Tag: Strategy and Planning

Why and How to Invest in Digital Platform Updates (Instead of Complete Overhauls)

It’s relatively easy for your organization’s decision makers to understand the need to build a new website or app, or rebuild an existing one. The results of these projects are visible to all; the ROI is conspicuous.

Investing in work that doesn’t have that obvious ROI, on the other hand, can be harder for leadership to stomach.

And yet, putting time and resources behind three such “hidden” initiatives—incremental UX improvements, behind-the-scenes system modernization, and bug fixes—is paramount to the long-term success of your organization and its online presence.

Let’s explore why and how to get the buy-in you need on updates (not overhauls) to your digital platform.

App and Site Updates Can Be Unpopular. Do Them for Your Organization Anyway.

The three areas we want to encourage your decision makers to invest in (UX improvements, system modernization, and bug fixes) are not usually the initiatives that generate the most donations—let alone excitement. Remember: Few people care about unseen upgrades. But you’re still stuck needing to communicate the value of work that isn’t adding new features or apps.

Here’s what you must focus on to garner the support you need…

A modern platform with few bugs will effectively reach your organization’s audience today. What’s more, it’ll be robust enough, thanks to modern tech, for further development in the future.

After all, you can’t always build a new thing (although there’s a time and place to do so, of course). Creating a fresh organization site or app takes upwards of 18 months, so you’re leaving your constituents high and dry with a faulty platform in the interim. More importantly, you can’t (or shouldn’t) build a new thing on top of an outdated, poorly functioning old thing. That’s just lipstick on a pig.

For a Modern Platform, Seek Support for These 3 Initiatives

Keeping your platform up to date and easy to use is the best course of action. When it is time for something new, your existing tech will be able to support modern dev tools and practices. In the meantime, you have a platform your organization’s constituents can enjoy using, thanks to investing in the three initiatives below.

1. UX Improvements

It’s perhaps easiest for your organization’s decision makers to understand the need to invest in your platform’s user experience. The UX of your site or app matters to your users, your donors, and, as such, to your organization as a whole. You may even receive less donations if, for example, one of your constituents can’t locate your donation page because of a poor UX.

Even though everyone generally accepts that a quality UX is important, you might need to help your internal stakeholders understand that UX improvements are incremental. Working on your UX is a process—not a one-off project. You need resources to support the UX of your platform on an ongoing basis, which is why we include incremental UX improvements as an update or modernization initiative you must undertake.

To get started with UX improvements, look at your site or app’s navigation and accessibility (you could check that the color contrast is okay for people with low vision). Both are low-hanging fruit when it comes to bettering your UX.

2. System Modernization

For lack of a better term, the fear of missing out (FOMO) is real in the nonprofit space! You and your decision makers alike want to keep up with your peers when it comes to the tech they’re employing.

But remember, you can’t effectively build a new platform atop an old one. Systems fall out of date, and your developers rely on outdated methods and software. From there, maintaining your app’s codebase becomes increasingly difficult because these older methods fall into disuse and the older software lacks support resources. It’s also harder to find staff to work in older coding languages and environments.

All to say, it’s a slippery slope when you fail to keep your systems modern, which is why doing so is critical. We’ve had clients spend an entire quarter just paying down their technical debt, which could’ve been avoided by making iterative updates. Modernizing, however unglamorous it may seem to your decision makers, is worthwhile.

3. Bug Fixes

Bugs and deficiencies never fix themselves and often come back to bite your users. It seems obvious that a software bug never just goes away, right? But your development practices may demonstrate that, in fact, that’s exactly what you (or your internal stakeholders) think happens. You’re not fixing the issues that pop up—perhaps because you lack the resources to do so.

Here’s why you must advocate for support in fixing bugs…

Unfortunately, when you ignore bugs or deficiencies, more and more of your users will encounter them over time. Eventually, they could become disillusioned with your organization. Buggy platforms also rely on band-aid workarounds to attempt to avoid buggy behavior, so you’re accruing tons of technical debt.

Intentionally addressing bugs and deficiencies, even if they aren’t particularly apparent to your users, ensures that you have the bandwidth to develop the features you want instead of working around the problems you don’t want.

Tip: Keep track of your platform’s most common and problematic issues through your support department or inbox. Work first on the bugs and deficiencies your users are reporting most often.

Go Forth and Update Your App

There are no downsides to keeping your systems modern and making iterative improvements. We know you already have your eye on your app or site’s deficiencies. And you probably have a long list of optimizations you’d like to make. We hope this article helps you justify how crucial UX tweaks, system updates, and bug fixes are to maintaining a user-friendly platform.
5 Common Blunders to Avoid When Starting a Web or App Project for Your Ministry

Ministry leaders like yourself–about to begin a new web or app project–often feel immense pressure. After all, the success or failure of your product significantly impacts your ministry’s growth, reach, and reputation. Moreover, the resources you invest in the project give you little room for error. Rebuilding the product isn’t generally an option, even if it falls short of users’ (and your own) high expectations. You’re already squeezing everything you can from your budget to stand up the product the first time.

Despite these understandable concerns, developing up-to-date digital products is essential for engaging your constituents in your mission. Today’s end users expect pleasant and seamless user experiences from their digital interactions.

To put your ministry in the best possible position for success, it’s crucial to avoid common project blunders that will derail your efforts. Below, we’ll discuss five missteps you can skirt to ensure your ministry’s app or website meets the needs of your constituents—and, ultimately, further spreads your mission.

1. Building Your Ministry’s Digital Product for the Wrong Audience

One of the most critical mistakes you can make when starting a new project is planning and building your ministry’s app or website for the wrong audience.

It’s not uncommon for internal stakeholders to create an app or website as if they’re the primary ones who will be using it. While their input can be invaluable (more on this later), you must develop your product with the people who will genuinely be using it—your constituents—at the forefront.

Remember, the primary purpose of your app or website is to spread your ministry’s mission—and Christ’s teachings—as far and wide as possible. A product that resonates with the greatest number of your constituents (not simply with the personal preferences of individuals) is the best way to encourage its widespread adoption.

2. Setting Aside User Research as Your Project Takes Off

An essential aspect of any successful app or website project is gathering robust user research and feedback to inform the plans for your product. To truly understand your constituents’ needs, you must engage with them directly, conducting interviews, surveys, and focus groups to glean valuable insights.

