Direct link - click Copy next to the form's web address at the top of the form, then paste the link in an email, text, or social media post.
Web Embed - adds the card to a page on your church website.
Public Page - opens the card the way guests will see it, which is a good way to test it before Sunday.
If you also hand out paper cards, click Actions > Download blank form for a printable copy. Paper cards can be entered later with Actions > Add new entry.
6. Follow up with new guests
Every submitted card appears on the form's Entries tab, where you can review cards one at a time or as a summary. To assign someone on your team to reach out, add a connection for the guest.
Learn more:
Other Helpful Articles
Building the form
Sharing and follow-up