Church Communications Research 2013
September 2013
Julie Irwin and Kate Turner
68 Lombard Street, London EC3V 9LJ Tel: 0870 787 4490
Contents
Business context and objectives
Methodology
Communication
Service
Conclusions and recommendations
Case studies
2
Business Context and Objectives
Ecclesiastical has a suite of Church communications including:
 Church Matters Newsletter
 Archdeacons Visitation News (where Ecclesiastical provides the inner four pages)
 E-Newsletters
 Seminars
 Inserts at renewal
 Parish Packs
All communication is supported by the Church Matters website.
Ecclesiastical wished to assess the usefulness /perceived value of its of the range of
communications and understand the extent to which information was shared and passed
on to other PCC members.
As a secondary objective, Ecclesiastical wanted to look at service experience, particularly
via the telephone, and understand if there was a need for telephone service between 8am
and 9am and 5pm and 6pm.
3
What we did... Research Methodology
1 focus group (6 respondents) and 5 depth interviews as follows:
 Focus group of 6 respondents – one clergy member, one treasurer and 4 church wardens.
– Most were in rural locations in Wiltshire.
– One used social media extensively for personal and church use; one other was a more
occasional personal user.
 5 depth interviews:
– One city centre location; two town locations and two village/ rural locations.
– Two social media users.
The focus group lasted 1.5 hours and depth interviews lasted around 1 hour.
Fieldwork dates – 25th – 27th September 2013.
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Communication
Use and Sharing of Communication
Recall /awareness of Ecclesiastical communications material/resources is relatively low
and pass along rates are also low. Key challenge is to improve circulation
Overall the communications tested received a positive reaction, however it is not reaching a
wide enough audience:
 Recall and awareness of the materials/resources is low. Archdeacon Visitation News was most
widely recalled (6 out of 11).
While respondents do take their risk management responsibilities seriously:
 There is a lack of awareness of the resources that Ecclesiastical provide:
– Ecclesiastical are not the first port of call for information (the Diocese, Church Care website, Church
Buildings Council were all mentioned as alternative information sources)
– Unless there is a specific trigger (e.g. requiring a faculty) respondents are unlikely to proactively seek
information
Pass along rates for information/ communications are also low:
 Church wardens, treasurers, secretaries are all volunteers and are often time poor (on other
committees, involved in charities, family and/or work commitments etc..):
– Don’t read everything they get - they receive a lot of information from different sources – achieving cut
through is a challenge and insurance not perceived to be the most interesting/engaging topic
– Don’t have time to pass on information (particularly adverse to photocopying)
– Reluctance to circulate single hard copy as tends to disappear/get lost.
– Don’t want to overload others with information by circulating/sharing materials others have received
themselves
 Reluctance to share information that falls into recipients remit:
– Sharing information can lead to decisions by committee which many are keen to avoid
6
Church Matters Newsletter
A positive reaction to the Church Matters newsletter but recall & pass along rates
relatively low
RECALL
Recall and
usage
5 out of 11 respondents definitely recall seeing the Church Matters newsletter.
 2 of the 5 currently pass on the newsletter – one to the treasurer and one to the buildings
manager. The rest tend to ‘file’ the newsletter with other Ecclesiastical documents as it’s
generally considered relevant only for church wardens and treasurers.
 Typically glance through it and see if there’s anything of interest. Rather than pass on the
whole newsletter, most respondents say they would note anything of wider interest and
bring it up at a PCC meeting (in reality this doesn’t happen very often).
Positives:
Improvements/ challenges:
 Articles = right length. Not too long – can
go onto website if want more information.
 Open churches article = very interesting/
useful.
 Stone mason and bursary articles
generally considered good –shows other
ways in which Ecclesiastical are helping
and supporting the Church.
 Positive stories = lead theft down.
 Good quality paper/nicely produced
 Story articles less interesting to some
(minority) – very busy volunteers and only
want to be told things that are focused
and relevant to their own church.
7
Church Matters Newsletter – In their own words...
I just look through to see if there is anything that
interests … If it was something of huge interest I would
take it to the PCC at the next meeting and we can
discuss it. On agenda. I’d probably not pass it on. We
could take it and put it in the church on the table but
whether people would read it is another matter. I think
the only way to get it across to people is at the PCC to
get their attention. insurance of churches is pretty boring
and so low down on peoples mind, we have a job to get
people to read things that they should be reading. (Small
town church warden)
Probably note it if there
was anything we needed
to do and discuss with my
co church warden and
make sure we did it really.