Sidenote: When you conduct user research, be sure you’re not only interviewing your organization’s “super fans.” These folks will likely use any product you create because they’re wonderfully loyal to your ministry. The real opportunity lies in converting more passive constituents into super fans because of your awesome new app or website.

Consider taking a decidedly analog approach to keep user research findings at the heart of your development process. Posting physical sticky notes—or even poster boards—with user personas around your workspace serve as tangible reminders of who you’re building your product for. Maintaining consistent focus on your intended users will ensure your end result truly meets their needs.

3. Involving Stakeholders at the Incorrect Times

Finding the right balance of stakeholder involvement is another critical-yet-difficult aspect of avoiding project blunders. Ensuring key stakeholders—including leadership, development, UI/UX, and finance team members—are involved in the early stages of your project, particularly during the discovery phase, is vital to aligning your team’s vision and creating a clear roadmap for success.

That said, all stakeholders do not need to be involved in the entire process. In fact, involving too many stakeholders can quickly lead to a focus on their perspectives rather than your users’ needs.

Ensuring a balanced approach throughout your project keeps your efforts streamlined and focused on that ultimate goal: creating a successful app or website for your ministry’s constituents that furthers your mission.

4. Failing to Pivot on Your Ministry’s Path to the Final Product

App and website projects are complex and ever-evolving. It’s important to maintain an agile approach, allowing your team to pivot and adjust based on new insights and learnings. While some planning is necessary—we love a good on-site discovery session!—attempting to hash out every detail from the outset can hinder your project’s adaptability.

You and your team will uncover new insights as you journey through your project. You need to be adept enough to incorporate these insights—without throwing off the whole timeline. Similar to managing stakeholder involvement, it’s another balancing act.

Examples of necessary pivots include altering your target audience or implementing new features based on user feedback. Case in point: our client, EveryCampus, had to shift their tone from speaking to college students to speaking to the pastors and professional staff serving them. We could only pivot once we realized students weren’t using the app like we thought they would. And if we hadn’t pivoted? The app would never have appealed to the correct user group.

At the end of the day, it’s about remembering that change and adjustment are inevitable—and essential to ensuring your project’s success.

5. Spending Your Entire Project Budget Pre-Launch

While it’s necessary to have adequate funds for your ministry’s project from the get-go, it’s just as imperative not to overspend before your product even launches.

A good rule of thumb is to reserve approximately one-third of your budget for post-launch expenses. That might include latent adjustments based on user feedback and other enhancements you want to add to your app down the line.

A Successful Project Is a Step in the Right Direction for Your Ministry

Taking on a new app or website project for your ministry is challenging, given the high stakes and visibility of such an endeavor. By avoiding these five common blunders, you will significantly increase the likelihood of your project’s success, delivering a digital product that effectively satisfies the needs of your constituents while further spreading your mission.

Remember to keep your audience’s needs and preferences at the forefront of your efforts, maintain a balanced approach to stakeholder involvement, and allow for flexibility and adaptability as you navigate the sometimes complicated landscape of app and website development.

And of course, Agathon is here to further guide your ministry’s project should you need a hand.
6 Ways to Make Online Giving Easier for Your Ministry’s Donors
We limit the potential of electronic giving when we regard it merely as a technical solution to technical problems.
Lewis Center for Church Leadership

The growth of digital giving continues to accelerate, with a 42% increase over the three year period of 2019-2021. Online giving now represents 12% of all giving. Notably, faith-based organizations see the highest percentage of digital giving, at 16.8% of their total donations. This is true both for older, existing donors who are moving their giving online. But it’s also true for a new generation of donors who do virtually everything on their devices.

As a ministry organization in this day and age, you must embrace digital fundraising as part of your donor development process in order to continue connecting with your supporters. But just as years of experience have developed best practices for offline donor development, it’s important to consider both the technical and user experience (UX) approaches that can impact online giving.

Digital or online giving includes donations through a website, app, mobile device, or SMS. The considerations for each are different, of course, but many of these principles will apply across them all.

Let’s take a look 6 considerations for growing your online giving:

1. An easy win: accept many methods of payment

We’re leading with the headline: If you’re only accepting donations through a single credit card form, you’re missing out.

Today’s donors use Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, and other payment platforms. Grabbing a debit or credit card in order to input the 16 numbers on the front, the expiration date, and the 3-digit CVV code on the back could generate enough friction to keep someone from moving forward. Having additional payment options increases the likelihood that donors can use their favorite app to donate at the moment they feel called to do so.

Incorporate a credit card updater

A credit card updater is a program offered by credit card companies that automatically updates subscription customer card data. Adding a credit card updater to your payment processing platform can help ensure that automatic payments continue even when a donor needs a replacement card because they lost it or their info is out of date. Having an updater like this is a small step you can take to seamlessly decrease ministry donor churn.

2. Focus on the user experience

User experience (UX) design is the process design teams use to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. This involves the design of the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability and function.
Interaction Design Foundation

Traditional donor development teams strategize on the best messaging for communicating with prospective and existing donors, including scripts to use and timing for those communications. Similarly, user experience designers focus on the usability and desirability of digital tools. A focus on UX helps reduce or eliminate friction or frustration for prospective donors to make it easier for them to give.

Optimize for mobile

The most important of these UX principles is to optimize your giving platform for mobile. Whether it’s a website or an app, chances are high that donors will interact with you on a mobile device. If your site is outdated or optimized for large screens, this process can be frustrating (if not impossible) and result in lost donations.

Offer smart recurring and one-time donation options

Many donors will appreciate the opportunity to set up a recurring donation, even if they won’t hunt for that option on their own. Set up your donation forms to make this selection obvious and easy. If possible, adjust the dollar amounts to reflect the recurring or one-time donation selection. You’re less likely to have a donor who wants to give $500 on a monthly basis, but someone who is moved to give a one-time donation might be excited about that option.

Offer 1-click donations

Make financial contributions easy for existing donors. If a donor has an existing account with you, enabling 1-click donations from an email campaign can make it easy to give during the current campaign rather than requiring them to hunt down their login information and navigate to the correct spot on your website for that donation.

3. Create personalized experiences

Similarly, look for ways to create personalized experiences for your donors so they don’t feel like faceless, nameless donors.

