Let's define guest experience. Guest experience is the sum of all the interactions a family has with your ministry. It includes everything from the family's first awareness that your church exists to the totality of their first visit. The critical moments during this time are touchpoints. The touchpoints all add up to create the family's guest experience with you.
Here's 3 keys that will help you create an amazing guest experience for families.
Key #1 - The guest experience is everyone's responsibility. Everyone the family interacts with is part of the guest experience. Their experience will not only be shaped by the greeter at the door, but also by the person at the classroom door and everyone else they encounter along the way.
If you want to give guests a great experience, train not only your greeters and check-in team, but your people at the classroom doors and other key people guests will encounter as well.
Disney has developed a great strategy for this that can be summed up in this statement.
While no one owns the guest, someone, in every case, owns the moment.Everyone must be made aware of this and own the moments they interact with the guest.
Key #2 - The guest experience is shaped by everything the guest encounters. You can have a great first-time family check-in process, but if they encounter a smelly, dirty bathroom it will negatively affect their experience. You can have great hallway signage, but if the pick-up line is long, it will again cast a shadow on their experience. Look at your guest experience holistically.
Key #3 - Understand your guests. If you want to meet the needs, wants and emotions of your guests, then you must know what they are. Be intentional about identifying these and then create a blueprint for meeting them. When you truly understand your guests, then you can truly give them a great experience.