(Group discussion)
The articles are fine but
they're not something I'd
read or pass on. I only
have time for things that
are relevant to me and
give me some call to
action. (Village church
treasurer)
I don't know - I probably have had it but I wouldn't
have binned it but did I read it, perhaps not. ... We're
all very busy people and we're all volunteers. The
fact that lead theft is down is nice but it's not
something I'd bring up at a PCC meeting - we're
being encouraged to have fewer PCC meetings so I
wouldn't bring up nice stories that don't affect us
directly. ... The obvious things in here I'm already
doing and unless there's something new I wouldn't
pass it on. The survey is interesting... I didn't know
about that... I will recommend that we have a survey.
(Village church treasurer)
Yes I've seen this. ... Yes, I would pass it on,... I would
pass this on to our building manager and, because
money was always such a big issue, if there was
something on the front cover which said competition
win £5000, which I know Ecclesiastical do run, that
would always attract my attention. It’s a hook, clergy
are always looking for money for their parishes. (City
centre church)
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Church Matters Newsletter
Format and frequency considered appropriate. Calendar has limited appeal.
Format and
frequency
Once a year on paper is considered appropriate:
 More than once a year could be in danger of being repetitive.
 Paper is considered good once a year by most – better chance of reading it. Minority
would prefer all electronic communication (potential to ‘turn off’ all paper comms?)
Coming out on paper once a year is good. I
think paper you are more likely to read.
Twice a year might be okay but not if they
are going to be repeating themselves. (Small
town church warden)
Calendar
On paper as it does save on
downloading it... Once a year would be
enough. (Group discussion)
Looks good, could be a useful reminder but not of wide appeal:
 Most are already doing the things on the calendar (often at different times of the year).
 Would only be relevant to church wardens and treasurers so wouldn’t put on notice board.
 Linked videos potentially useful but email is a better way to communicate that.
We do these things … we do have our lightening conductor inspected, we do have the fire
people coming each year and looking at our fire extinguishers and replacing them if
necessary, we do have the gutters cleaned regularly – in sense this is a little bit teaching
granny to suck eggs although its quite a fun layout – but truthfully now I don’t think it is that
useful. (Small village church secretary)
9
Archdeacons Visitation News
Most widely recalled (around a half ) but pass along rate low. Positive reaction to the
communication but challenge is to extend reach.
RECALL
Recall and
usage
6 out of 11 respondents (all of the wardens) definitely recall seeing the Archdeacons
Visitation News
 Typically not passed on – seen as relevant to Church Wardens – although some would
share this with the maintenance people within the church.
 Confusion over Ecclesiastical’s role in AV News – Ecclesiastical potentially not getting the
recognition deserved
Positives:
 Good length – not too long.
 Format (paper at Archdeacons Visitation)
considered appropriate.
 Once a year = appropriate and right.
 Tailored to the local area = good/ more
interesting.
 Particularly relevant to new Church
wardens.
Improvements/ challenges:
 None mentioned in relation to AV news –
however there is requirement for a new
church warden pack (checklists, along
lines of Parish Pack) .
10
Archdeacons Visitation News – In their own words...
Useful in a hard copy - I was given this when I went for
my induction as part of my paperwork package and I
think as a new church warden you need as much
information as you can get and this is quite useful... not
really thought about passing it on - I wouldn't want to
pass on too much - sometimes you can give people too
much information. ... if there was anything key I would
raise it at a PCC meeting. ... I didn't know Ecclesiastical
provided the inner pages - I thought perhaps they
sponsored it. (Small town church warden)
Again it has lots of
different topics in it and
for new church wardens it
is probably quite
important.
(Group discussion)
I recall it once because we were featured on the
front cover, that’s why I recall it, this was in 2004
when we were just reopening. So that sounds very
egotistical that I remember that. London Diocese
are the in the scheme are they because I don’t
remember many, but perhaps it went to, they say
dear Church Wardens … No I didn’t see it after that.
So when the church wardens are installed and that
meeting with the Arch Deacon, they give them out.
I’m much more aware of the other one. (City Centre
church clergy)
I would look at this. And I would look at this as well mainly it is not too big,
when I get big magazines through from various charities there is very little
chance I get to get through those and I get lots of them because I support
lots of charities. But this is just about right I wouldn’t want any more than
this. Once a year for both is right, if it is more than that it just starts to get
into too much information. Online you could do more than this. (Small
village church secretary)
11
E-Newsletters
Overall email communication considered most effective – easy to scan for relevance and
easy to circulate.
RECALL
Recall and
usage
4 out of 11 respondents definitely recall seeing E-Newsletters (others recalled emails
but were unsure whether they were email newsletters)
 Typically glanced at to see if there’s anything of interest but people receive a lot of emails/
email newsletters = hard to read them all.