Personalize communication

Personalization can be as simple as including the donor’s name in the greeting of an email communication. Or it can be tailored further to highlight other details of their donation history:
- “Thank you for your gift of $X!”
- “You’ve been a donor for X years.”
- “Your donation helped us XYZ.”
This personalization helps build stronger relationships with donors. It demonstrates an organization’s appreciation. And it encourages donors to continue giving.

Prefill information whenever possible

As with enabling 1-click donations, prefilling information for donors is another way to personalize the experience and remove friction from the donation process. Using first-party cookies, email merge tags, or account settings, you have the opportunity to prefill forms for returning users so that submitting a form or making a donation requires minimal work on their part.

Automate follow-ups

Email follow-ups, or drip campaigns, are another opportunity for personalization. Tailor donor emails to each recipient’s interests and activities. This will show your organization cares for them as an individual, while also increasing their engagement.

4. Be transparent and make info easy to find

Transparency is a key part of building trust with new and ongoing donors. Make it easy for donors to find the information they need to feel good about supporting your ministry. And look for ways to address the questions and concerns they may have.

Demonstrate the impact of donations

Share case studies, photos, and statistics that demonstrate the impact donations have on the work your organization is doing. It’s one thing to talk about the work you’d like to do. But highlighting the work you’ve already done—and tying that to donor giving—is just as important.

Highlight the benefit of recurring gifts often & explicitly

Prospective donors may not realize that becoming a recurring donor at a lower amount provides more value than making a larger one-time donation. Look for ways to highlight the impact of recurring gifts and use explicit callouts to encourage these recurring donations. This could be through banners, through the options available on your donation form, and in various other communications.

Share financial disclosures, charity ratings, etc.

Finally, help prospective donors feel good about giving to your ministry. Make it easy for them to find financial disclosures, charity ratings, and endorsements from reputable organizations and individuals. Don’t make people hunt for these. Instead, put them front and center so they’re easy to find!

5. Avoid dark patterns

Dark Patterns are tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn’t mean to, like buying or signing up for something.
DarkPatterns.org

Chances are you’ve come across dark patterns in the last 24 hours if you’ve spent any time at all browsing the internet. These tricks are used on a variety of sites to encourage sign-ups and upgrades and to make unsubscribing or canceling difficult. To be clear, we’re not saying conversion rate optimization (CRO)—or the practice of testing and iterating to see which wording or layout better appeals to users—is bad. Not at all! We’re specifically talking about those dark patterns that are designed to trick people into doing something they wouldn’t otherwise do.

Where it gets tricky is that some dark patterns have become common enough that we may not realize CRO has crossed into this dark pattern territory. This includes things like making the signup button big and bold while the cancel button is small and hard to find.

As a Christian organization, it’s especially important to avoid this type of trickery. Dark patterns can leave donors feeling disillusioned or conned, which hurts not only your organization’s reputation—but also Christ’s.

Avoid dark patterns around recurring donations

We talked earlier about making monthly or recurring giving easily accessible for donors. In doing that, it’s important to be sure you avoid dark patterns.

For example, if you’re defaulting to a monthly giving option on your form, you will likely find that some donors proceed with that option unintentionally. Your goal, then, is to look for ways to make the monthly default obvious so that you’re still encouraging those recurring donations without tricking people into proceeding. Here are a few ways to do that:
- Include “per month” or “/monthly” following each dollar amount
- Use “Donate Monthly” as your button text
- Have an obvious toggle button between monthly or one-time donations
- Take the opposite approach and make one-time giving the default while requiring a positive movement to monthly giving
In addition to avoiding dark patterns on your donation form, you should make it easy for donors to pause or cancel their recurring gifts from their account. And always send emails before each donation is processed. The goal each step of the way is to encourage donors to give while building trust with them.

6. Continue to test and iterate

When it comes to technology and the user experience, there’s no set-it-and-forget-it approach. Technology changes, user expectations change, and your approach to digital donor development will need to change alongside them.

User research is an invaluable tool for this process. Talk to your users and observe their behavior. Then, create a hypothesis and test it. Take what you’ve learned from that test to create your next hypothesis. And so on.

Begin collecting data now for future initiatives

Along the way, you should also keep your eye out for data you can collect for future initiatives. For example, you can include an option for donors to opt in to SMS updates even if you don’t yet have an SMS program. This not only helps you gauge the interest of your donors in this type of program but also helps you begin building a database for when you’re ready to launch.

If you don’t get much of a response, that may guide your decision to continue delaying an SMS program. But if you notice that donors are excited about the idea, you’ll not only have data to demonstrate that excitement but also have the literal data needed to launch it well.

It’s cliche, but the future really is now. Donors expect robust digital giving and donor management options. These are broad strategic conversations you should be having with your team, of course. But there are also easy, immediate changes you can make. Both will help facilitate online giving now and for the future.

Want to talk through these ideas and their implications for your organization in more detail? Conversations at Agathon are always free, and we’d love to chat!
Choosing Between A Values-Based Agency or Individual to Build Your Ministry’s App
Enlisting an individual to build your ministry’s web or mobile application might seem like a good idea, at least on the surface. You can likely find someone in your network (through your church, in your community, via a trusted friend, etc.) who can quickly stand up a serviceable app. However, the benefits of partnering with an established, missionally compatible agency quickly outweigh any potential pros of working with an individual.

From their breadth of technical expertise to their deep bench of diverse experts, agencies are able, in the long run, to provide significantly more value for your ministry than any one person could.

When Is a Freelance Developer Sufficient for Your Ministry?

As noted, your ministry will need to partner with an agency for your development needs in the long run. But there are some scenarios where hiring an individual is okay, particularly in the short term.

If your ministry is new and simply needs a business card website or proof-of-concept, an individual developer can probably get you online faster and cheaper than an agency can. You can then use your basic site (or app) to garner additional funding and make your mission known more widely. Again, this is a good use of a freelancer.

How Do You Know When It’s Time for an Established Agency?

Every ministry intent on stability and growth will reach a point where they require an agency to build and nurture their digital presence. Working with an established agency is the only way to holistically strategize your hallmark app—one with the functionality and flexibility you need long-term.

