Deliver Free Connect Card Gift Using MailChimp

One of our biggest aims at Nucleus is to push the boundaries of what a church website builder can be. And one of the ways we're doing this is with our integrations.

Nucleus currently integrates with MailChimp to allow you to automatically add users to MailChimp lists when they fill out forms on your Nucleus.

One innovative way to take advantage of this integration is to automatically deliver a free gift to users that fill out your Nucleus digital connect card.

Watch an overview video of this in our Blog.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When it comes to the type of free gift you should send to new people, churches have long distributed merchandise and material goods. But I've found that the best way to make a good first impression is do the exact opposite. Rather than giving your new visitor a coffee mug with your church's logo on it or a gift card to Starbucks, pledge a $5 donation to a charity on behalf of your new visitor - and allow your new visitor to choose the charity. That last part is key. You want to invite your new visitors into the act of giving by presenting them with a list of pre-approved charities and ask them to choose which they want to give to (you can find pre-written copy below on how to do this).

This type of new gift is powerful for a number of reasons:

1. It invites your potential new visitor into the act of giving and allows them to make a choice of which charity they want to support
2. It demonstrates that you are a generous church that is outwardly focused on the world and community - not inwardly focused on your own self-interests
3. As you'll see in the email copy below, by inviting your new visitor into the act of giving, they are required to reply to your welcome email with their charity of choice. By doing this, you'll be marked as a safe sender in this individual's email inbox AND this will help contribute to a better overall email deliverability profile for your church

Follow the walkthrough below to configure this integration configuration.

Step #1 - Configure Your Free Gift Automation In MailChimp

Begin by signing in to your MailChimp account and clicking on the 'Create Campaign' link in your MailChimp dashboard.

Now, select the 'Automated' tab along with the 'Welcome new subscribers' box option.

Give your campaign a name [Example: Free Gift] and click on the 'Begin' button.

Configure the trigger settings for your campaign so that the 'Delay' is set to 'Immediately' and the trigger kicks in when subscribers are imported also.

Fill out the campaign settings including 'Email Subject,' 'From Name,' and 'From Email Address.'

Prepare your automated email using the 'Simple Text' template that MailChimp provides. You'll want this email to feel personal so don't add excessive graphics and fancy formatting. Plain emails perform best.

Use the pre-written email below to craft your email:

"Hey *|FNAME|*!

This is Brady from Hope Church. Thanks for filling out our "I'm New" form!

Here's what you need to know about Hope Church...

We LOVE generosity. And we think one of the best ways to live like Jesus is to give.

Knowing this, we'd love to make a $5 donation on your behalf to a charity of your choice. Simply reply to this email with your choice from the list of registered charities below - and we'll make a donation on your behalf!

1. Charity:water
2. Prevent Child Abuse America
3. American Foundation For Suicide Prevention
4. Boys & Girls Clubs Of America

Talk soon!

Brady Shearer
Pastor of Hope Church

P.S.

If you have ANY questions at all for me, *|FNAME|*, don't hesitate to ask. When you reply to this email it will be sent directly to me and I'll make sure to respond as soon as I can!"

Finally, activate your automated email by clicking on the 'Start Workflow' button at the bottom of the screen.

Step #2 - Create Nucleus Form Integrated With MailChimp

Now that your MailChimp automated email sequence is setup, the next step is enabling the MailChimp integration within Nucleus and creating a form within a Nucleus card that is configured to add new users to the MailChimp list of your choosing.

• Click here to see the walkthrough on how to enable MailChimp within Nucleus forms
• Click here to see an example Nucleus card with a digital connect card in it

Success! Your welcome/free gift email sequence is setup!