 Not usually forwarded on – sometimes assume other people have got it directly. Also, if
there’s anything of interest would bring it up at a PCC meeting.
Positives:
 No barriers to providing email addresses
– all respondents in the research use
email and are happy to receive email
newsletters.
 Potentially interesting and informative
articles
 Easy to digest snippets with
opportunity to follow links if more
information is required
 More chance of information being timely
 Links to videos
Improvements/ challenges:
 Key challenge is ensuring email
newsletters are eye catching enough to
increase open and click through rates – to
achieve cut through.
12
E-Newsletters – In their own words...
I don't know if we've seen it. ... The trouble is we get
so many emails... if it is on the e-newsletter you can
scan through it and see if there is something that is
relevant to your particular church or a particular
problem you have then you can print it out and you
have got it, and then take it along to meetings or put
on the notice board so you are not under any
obligation. Even if you choose not to read it at all you
have got that option.
I think they would have to put some sort of eye
catching headline. Something that you are interested
in. (Small Town Church Warden)
I mean I’m sure I must have received it but I
think the idea of a video is a really good one.
If it’s not possible to have a Ray Sule
character actually coming to see you in
person I think a video is a very good way of
communicating especially in somewhere like
Tower Hamlets where peoples reading skills
(City centre church)
What I would do, let’s say I got this, I probably would open it,
planning ahead for Easter I’d ignore that, Smart Water we’ve
done it. We have an electrical survey done. That we’ve
communicated with Ecclesiastical to let them know that we
were doing this (building work) they sent us back conditions
that the builders had to follow and we made sure the builders
were aware. So we did do that. My mind set is, I have
limited amount of time, is there anything on there that I’m not
doing, as far as I can see, no. That I wasn’t aware of (open
church), if the headline was your church could be open and
still secure, you could reduce your premium by this, I would
look into it. Your cover could be improved by, best practice
on securing churches, if the headline was like that I would
look at it. (Village church treasurer)
I do open it and then it’s a quick glance really and probably not a lot
else – not forward on to anybody else. It would be easy to send it to
everybody but am conscious that people get bombarded with all
manner of emails and don’t want to cascade it to people who already
have got it. And that is a disadvantage to a sense as don’t know who
is on the email list. (Focus group discussion)
13
E-Newsletters
Format and frequency considered appropriate. Content needs to be focused and
headlines eye catching to achieve cut through.
Format and
frequency
Content
6 times a year is considered appropriate:
 Not too frequent but frequent enough to be useful/topical
 Format of e-newsletter is considered good – essential that the headline is eye catching.
Content should be focused – while stories are interesting, focused risk management
pieces that can directly affect the churches have more impact.
 Linking to videos = a good way of communicating and getting messages across.
 Using real life case studies has appeal.
I would have thought it would be better to have
each of them mixed (story/risk management) rather
than just a single focus. And I would sort of say
would want some real examples rather than you
should be doing this to actually XYZ church tried
doing this and although they were successful these
were the problems they faced and this is how they
resolved them – real live anecdote. (Small village
secretary)
I think I would only want it if there was
something really important you wanted us to
know. Rather than planning ahead for Easter
for example. If it was like that you would know
that you would really need to do something
about it - rather than just a general message.
(Focus group discussion)
14
E-Newsletters – Specific Topics
Signing up to newsletters on specific topics is appealing.
While all tested topics had some appeal:
 keeping the church open and secure, fire prevention and electrical wiring inspection had the
widest appeal.
Keeping your church open – tips and guidance
******
Church security – keeping your church secure
******
Fire prevention – assessing risks and prevention
*****
Electrical wiring inspection
*****
Health and safety – model policy and guidance
****
Theft of metal – assessing the risk and what to do
****
Church surveys – what happens at a church survey
****
Building regulations – what you need to know when work is being done
****
Portable Appliance Testing
***
Slips, trips and falls – risk assessment and prevention
***
Winter weather risks – protecting your church for Winter
**
Fire extinguisher maintenance
*
Additional suggestion for
topics included:
‘What to do when your Vicar
leaves’ (interregnum) –
information to support Church
Wardens if a Vicar leaves.
“Have you reviewed your key
policy”
15
ChurchMatters Website
Positive response to the website however most hadn’t used the website and were
unaware of its existence.
RECALL
Recall and
usage
3 out of 11 respondents said they’d visited the Church Matters website before
 The remainder weren’t aware that it existed as a resource.
 Those that have used the website had all had some construction work done on the
Church and have looked at the website to get information on construction work.