How will you know your ministry has outgrown working with an individual contractor? When you’re in need of implementers and maintainers, not just visionaries. Here’s what we mean:

Organizations are made up of visionaries, implementers, and maintainers. Visionaries do big-picture thinking. They pursue goals aggressively, and they pursue aggressive goals. Implementers come in behind visionaries and systematize the vision. They make things repeatable and pleasant to look at, generally concerning themselves with more practical details. Finally, maintainers keep the systems implementers established running forevermore. Each of these groups is important.

If your ministry is in a visionary stage, you can likely get away with hiring a visionary individual who can take the idea and run far and fast to build the app you need at the moment. But that’s no way to pave a perennially serviceable road.

Once you realize your ministry needs an honest-to-goodness web or mobile app rooted in a project with guardrails, safety valves, and strategy, you’re ready for an agency.

3 Benefits of Working with a Missionally Aligned Agency

Again, every ministry can benefit from using an agency eventually. It’s simply a matter of when their tech requirements call for more resources. When you bring an agency on board, you’ll realize so many benefits, including the three that follow.

As a ministry, partnering with the right external development firm can mean even more than just getting the app your org needs. It can mean finding a group that’s an extension of your team from a mission perspective. One that holds space for the same values as you and desires a fruitful relationship that yields technology capable of spreading your ministry’s message far and wide. And not just for the sake of a solid day’s work, but for kingdom-oriented purposes, too.

1. Deep and Varied Technical Expertise

An individual can only know so much about app development. Even if they’re extremely experienced, they’re still just one person.

A well-established agency, on the other hand, has multiple experts with varying specialities. Consequently, an agency tends to be more well-rounded from a technical perspective. They simply have more employees, which means more experiences with a wider array of tech solutions. Quality agencies staff folks who understand:
- App and web accessibility
- Responsive design
- APIs and their integrations with consumable services
- How to avoid or minimize technical debt
An added benefit of having more employees? The work on your ministry’s project doesn’t stop just because someone goes on vacation or leaves the agency. Others are able to cover in the event of employee absence. The same can’t be said for working with an individual. If they’re absent, work halts.

2. Diverse and Experienced Employees

It’s not just that the best agencies have multiple employees. It’s that these employees come from diverse walks of life, especially in the world of Christian-based agencies like Agathon.

Why should staff diversity matter to you? The diversity of the employees’ experiences gives them particular insight into your ministry’s unique needs. The employees can draw on their backgrounds and learnings from serving other ministries in the same space, other ministries in different spaces, and even for-profit or enterprise companies.

All the diverse experiences employees bring to the table lead to the best possible outcomes for your organization. Conversely, one person only brings one perspective to the table, which might not be enough to ideate the effective tech solutions your ministry needs.

3. Values You Can All Agree On

As we touched on before, the right agency to serve your org’s development needs will also be aligned with your ideals, which is critical to maintaining the sacredness of your mission and ministry.

Many individual contractors lack an online presence that speaks to their prior work (if they have any) in the Christian ministry space. Further, an individual might be associated with your ministry through a friend, or a friend of a friend, as mentioned. But in today’s day and age, that unfortunately does not guarantee their values are aligned with your ministry’s.

An agency that’s right for you is already operating in your ministry’s orbit and the Christian non-profit space. Importantly, their website provides proof of their alignment with your values through case studies and purpose statements. Their social media presence is also a good indicator of their values.

It comes down to the fact that the right agency is more intentional about pursuing work that matters. For your ministry, that means your Kingdom-building work is understood and amplified.

A Boutique Agency for Your Ministry’s Development Needs

Agathon can be the values-based agency you need to build your website or app. We staff technical experts from various walks of life. And we care deeply about furthering your mission. Because ultimately it’s our mission, too.
Why You Should Find a Missionally Aligned Partner for Your Ministry’s Digital Needs
As a Christian ministry, your mission is your most valuable asset. It’s your duty and joy to spread that mission to your constituents and beyond. But communicating your mission is complex, especially given the ever-expanding array of technologies you must use to do so. And especially with the wrong digital strategist in your corner.

That’s why it’s wise to work with a digital agency that shares your values to maximize collaboration and facilitate a more fruitful, values-based partnership.

The Challenge of Contracting Work as a Christian Organization

It’s not easy to enlist the right outside contractor. Ministry’s often default to hiring either:
1. A large, well-known firm with an impressive roster of clients, or
2. An individual, independent contractor who they know personally or from word of mouth.
Each of these scenarios works out some of the time. But too often, these partnerships prove problematic.

A large contractor likely has the bandwidth, tools, and experience to serve your digital needs well. But they almost certainly do not share the values of your ministry. As a result, they might have unsavory clients that could rub your constituents the wrong way. And you’ll probably find yourself explaining a lot of your vernacular just so they can properly wrap their minds around your mission, which is time-consuming.

Someone who comes recommended by a colleague or church member, on the other hand, will intuitively understand your lexicon. But a single person might not have the capability to deliver everything your ministry needs.

3 Reasons to Seek an Agency that Shares Your Ministry’s Values

There is a third option when it comes to outsourcing your ministry’s digital projects. You can partner with an organization like Agathon.

Our firm was built to do good. In fact, the Greek word “agathon” means “good” in a holistic sense: morally, aesthetically, and functionally. We strive to do good work, providing elegant solutions to thorny problems, while intentionally serving organizations like yours that are doing good in the world. Consequently, we share your ministry’s values and vision—and vernacular. And critically, we retain sufficient talent to provide you with the high-quality solutions you need.

Let’s dive deeper into the top three benefits of working with an external firm that is aligned with your ministry’s ideals:

1. A Single Lexicon Allows for a More Efficient Engagement

As we’ve said a few times now, contracting with an organization that shares your values and supports your mission means you also share a common vocabulary. But how does that truly impact your work together for the better? It comes down to how mutual understanding streamlines your working relationship with your external partner.

As you know, the Christian world is full of specific language. When you and your contractor both know that language, you can use it as a kind of shorthand. You won’t have to explain everything having to do with your mission multiple times, slowing down your project’s progress. And your contractor readily internalizes your values and can almost automatically express them effectively through their work for you.

2. Shared Morals Give You Peace of Mind

You can rest easier when you hire an organization with the same ideals as yours. Why? Because you needn’t worry about what this contractor will say or do on your behalf or on behalf of your ministry. Or if they’ll offend your employees, volunteers, board, or constituents. Remember, they are morally aligned with you and your org.

