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Feature 01

The First-Timer
Journey.

A consistent 90-day care path for every visitor to help them feel welcome and get connected. Personal check-ins (via WhatsApp, SMS, or Telegram) are drafted in your voice and delivered for you after your approval.

94%
Follow-up completion rate in the first week
90%+
Message open and engagement rate
85%
Minimum guaranteed follow-up outcome
90 days
Consistent path to connected membership

A visitor's first Sunday shouldn't be met with silence. We handle the follow-up operations so your team can focus on personal relationships.

The Pain Point

They leave their name on Sunday. By Tuesday, they are gone.

Most visitors leave a church not because Sunday was poor, but because they felt invisible on Monday. Welcome cards end up in stacks. Volunteers forget. Pastors get distracted by administrative tasks. The connection is lost.

Tend's First-Timer Journey is an underwritten operations service that handles this entire path. We don't ask you to log into software. We log into your existing database (or build one from scratch) and manage the behind-the-scenes communication for you.

Every message is drafted to read like a direct, personal text from your team, reviewed by a real person, and delivered from your official church number or email. It feels entirely organic to the recipient, with zero software visibility to your congregation. We make sure nobody falls through the cracks.

Before Tend
Visitor fills out a card that sits on a desk for weeks.
Someone meant to text on Monday but got too busy.
They returned once, but nobody followed up afterwards.
Records of visits from three months ago are lost.
With Tend
QR check-in creates the profile instantly.
Monday 9am: The welcome message goes out in the pastor's voice.
Day 30: Pastor gets a prompt showing if they're in a group.
Day 90: Complete summary is delivered for membership.
The Sunday Touchpoint

A first-timer scanning the QR code in church.

Avoid paper stacks, complex typing, and downloading apps. When visitors arrive, they see a simple welcome card in their bulletin or pew rack. A quick scan with their phone camera opens a lightweight greeting form that creates their member profile instantly.

Capturing high-intent data instantly

The moment the visitor hits submit, Tend's operations desk begins setting up their 90-day track. The profile is created in your database in minutes, ready for Monday's pastoral approval brief.

Visitor scanning QR code on a card in the church pew
A first-timer scanning the welcome QR code on a card in the church pew to start their 90-day journey.
The 90-Day Timeline

The visitor path, step by step.

We coordinate and send the right touchpoints at the right time, customized to the visitor's life stage and response history.

0
Sunday · Day 0

The Welcome check-in

Visitors scan a QR check-in on the bulletin or pew card. Tend creates their profile instantly, capturing name, phone number, and campus. Your welcome team can focus on face-to-face hosting, not administrative paperwork.

Zero-friction onboarding
1
Monday 9am · Day 1

A personal welcome brief

A personalized message goes out in the pastor's voice, thanking them for visiting. Tend drafts it with details from Sunday's service. The pastor approves it in their Monday Brief before it is sent.

Approved in Chat
7
Day 7

The specific next step

Not a generic invite. We send a specific invitation matched to their demographic details—like the newcomers lunch next Sunday or the young adults group on Thursday. Specific invitations drive the highest response rates.

Targeted next steps
30
Day 30

Group check-in

Tend checks if the visitor has integrated into a small group or registered for an event. If not, they are added to the pastor's Care Queue with a draft message checking in on their connection progress.

Care Queue transition
60
Day 60

Ministry match

Tend identifies serving opportunities or ministries that fit the visitor's interests and availability. A soft, personal invite is drafted and sent only after the pastor's operations review.

Operational matching
90
Day 90 · The milestone

Connected member

If the visitor has attended multiple times and joined a group, they are flagged as a connected member. A brief summary of their 90-day journey is sent to the pastor, closing the loop. They are officially part of the fold.

Journey complete
The Tend Promise

We guarantee outcomes, not software.

Our contracts contain written outcome guarantees. We guarantee that your visitor follow-up rate will rise to 85% or higher during your 60-day onboarding pilot. If we fall short of this standard, you receive a full refund. We stand behind our commitments.

Start your onboarding pilot Learn more
Related Features

Works alongside these.

The Care Queue

If a visitor fails to respond on Day 30, they transition seamlessly to your Monday Care Queue for personal pastor follow-up.

Read details →

Member Lifecycle Care

Once a visitor hits their Day 90 milestone, they move into our proactive lifecycle features, tracking anniversaries and birthdays.

Read details →

Pastoral Voice Notes

We use your pre-recorded welcoming voice notes to insert personalized visitor greetings directly into the messaging thread.

Read details →

Ready to stop losing visitors after Sunday?

Book a 20-minute call. We will show you what the First-Timer Journey would look like for your campuses. Setup takes one week.

Book a 20-minute call
60-Day Onboarding Pilot · Vouched referrals receive 50% off base · Fully guaranteed