Positives:
 Wealth of information/ very informative
 Videos – very informative, well done
 Easy to navigate
Improvements/ challenges:
 Key challenge is making sure people
know it’s there and can be used as a
resource – email newsletters with click
through articles is the best way of
communicating this but also backed up by
information at archdeacons visitations, in
the renewal pack, at survey etc..
 Signage from main Ecclesiastical website
(not immediately clear)
 Search function
16
ChurchMatters Website – In their own words...
Well what you’ve got to do to get people to go on to it,
is to sell the information that is on it as being useful to
churches. Go on this website because you’ll get value
from it. The easiest way to do that would be to have a
covering note, did you know we have a website, it
would provide all of this for you. Did you know you
could get a free survey … it’s those things, that’s what
encourages them, I would never have thought of that
(Village church treasurer)
I thought it was pretty good and user friendly, just
the headline and you go onto and then whack you
are onto that. And I like the fact they have little
videos like YouTube. Not been on it before.
Didn’t know it was there before. You said about
emails – have a look at our videos – you can find
important information on our videos because
often when someone sends it through and there
is a link you press on it and watch it straight
away. (Small town church warden)
If I stick on the churches bit it is a bit easier to navigate
around but if you start off on the home page it is
difficult to know what is there. The signage I couldn’t
see a site map at the bottom so I could find out what
there was – the church matters … was better but there
is a lot of stuff there and can it be found quickly well it
needs I wonder if it is there and if it is not – a search
box – it is better than many – but overall I think it
depends where you go in and you don’t know where
you are looking for. (Small town Church treasurer)
I was surprised that it wasn’t just about answering issues
on insurance. Yes they do need to get that message out
there, email and also communicating in renewal letters and
through the diocese because don’t forget we get
information from the diocese. Letters to ministers. (Small
village church secretary)
17
Parish Pack
Very positive reactions to Parish Pack - Considered very useful.
RECALL
Recall and
usage
1 out of 11 respondents recalled receiving a parish pack:
 Much bigger pack than the one shown in research.
Positives:
 Very useful – very interesting.
 Using less paper than previously –
sufficient information on paper and then
directing to the website for more
information is appropriate.
 Separate booklets for separate
information (can be given to appropriate
people easily)
 Health & safety and fire risk check list
approach felt to be extremely helpful
Improvements/ challenges:
 Increase distribution – clear that there is
appeal/demand for this pack between
surveys.
 Demand for Parish Pack to be handed out
as part of Church Warden’s Induction.
18
Parish Pack – In their own words...
I think they are excellent. They are very
concise each little bit is very concise and they
are easy to read and health and safety guide
and how to carry out your own risk
assessments and that sort of thing – I
wouldn’t know where to start but these are
quite useful. (Focus Group discussion)
Very very useful, because effectively we
have had to develop some of this ourselves,
so this is incredibly useful, our H&S policy
we have had to cobble something together.
Really useful.... If you have pages and
pages of stuff people just don’t read it.
Really useful. I am sure the church warden
would be very interested in this. Thank you.
(Small village church secretary)
This would have been really handy. Why haven’t I
seen this before (I think it’s quite new), wow, this
would’ve been really good it’s a fill in kind of thing,
the kind of thing that church wardens can work
through or building managers can work through
and you can kind of go back to and, yes, that
would’ve been very good. (City centre clergy)
Oh this is good. Very interesting. Can we keep this? Once we have
read it and the other church wardens we could even put it in the
church, we could draw out of this anything we need to discuss at
the PCC and what we should be doing. And I think that is one of
our failings we get stuff in the bundle from the diocese and you
have to pass it round so that the next person sees it but then it just
seems to disappear and half the things that I see in there I think oh
that is useful that should be up on the notice board as it is suppose
to be and you haven’t seen it happen and I think that sort of
information, people aren’t that interested in insurance but that
covers quite a lot of things really. What we could do is pass that
one round the PCC members and see if anybody wants to pick up
on anything. (Small town church warden)
19
Inserts at Renewal
Potentially a useful message but no recall of inserts so message isn’t achieving cut
through.
None of the respondents remembered seeing this particular insert at renewal.
One respondent recalled an insert on discounts for introducing other churches.
The content was considered useful:
That is interesting if we have a higher excess we could reduce our premium – do
we know what our excess is? You have actually highlighted something which we
said we have done with the utilities. We really do need to review our insurance.
(Small town church warden)
However this is potentially a message that should be received in advance of renewal:
I actually think that an email a month before renewal it gets you
thinking perhaps we need to have a conversation about this and bear
in … if it was something that needed to be discussed at the PCC then
there is a long lead time. (Small village church secretary)
20
Seminars
Awareness of seminars low. Potentially useful for a minority but not considered
key.