Additionally, the right, missionally sympathetic partner is just as selective about the clients they take on as you are (or would like to be) about the contractors you’re able to work with. There’s virtually no risk the agency’s other clients are unsavory, which is critical for your ministry. Imagine if your loyal donors found out about a less-than-ideal client your contractor supports. That’s the kind of thing that can irreparably damage your ministry’s reputation—even your personal reputation—whether you knew about said client or not.

Lastly, when you work with a fellow Christian organization, you don’t have to worry about getting fleeced or saddled with shoddy work. The right partner will do everything they can to foster a fruitful engagement simply because it’s the right thing to do.

3. Working from the Same Foundation Maximizes Your Efforts

Speaking of preserving your ministry’s reputation, selecting an external partner with a comparable moral compass shows your board and constituents that you are so dedicated to your mission, even your contractors are aligned with its message. That will go a long way to not just upholding your reputation, but buoying and amplifying it.

What’s more, the right contractor is a force multiplier. Together, you can produce results that are greater than the sum of your component organizations. And you can feel good about investing in a contractor who is rowing in the same direction toward Kingdom-oriented purposes.

Let Us Lift Up Your Ministry’s Mission Alongside You

At Agathon, our value proposition for prospective clients differs significantly from that of a “mainstream” agency; we lead with our shared values. Always. Whether that looks like convening an on-site discovery session with a prayer or empathizing with your plight to seek a more just world, you will instantly know we’re cut from the same cloth.

We believe strongly that these shared values—in addition to our plentiful technology and team resources—are what leads to a mutually successful engagement. And, of course, an optimized platform from which to spread your ministry’s vital mission.
Why Authentic Content Is Key to Combining Your Ministry’s Mission with Sales
Does your ministry run a store of sorts, selling products or even services? Perhaps you sell Christian-based books or host conferences.

It’s fairly common for organizations like yours to have this type of commerce branch. And, of course, you want to bring traffic to your website to encourage purchases or attract new constituents.

But how?

The answer is through content. Write excellent, helpful content that authentically supports your mission and dovetails with your paid offering. The sales will follow.

The Basic Benefits of Selling Goods or Services for Ministries

Not every ministry needs a sales arm to be successful—far from it. But if you’re reading this article, you’ve likely quelled the internal struggle between pursuing your mission and building a sustainable business and come to the conclusion that selling a product or service is right for you.

We want to empower you to take it a step further and actually realize its benefits.

When done effectively, growing your sales puts your ministry on more solid footing and makes it more robust. You can stress less about getting enough donations quarter to quarter. In turn, you can focus on what brought you into business in the first place—spreading your mission.

For Ministries, Content Is the Answer to Selling with a Conscience

There’s a right and a wrong way to merge your mission with sales. If you focus solely on sales, your mission will get lost in the marketing. And inundating site visitors with sales messaging stands to alienate them.

That’s where the right content comes in to combine spreading your mission with growing your sales. Specifically, zeroing in on content that is real, valuable, and relevant—and finding ways to incorporate products or services into that content after the fact—is the best way to maintain fidelity to your ministry’s mission. While simultaneously building the business side of your online presence. Let’s delve into exactly why content is the way to do just that.

Content Delivers Your Mission to More Readers

Content is king. A cliche saying, but true nonetheless. The right content can deliver on your ministry’s goals in two main ways:
1. Good content feeds good SEO, which drives website traffic and therefore sales.
2. Content has a unique ability to tell your ministry’s story, connecting with your audience and, again, driving sales.
Let’s dive deeper into each to ensure your content delivers both your mission and offerings to your audience.

Quality Content Boosts SEO and Attracts New Users

Search engines have long been sophisticated enough to detect when you’re attempting to game the system. Keyword-stuffed content, for example, doesn’t get you any SEO equity. Worse, you might actually be penalized for it. Quality content, on the other hand, can help you rank higher on search engines.

Your human readers can tell when your content is legitimately good, too. When you write useful content your constituents care about, they’ll become loyal readers. What’s more, SEO and organic traffic work in tandem. If your search engine rank goes up, readers are more likely to find your content. And if your organic traffic goes up, so does your SEO equity.

Tell Your Story Through Content and Draw in Devoted, Sales-Ready Constituents

Stories (and the content that tells those stories) are a huge part of getting people to understand your mission and feel emotionally connected to it. When they’re emotionally connected, they become missionally aligned with your ministry. With missional alignment naturally comes sales—and then more financial stability for your organization.

Perhaps most important, constituents who read your content and become believers in your mission will evangelize your mission to others. And isn’t your ultimate goal to reach as many people with your message as possible? You can’t do that without a content-first strategy.

Prove Your Ministry’s Authenticity through Content. Loyal Leads Will Follow.

The old adage that it’s easier to sell to an existing customer than to win a new one is apt here. Good content keeps readers engaged, and engaged readers are more likely to purchase goods or services from your organization. We’ve already established that.

But the importance of content to boost your ministry’s sales goes beyond pushing people up your sales funnel. Remember, your ultimate goal is to establish an ever-deepening relationship with your constituents so they embrace your mission so fully, they can’t help but spread it. You can only build those sorts of relationships by being authentic in your own commitment to your mission. And how do you convey your authenticity? You certainly can’t buy it. It has to be earned—and content can help you earn it.

With content, you can demonstrate that you’ve put deep thought into your mission. You can prove—through quality, story-focused writing—that you care about this purpose beyond gaining conversions or new donors.

When you show your passion authentically in writing, your readers will become engaged and loyal, which we already know pushes them deeper and deeper into your ministry’s mission. Once they’re invested and you’ve earned their stamp of authenticity, you have the opportunity to present new ways for your constituents to partner with your organization, i.e., through the purchase of products or services that help further your mission and enrich their lives.

You Can’t Fail When You Focus on Your Mission

At the end of the day, your online presence does not exist to sell goods or services. Yes, adding sales to your ministry has its benefits. But attempts to incorporate products or services should always be to enhance your ministry’s mission. Therefore, your products or services should never stand alone or steal the spotlight from your mission. Put another way: Your ministry’s outreach methods—including your content—must act in service of your mission, not the other way around.

Just as your mission should stand on its own regardless of your goods or services, so should your content. When you come from a place of wanting to produce content that’s actually useful to your constituents and aligned with your mission, your sales offering will naturally mesh with that messaging. Product (or service) viability comes when you have an authentic mission that’s captured in authentic content.
Use Journey Maps to Improve Your UX and Spread Your Mission

As you better understand how your audience interacts with your online presence, you’ll be able to smooth their paths to engagement…and ultimately get them to embrace your mission. As such, it’s time to think beyond the isolated steps users take on your site—like purchasing a book, donating to your organization, or signing up for a devotional series.

Of course these steps are each critical, but they’re single steps a user takes in the midst of a longer journey. Considering the user journey holistically is therefore the only way to uncover opportunities to meet users where they are and communicate your mission more effectively.

That’s where journey mapping comes in. While journey maps are a tool nearly every industry employs, there are unique considerations—and benefits—to journey maps for ministries. Let’s explore.

What Is a Journey Map?

A journey map describes the steps users take as they interact with your ministry’s services and/or products—from the first touch to the call to action and (hopefully) beyond.

Journey maps also chart users’ emotions or feelings while completing each step on their journeys. Are they enthusiastic as they’re reading your “About Us” page, learning about your mission? Are they frustrated as they wait for their book order to process, wishing you had integrated a payment app with your website? Noting trends in these emotions can tell you so much about your ministry’s user experience (UX). More on that below.

What does a journey map actually look like? Typically, the user’s interactions are documented in chronological order on a line graph, and the emotions appear as a sine wave overlaying the steps.

How Agathon Approaches Journey Mapping

In Agathon’s process, journey mapping occurs during the Discovery phase of an engagement, when we’re getting the right stakeholders in the room to solidify what needs to happen to accomplish your project and conducting foundational work.

Specifically, journey mapping happens after we’ve finalized your ministry’s personas—profiles describing specific, like-minded groups within your target audience. Why? After personas, journey maps are the next logical process point for understanding your users. We use your personas to imagine users’ paths.

Say we decide during persona development that Ruth is an archetype for a stay-at-home mother interested in Christian-based volunteer opportunities. We’ll then use her characteristics to surmise what her journey looks like and map it.

The Benefits of Journey Maps for Ministries

Journey maps are worth their weight in gold because they help you grasp what your constituents are going through as they navigate your ministry’s offerings. You’re able to walk the path with them by reviewing your completed journey map, seeing user touchpoints you might otherwise overlook.

Only when you (figuratively) spend time in your users’ shoes can you spot gaps in your UX design. Then work to improve it. With a journey map in hand, you have the power to optimize your constituents’ paths. Consequently, they experience your ministry just as you need them to—so your mission comes across loud and clear.

Journey Map Considerations Unique to Ministries

As mentioned, lots of industries leverage journey maps to better their UX. But it’s especially important for ministries to create journey maps because there’s a higher probability that you’re missing something about your constituents’ experience.

Think about it this way. Your organization doesn’t have the backstop of financial incentive that corporations do. You’re not out merely to maximize profit, so you might not analyze every single user step. Or invest indiscreetly in of-the-moment UX design.

But, to be frank, it’s more vital for you to get your mission across than it is for businesses to make money. So it’s arguably more important for you to get your user experience right. To meet your users where they are. To do that, you must start with journey mapping.

Get Started on Your Ministry’s Journey Map

Agathon works with ministries, so we’re well-versed in the importance and nuance of completing journey maps just for organizations like yours. We’d be honored to help you spread the word that is your mission.
How to Decide if Your Organization’s Ministry Needs Its Own Website

Does your organization focus on more than one area of ministry? Maybe you also run a faith-based conference with lots of name recognition. Or perhaps you have a service offering that’s a bit removed from everything else you do. You might even be in talks to add an entirely new initiative to complement your mission.

Whatever the case may be, you need to consider how these different-but-related ministries affect your website and the strategy behind it. Namely, should you have sister sites for each? Or just one website that represents your entire brand—for example, conferences and services alike?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer because selecting a single website or several comes down to the needs of your unique audience. The good news is that four universal factors help every ministry make the right choice.

Why Effectively Organizing Your Ministries Matters

Your ministry serves many diverse audiences, each requiring multiple offerings to suit their needs. It’s crucial to invest time and real brainpower into understanding how to organize and present information to best reach these varied audiences—whether that means having one website or more.

Why? Because when you make the right choices about your site(s), your content will resonate perfectly with both prospective and current constituents. They’ll be able to find the information they want and need easily because it’s organized sensically. And your mission will spread further as a result.

The 4 A’s of Choosing Your Ministry’s Website Structure

As promised, four factors that can lead you down the right path when it comes to finding digital homes for your various ministries. Remember, making the right decision will better connect you with your ministry’s members.

1. Audience

Understanding the people you’re trying to reach assists you in deciding how to handle each ministry’s site. If the audience of your parent organization and your specific ministry are essentially one in the same, having a single website is probably your best bet.

Just think about a standard church. Yes, a church tends to have many ministries and outreach programs—youth groups, social ministries, missions, and so on. Obviously, the target member of each of those groups varies. But it’s still one church. Having just one website makes it clear that the church itself is the linchpin of all of its ministries. And that the church has something to offer every current and discerning constituent.

On the other hand, if the audiences of your parent organization and a specific ministry don’t have much in common, a separate website is likely the way to go. A dedicated website allows you to focus your messaging on an exact audience.

Consider Cru and Athletes in Action. Cru, a nonprofit bringing ministries to college campuses worldwide, is the parent organization. Athletes in Action is a subsidiary of Cru that specifically targets collegiate athletes. Athletes in Action could live in the navigation on Cru’s main website, but their audience is niche enough to warrant their own site. After all, getting student athletes to follow Christ requires an approach distinct from how Cru might wish to reach their other audiences.

We even broke out Agathon for Ministries from our parent brand. Having a separate site allows us to address the bespoke needs of ministries so that the people who require our help most can find us, understand our message, and feel confident in our ability to assist them.

2. Autonomy

Look at your ministry’s team. Is there a clear divide between the people who work on projects for your parent organization and those who work on projects for your specific ministry? If so, separate websites make the most sense. That’s because delegating a website to the people most closely involved with the ministry is usually more efficient for all parties involved.

Say, for instance, your ministry hosts a well-known industry conference. The folks who put the conference together are largely an independent team. If they had to work within the parent organization’s website, they’d have to run every decision up the ladder of the larger organization. It takes time to finagle that kind of red tape. Giving them their own website avoids publishing bottlenecks and generally puts them in the best position to be as efficient as possible in manning the conference.