Just one respondent had been to a seminar:
A couple of years ago I went to an evening seminar by Ecclesiastical
on lead theft which was very topical at the time and there must have
been 70-80 people there at this one meeting and that was very
useful. We had been hit about 7 times within about 2 years. (Focus
group discussion)
Just one other was aware of seminars – most weren’t aware that Ecclesiastical ran seminars at
all.
 Lack of volunteer time would be key barrier to attendance.
A minority felt seminars would be useful (if they were on specific, relevant topics) however the
majority was of the opinion that:
 It was difficult to get people to commit to going to seminars (on line videos work better)
 Any costs involved couldn’t be covered by the church (even if seminars were free, it’s still asking
people to give up more time and pay for petrol etc..)
Specific topics of interest similar to E-Newsletters.
 A seminar on using social media for the church mentioned by one as potentially very useful.
21
Advertising
Mixed response to the new ads – on balance more negative than positive reaction.
Positives:
 On brand – use of corporate colours;
more corporate identity.
 Which? Endorsement
These are obviously identifiable
logos clearer and the right colour
and everything and it is very
interesting … I also think it is very
good to have got the Which label
on here. I am quite surprised to
see that they are a Which
recommended provider. So that the
corporate identify is a lot stronger.
(Small village church secretary)
Improvements/ challenges:
 Red background – makes it difficult to
read/ see.
 Images less eye catching than previous
pictures used.
I don’t like the red ad, I find the existing ones easier
to see from afar... The older ones are more eye
catching and more striking – I don’t like the red
background. (Focus group discussion)
I I like that particular colour (on the old ads) … Probably not
mad keen, compared to this it does look like a lot of words I
must admit, looks a bit wordy. … at the moment I see that
colour and think more of Ecclesiastical but they might, I
presume they’ve taken advice from disability groups about
what’s the best colour scheme… I think the orange is quite
bright and an attractive colour but it may be that they’ve done
some eyesight work and it should be a darker colour on the
background perhaps. A bit dull. (city centre clergy)
22
Social Media
Only a minority have embraced social media as a means of communicating to the
congregation/community about their church.
Mixed in terms of Facebook and Twitter usage for the church:
 3 out of 11 respondents were actively involved in Facebook for the church (less so Twitter at
the moment):
– 2 of these have Facebook pages (both clergy) and believe it does encourage younger
members of the Church and helps get their message out there:
One church in particular has a
goodish number of young people
and some of their friends have
engaged with some of things the
church is doing through Facebook
friends. (Focus group discussion)
The curate in his late 20’s and a youth worker in his late 20’s and so they kind
of dragged me… said we have to do this it should’ve been done ages ago, they
set up as you say a Facebook page… it was very well used by church
members. I remember that somebody put up, on Good Friday, a little kind of
cartoon explanation of what the meaning of Good Friday was and we had about
5000 likes. So yes, I think it’s the way it definitely led us into a very important.
(City centre clergy)
– The remaining respondent had set up a Facebook page and saw it as critical in getting
their message out and advertising the church however wasn’t sure how to go about it:
We really need help with the social media… Getting the message out telling people what it
going on like the church teas that might be that people who are in to that and for example
walks people do walk around here quite a lot we are on a number of picturesque walks …
we ought to be linking, come to the church buy a guidebook – make a donation. ... And the
other detail is that we want to advertise this space as a community space not just for this
village. (Small village church secretary)
23
Social Media
There is limited interest in an Ecclesiastical Twitter feed or Facebook page.
Eight out of 11 respondents reject the idea of using social media – primarily because of
their lack of interest in social media:
We do have a website for the church which is
updated quite regularly and a lot of people look at
that but I think actually we are the wrong church for
twitter/facebook. (Small town church warden)
It’s not my form of communication, I know lots of youngsters
use it all the time.... We've not really got much of a website.
We would like to improve our website. (Small village
treasurer)
Limited appeal in Ecclesiastical’s twitter feed and Facebook page:
 One respondent felt Ecclesiastical should embrace social media although they themselves
would be unlikely to use this medium.
 Existing Twitter users wouldn’t be interested in following Ecclesiastical on Twitter (and the
tweets themselves considered repetitive):
The great benefit with email is that it comes to you,
Facebook … if I have to go on to a facebook page
because I doubt that I would because I have got
other things going on in my life. (Small village
secretary)
One thing which really winds me up on Facebook/twitter
are companies that muscle in and advertise – so to answer
your next question I wouldn’t want to see Ecclesiastical on
Facebook/twitter. (Focus group discussion)
24
Church Competition – Awareness
Low awareness of the Ecclesiastical competition but viewed as supportive and
commendable by most.