3. Access

Analyzing how your website users access and arrive at the information they need can help you decide whether one or multiple sites is right for you.

Let’s return to our conference example. If your conference has become a household name, some people will probably google the conference and not your parent organization. If most of your constituents are finding your conference via its own name, all the more reason to give it its own space on the web. Just be sure to cross-link between the parent site and the conference site.

Conversely, if your parent organization is popular but your conference is new and therefore relatively unknown, housing the conference within your main site might lend credibility to the conference while it’s in its infancy. You could always reassess and create a separate website for the conference down the line.

At the end of the day, you of course want people to get to the content most relevant to them regardless of how they get there. But understanding their path can be key in making website decisions.

4. Administration

Now for a more practical consideration: website administration and maintenance. Having multiple ministry websites can potentially fragment and complicate the work of keeping each site up to date.

That said, using the right technology/SaaS platform solves most maintenance issues—even if you do have more than one website. Your sites can and should all be hosted on the same platform (like WordPress) so you can manage them all in one place.

One time SaaS platforms aren’t the answer is when technology is the point of your website, as is the case with ecommerce websites or learning management systems. Those generally have to be built from the ground up, requiring separate site administration.

The long and the short of it? Be sure you grasp the upkeep needs of your website(s) before launching more.

It All Comes Back to Your Ministry’s Audience

If you only retain one ‘A’ from this article, make it “audience.” Your ministry’s audience members—your constituents—are the lifeblood of your organization. You know that better than anyone.

If you keep your audience and their needs at the forefront of any website decisions you make for your organization and its different ministries you can’t go wrong.
4 Tips to Authentically Merge Mission and Business to Sustain Your Ministry
Selling products or services is a meaningful way to fund and fuel your ministry’s mission without relying solely on donations. This could take the form of a faith-based organization with a publishing arm that sells books. Or maybe a missionary team that accepts paid public speaking engagements to subsidize its outreach work.

It’s relatively common for ministries to engage in sustaining activities such as these—even if they aren’t directly tied to their missions. And yet you might be apprehensive about selling to your own constituents.

Fear not: The apostle Paul relied on the trade of tentmaking to support his second missionary journey. So too can you balance your own ministry’s “tentmaking” (or business) and its higher missional calling.

Why There’s Reluctance to Add Sales to Service

There are a few reasons non-profit sales might feel untoward or even sound like an oxymoron to you.

For one, you’ve likely experienced ministries selling goods and services with little taste or tact. They take advantage of their loyal following, misusing email lists to aggressively sell what the industry has deemed “Jesus junk” (products with no real value to the purchaser). You certainly don’t want to be seen this way—as a business with a side of ministry instead of the other way around.

What’s more, ministry leaders like you are often (admirably) idealistic. You’d prefer to deal exclusively with the holy work of your mission and keep your hands clean of making money. You might even find it unsavory to ask for donations, which are, in a sense, one rung above sales on the secular to sacred ladder.

All to say, you’re in good company if you worry business will detract from the important work you do. And maybe even drive members away.

How Business Can Complement Your Mission

Any misgivings about folding sales into the mix at your ministry are completely understandable. But you might miss out on key benefits of conducting business, such as:
- Financial stability to sustain your ministry
- A wider net to reach new constituents thanks to products or services that appeal to prospects with a specific need as opposed to donors
- Increasingly satisfied existing members who find real value in your products or services and connect more deeply with your mission
Benefits aside, it’s important to look at the idea of business and sales with clear eyes. Because business is at worst neutral. In fact, it’s only bad when it’s exploited. Conducting business in a way that honors God is therefore entirely possible. You just need the right strategy.

Here are four tips to successfully incorporate sales into your ministry:

1. Plan Your Website Navigation to Tastefully Feature Your Sales Offering

There’s a fine line between burying the navigation link to your ministry’s store and elevating it above content- and mission-related links. Burying the link makes it look like you’re surreptitiously sneaking it in because you have something to hide. But promoting your store front-and-center on your site makes it seem like you care more about sales than service.

So where should you put the link to your store? The recommended positioning is within the top-level navigation on the far right hand side of the homepage. That way, it’s out of a visitor’s initial view when they’re scanning your site from the top down. But it’s in their peripheral as well as where they’d naturally scan if they were looking for a “My Account” button.

You should also make sure the link is an organic part of your menu. Design it so it’s the same colors and font weight of the rest of the buttons in the top-level navigation. This will help it blend into the natural look-and-feel of your site without being either elevated above or buried under your ministry content.

2. Produce Content-Driven Thought Leadership, Not Product-Driven Sales Pitches

As discussed, one of the concerns about selling something when you’re running a faith-based organization is it’ll come across like you’re hawking products instead of driving an important mission forward.

To avoid giving members the wrong impression, you must create articles that are content-driven—not product- or service-driven.

How? It starts with your mindset. Never ask yourself, “What do I want readers to buy?” when you’re brainstorming topic ideas. Instead, have it in your head that you’re going to craft content that serves your readers and comes from a place of passion. Content that solves your reader’s problems or answers their questions. When that’s your goal, mission-serving content flows more easily.

Besides, if your products or services were developed with your mission in mind, they’ll dovetail from your content naturally. You won’t have to force a link just to add a sales opportunity to an article.

3. Employ Deep Linking to Share Relevant Resources with Readers

It’s absolutely okay to promote your products or services at the end of your content when you’ve done the work to create content-driven, authentic pieces. In fact, you’ll be helping readers further educate themselves on a topic they’ve proven they care about by reaching the end of your article in the first place.

Just be sure the links or CTAs are both relevant and deep. A relevant link is evidence you’ve thought through the topic thoroughly. It also shows the intentionality of your strategy—your content matches your products or services.

Deep linking is the practice of linking to a specific, topical resource—not just the homepage of your virtual storefront. It’s important because it saves the reader the work of figuring out the next step on their journey through your site. This reinforces the idea that the reader is in a partnership with you. You’re not just hawking products: you’re out to educate and aid your constituents.

Let’s look at an example. Imagine you wrote an article about domestic violence awareness. At the bottom of the article (after offering ample “free” information to the reader) you add a CTA to purchase the book you wrote on the same subject. This is a relevant and deep link. It’s relevant because, again, the book features the same subject matter as the article. And it’s deep because it links directly to a landing page to purchase the topically appropriate book instead of a sales page with all of your book options your reader has to filter through.