Just one respondent was aware of the Ecclesiastical church competition:
 Recalled one a few years ago about a church website competition – the respondent’s church
didn’t enter themselves but were in the process of setting up their own website so used it for
information/ looking at best practice.
The majority of respondents felt Ecclesiastical offering a church competition with the 3
prizes as advertised was commendable and demonstrated support of the church...
However, a small minority questioned the relevance of an insurer offering such a
competition and was cynical about whether it affected premiums.
I am not in favour. Partly because I think I’ll be paying
for it somehow in my premiums and partly because
they are an insurance company and it’s not their core
business. (Focus group discussion)
Cash prizes considered most relevant – and the amount suggested is appropriate:
It’s got to be enough to get people interested and big
enough to make a difference. These amounts are
fine. Cash is best because there’s the flexibility to
spend it on what you want. (Focus group discussion)
25
Church Competition – Entering
To encourage entry the theme needs to be something easy to co-ordinate and administer.
Sufficient notice required – preferably at the beginning of the year.
Encouraging churches to enter is a challenge:
 PCC members are volunteers and busy:
– Getting someone to commit to doing what’s needed and entering might be difficult (it would
need to be co-ordinated)
– There is also some feeling that “we wouldn’t win anyway so what’s the point of entering?”
 The theme suggested (best use of church buildings) has some appeal (and its clear there are
some novel/creative activities going on), however :
– Could be too much work involved (taking photographs writing something up)
– Element of bias/lack of fair chance - Not all churches have additional buildings or the
location puts them at a disadvantage for community use.
– One theme suggested was best church magazine:
Something like a church magazine competition as a competition might be interesting – because you
can just say here is our magazine and stick it in an envelope and send it to them, maybe the last 2-3
copies and then I suppose you could scan in the winning ones and put them on the website… We have
got a magazine editor so if she – if it was just a matter of somebody popping it into an envelope and
sending it off to Gloucester or wherever as long as 20 different people didn’t do the same thing it would
need to be co-ordinated from that point of view so perhaps it would get discussed at a church council
meeting … We need to know what is coming up and have a mind to do some things about deadlines
with at least 3-4 months notice. (Town church treasurer)
26
Service
Service
Overall, respondents have been happy with service received. Telephone hours of 95 are considered sufficient.
Telephone
Email/mail
On line
Good claims service:
 Those who have had a claim
experience typically very happy with
the telephone service received.
 Feel they have spoken to a specialist
church insurer who understands their
needs; very able to answer queries.
Very few had reason to call other than
claims – never considered calling to
discuss premium level/ excess etc..
All said they called between 9 and 5 –
and said there was no need to have
hours between 8-9 and 5-6.
Just one had a minor complaint:
 Dislike of 0845 numbers (too
expensive)
Call back facility is appealing if on
hold – most would like the call back
within 30-60 minutes.
A minority prefer to communicate
via email:
 Easy to do in own time
 Have a record of all communication
Typically would expect/ want:
 An immediate response (automatic)
to say the email had been received
and to give the timeframe in which
it would be dealt with
 A reply within 2-3 working days
answering queries/ giving next
steps
Just one had been disappointed
with email service (lost email, lack
of response).
Limited need/ use of postal
channels.
On line service with policy
documents is appealing:
 Often volunteers who file things
away in own home and if
something happens while they’re
away, no one else knows how/
where to access documents. On
line access of policy documents
considered useful.
Strong appeal for on line calculator
tool to calculate premiums/ excess:
 All respondents are cost conscious
and most unaware that this was an
option for them
A dummy email that basically says
we’ve received your email and you will
get a response within 48 hours. That
would be fine. (Small village church
treasurer)
I really like the idea of having
an on line calculator to put in
a premium and excess and
play around with what the
premium could be. (Small
town church warden)
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Service – In their own words...
whenever I ring up to say we have had some lead
taken and we are going to have to make a claim
each time the details are taken very quickly and
efficiently and given a claim number and when we
have further information it goes through very
smoothly I find. (Focus group discussion)
I haven’t found a need to do that, what was going
through my mind was under what circumstances would
I. No, because if there is a break-in or theft which has
occurred there is not much Ecclesiastical can do about
it, put simply they are going to pay money back once
we’ve got it sorted. They don’t and neither should they,
they don’t take a part in sorting out what’s gone wrong,
you know, it’s either a theft or a break-in. I get advice
from the church architect, because there is lots of
constraints because it’s a grade 2 star building and the
diocese is quite fussy about what we can and can’t do
with the building. So no, I can’t immediately think of
any reason why I’d need to contact them out of hours.