4. Avoid Pushing Sales Content on Trusting Ministry Members

Your most devoted ministry members have given you their trust along with their email addresses. The worst thing you can do is abuse this trust by pedaling content only meant to sell your products or services. That’s a good way to lose your following.

That said, it’s occasionally acceptable to email your subscribers with a sales offer. For instance, an email rounding up your most popular gift items makes sense right around Christmas. Your readers will be looking for gift inspiration, so it’s helpful and timely. But use sales emails extremely sparingly.

Effective software can assist you in sending sales content to the right people. Be sure your tech allows you to segment your contact lists so only the most engaged people (those who have previously purchased something or interacted with lots of webpages) receive your business-focused messages.

Let Sales Support Your Ministry So You Can Meet Your Mission

When it comes to selling something to support your ministry, be an “Etsy” over an “Amazon.” Etsy sells highly targeted, hand-crafted, high-quality goods created by passionate individual artisans. And Amazon, well, need we say more?

You too can create highly targeted offerings that meet your users’ needs because they seamlessly stem from your ministry’s mission. These valuable products or services will enhance your customers’ understanding of your ministry and the mission you hold dear. They’ll also allow you to keep the proverbial lights on—spreading your message for years to come.
How to Build a User-Approved Digital App for Your Ministry
The digital landscape has shifted tremendously in the last decade. Back then, the question your ministry had to answer was simply, “Do we need a digital app, or will a mobile-friendly website suffice?” But nowadays, a mobile-friendly website is the baseline—it’s assumed your website will work on screens of all sizes.

Since a mobile-friendly site is now a given, the question isn’t, “does my ministry need an app?” The question for many has become, “how do I build an app for my ministry?” And not just any app, but an app that will serve the true needs of your constituents and further your mission.

5 Proven Steps to Create a Successful App

As development professionals, we know how to build an app. Digital agencies like Agathon generally agree on the steps necessary to create an effective final product.

But ministries like yours? You may not always be familiar with the process, which is completely understandable. It’s not your area of expertise.

Here, we’ll detail the five steps of digital app development to demystify the experience of getting an app live—and how Agathon can help.

Step 1: Conduct User Research to Understand Your Constituents

The first step of building an app—user research—has nothing to do with the dev side of building. What it does do is build empathy. When done right, user research encourages your team to understand and consider the wants, needs, and pain points of your constituents.

It’s easy to get caught up in your own excitement or in pleasing internal stakeholders during a build. But internal opinions about what your app should or shouldn’t include don’t always align with end users’ real needs. Consequently, conducting user research, and allowing its results to inform app development, is the only way to ensure you’re creating a platform your users actually want and will use.

User Research Methods for Ministries

There are many options when it comes to conducting user research. Perhaps the most accessible option is market analysis. Anyone can purchase reports from research centers like Gartner or Pew, then comb through the data to extract relevant information.

Market analysis is helpful for understanding your ministry’s larger landscape, but it’s not incredibly specific or insightful. That’s why the best kind of user research involves direct interaction with users.

This research could take the form of:
- Interviews,
- Focus groups, or
- Direct observations.
Imagine giving representative end users a task to complete within a beta version of your ministry’s app and watching them move through the steps to do that task. You’d glean so much valuable information observing their victories—but also their sticking points—operating your platform. Leverage this information to tailor your app to users’ needs and it’s sure to be a success.

Typically, user research is completed upfront. That’s why we listed it as step one. But keep in mind that user research can be conducted during discovery and building (the following steps) as well. The more user feedback you gather, the better!

Step 2: Complete Discovery to Solidify Your App’s Scope

Another foundational step of the app development process is discovery. Discovery gets the right stakeholders in the room to figure out exactly what needs to be done to create your app and how to go about doing it.

There are two main benefits to the discovery phase:
- It ensures the most accurate scope and budget possible for your project, and
- It builds team-wide consensus around your app, charting the straightest path from an initial idea to a user-centered concept.
Facilitate a Discovery Workshop

It’s important to note that having an outside partner spearhead your discovery workshop tends to lead to the best, most unbiased results—and consequently the best app.

There are five steps to Agathon’s discovery process, refined from industry best practices to meet the specific needs of ministries:
1. Framing: figuring out what needs to be accomplished
2. Empathy: elevating the user’s perspective
3. Journey: pinpointing the user’s journey with your app, including problem areas, by creating a journey map
4. Exploration: brainstorming how to facilitate each step on the journey map
5. Product backbone: developing an actionable features list to be executed during the building phase
Steps 3 and 4: Build, Test, and Refine Your App

The next two steps—building and user testing—go hand-in-hand. In fact, you’ll toggle back and forth between them as you finalize your product, which is why we’ve lumped them together here.

Building your app starts with foundational work. Think of it like building a literal foundation for a house. You have to prepare the land before you pour the concrete. How? Build out specific features or key moments of the user experience a little at a time.

The All-Important Build-and-Test Cycle

Once you have a feature “drafted” (finished enough to show users but not perfectly polished), it’s time for step four: user testing.

Allow users to try out the feature. “Users” ideally refers to the people who will actually use your final product. At Agathon we also test with our team and our client’s team. See where your test groups get held up, or what they gravitate toward. Take that feedback and let it color how you complete the feature when you return to the “build” step. It’s a basic—but vital—feedback loop. Build, test, and repeat until you have a full set of user-validated features that make up your ministry’s app.

Creating apps in this way (with a feedback loop) ensures you’re constantly on track to build a user-friendly app. The alternative is building the app in one fell swoop and crossing your fingers it doesn’t flop when it finally gets into users’ hands. There’s simply no reason to take that risk.

Step 5: Launch Your Ministry’s App with Confidence

If you’ve carefully carried out steps one through four, the last step—launching your ministry’s app—won’t be intimidating. You’ll know your constituents will enjoy your product because you spent the necessary time asking them for their opinions as it was planned and built.

As mentioned, not everyone’s a developer. These app creation steps are obvious to us and others in the industry because it’s a time-tested development approach. At Agathon, not only are we developers, we’re developers just for ministries like yours. We share your commitment to faith-fueled digital products. If you need a guide through this process, we’re here to help.