(Small village church treasurer)
I suppose yes that’s what they are and when you need
them they come to your aid, professional with the dealings
that I had and also when we had the work done because it
took quite a long time I gave them the bill and that was fine
too and they were quite helpful in talking me through the
questions that I asked about how long did we have to do it
within a timeframe and questions I had they were able to
answer.(Focus group discussion)
9-5 is fine. If we had a situation where we had a phone call
to say that somebody has ripped all the lead of the roof we
would immediately call the police but would like to contact
Ecclesiastical – I am not saying that you need 24/7 cover as it
is unlikely you are going to discover that at 3 o’clock in the
morning but usually find it when it rains... .most people
assume there isn't anyone to take calls before 9am. (Small
town church warden)
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Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusions and recommendations
The communication material/resources all received positive feedback… However
Ecclesiastical is not necessarily first port of call for risk management guidance/advice/help:
 Work in closer partnership with Diocese and other church resources (Church care, Church Buildings) to
ensure the risk management help/advice available from Ecclesiastical is more promoted on relevant
websites.
It is essential that Ecclesiastical improve circulation and investment is required to build the database:
 Can’t assume that information is going to reach the right people as recipients rarely pass on or share
information
 Need to invest and build a more extensive database of email addresses/ contact details of church wardens,
treasurers, secretaries, clergy.
– Use existing contact details to mail out requesting email addresses
Communications could be improved to encourage readership/cut through:
 Length could be paired back (keep communications concise and succinct)
 Headlines and articles should be focused and relevant (risk management of more interest than stories)
 Consider more hard hitting headlines/stronger calls to action to encourage cut through
 More tailored communication e.g. signing up for specific Enewsletter topics
 Role for a succinct warden pack/checklist – circulated to new wardens and wardens whose Vicar is leaving.
Telephone service experience typically around claims (those who hadn’t had claims had limited
experience).
 Feedback on service typically good – all felt they’d dealt with a specialist church insurer and had been well
supported through the claims process
 Call back facility is appealing if on hold – most would like the call back within 30-60 minutes.
31
Conclusions and recommendations
Communication:
Key Conclusions:
Recommendations for Ecclesiastical:
Church Matters
Newsletter
Recall and awareness low however when shown,
respondents do like and value. Format and
frequency is fine.
Consider more hard hitting headlines to grab attention –
especially on the front page.
Keep it short, concise, succinct.
AV News
Recall and awareness low however respondents
again do like and value. Ecclesiastical not getting
recognition deserved.
Retain AV News at existing format and frequency but make
Ecclesiastical’s support clearer. Potential to use AV News to
communicate other resources (website) and collect email
addresses for newsletter.
E-Newsletter
Most aren’t receiving e-newsletters however
considered a convenient, best way of
communicating key messages.
Appeal for ability to sign up to newsletters on
specific topics.
Essential to obtain more email addresses – AV? When
Church Warden’s are sworn in? Surveys? Proactively ask if
anyone else in PCC should be getting newsletters.
Ensure headlines are hard hitting and clear – email
newsletters have to be immediately obvious.
Website
Awareness is low and Ecclesiastical not first port of
call for resources.
Multi channel approach to communicating website – enewsletters, church matters, renewal pack, through diocese,
AV etc..
Social media
There is potentially a role for social media for
churches however there is a definite reluctance
from the majority to embrace social media
(generation/ age issue).
An Ecclesiastical Facebook page or Twitter feed is
not something that would be used extensively
however isn’t damaging.
May be a role for Ecclesiastical to help churches understand
and use social media to their best advantage (seminars,
webinars on how to use; sharing of best practice examples).
Launching a Facebook page or Twitter feed likely to have
limited impact – while not damaging, resource may be better
directed elsewhere.
32
Conclusions and recommendations
Communication:
Key Conclusions:
Recommendations for Ecclesiastical:
Parish Pack
Considered very useful although none had had a
parish pack as shown. Length and size (on paper)
considered relevant.
Retain Parish Pack as shown – no need for bigger pack.
Inserts
Recall low and content considered useful however
possibly a message that needs to hit prior to
renewal.
Multi channel – retain the inserts however find a way of
communicating this message prior to renewal via email, post,
newsletters etc..
Seminars
Recall and usage low. Some appeal however topic
has to be relevant and focused and there are
issues in getting people to commit to attending.
Seminars aren’t wide reaching however are valued by
minority. Subject matter needs to be focused and relevant –
potential to do a seminar on using social media for churches?
Church competition
Awareness low however most respondents see the
competition as commendable and say it shows
Ecclesiastical supporting the church. Taking the
time to enter and finding someone willing to take on
the task can be a barrier
The theme needs to be straightforward and simple (i.e.
something churches are doing anyway so it wouldn’t take
much to enter) and entry needs to be easy (simple form,
emailed off or sent in an envelope). Prizes generally
considered appropriate (cash appropriate) however might
need to be something in it for them to enter (i.e. sharing of
information = benefit)
Service
Most happy with service received although not all
had experienced the service. Ecclesiastical is
considered a specialist church insurer.
Ability to look at policy documents on line and an
on line calculator tool have appeal.
9-5 are acceptable opening hours for telephone service. Call
back facility is appealing if on hold – most would like the call
back within 30-60 minutes.
Email queries should receive an acknowledgement email with
a timeframe for when someone from Ecclesiastical will get
back to them – 2 working days is acceptable.
Consider launching on line service.
33
Case Studies
Depth Interview case studies
Case Study #2 Village Church in Hertfordshire
Ads:
Unsure of relevance of the images – pictures aren’t as clear as existing ads.
Social Media:
Has own Facebook page but isn’t a big personal user. Hasn’t looked into the use of
social media for the church – while admits it could be a good way of reaching
younger people, this isn’t something that has been discussed. They do have a
church website but this needs updating (which they are looking into). Hasn’t used
twitter in the past and has no intention of using it in the future. No interest in an
Ecclesiastical Facebook page or twitter account.
Church competition:
Unaware they had a church competition. While he thinks it’s commendable and
supportive, he says they are unlikely to enter because:
• Don’t have any church buildings other than the church itself
• Doesn’t think they would win – other churches have more flexible buildings and can
be more creative
• PCC isn’t very active and doesn’t want to put in more time/ effort
“It’s not a particularly active church, its aging, there is a limit to what we can actually
do. It’s a good thing to do, I commend Ecclesiastical for doing it, but there is a limit
to what we can get our PCC to do.”
40
Case Study #3 Small Town Church in Bedfordshire
Respondent profile:
Paired depth with husband and wife – husband is church warden and wife is
treasurer. Been involved in church for 20 years, been in current role for a year
(church warden – although had been church warden previously), 15 months
(treasurer).
Ecclesiastical
insurance:
Church, church hall and ‘Friends of St Mary’s’ fundraising group.
“What I see as their key strengths is that they understand churches and they tailor
their product to churches and I have to say looking on their website they have an
incredible amount of extra information not necessarily through them but leading you
through into other areas where you can investigate things or looking at making the
church safer, not necessarily reducing premiums but making the church safer .”
Key issues facing the
church:
Ageing population; low numbers; keeping costs down.
Personal safety is another issue – often people are there alone flower arranging and
“we need to consider their personal safety.”
This church is kept open during the day – there have been discussions about
keeping the church open and security so this is something that’s of interest.
41
Case Study #3 Small Town Church in Bedfordshire
Communication recall:
Recall Archdeacons Visitation News – don’t recall any other communication and
hadn’t heard of ChurchMatters website prior to the research.
Reaction to
communication:
Very positive about all the communication shown – Church Matters newsletter
considered interesting and informative and appropriate to be once a year on paper.
Similarly Archdeacons Visitation news considered useful and appropriate to be once
a year on paper. Unlikely to pass on the communications – unless something very
relevant when it would be raised in a PCC meeting. Email newsletters considered
the most ideal form of communication – but must be clear and relevant. Positive
about signing up to receive emails on specific topics. Parish pack considered very
useful (they wanted to keep the pack) – they weren’t aware of the option to have a
survey but were very keen to get one. Inserts again considered useful but not
recalled – the message about excess very relevant.
Church Matters website very informative and useful – more email communication
wanted about what the website offers. They also suggested more information with
the renewal letter about the websites.
Social Media:
Non social media users and reject the idea of using social media for the church
“we’re the wrong church for social media.”
42
Case Study #3 Small Town Church in Bedfordshire
Service experience:
They did consider Ecclesiastical as knowledgeable about churches (specialist
church insurers). Have had some dealings with Ecclesiastical but not extensive while
they’ve been in their roles. They did recall one experience: “a little while ago through
Ecclesiastical they had somebody come from a company, alarm people, because of
a theft of lead and they came along and I went round with him and explained all the
pros and cons and he did a very good job and he had been put in touch via
Ecclesiastical and he did the survey and came up with some figures and they were
quite scary for us and was going to cost over £5k now I had to give a presentation to
the PCC to tell them what was happening and how much it was going to cost and I
got in contact with an Ecclesiastical and said to them if we install these alarms how
much will it save us, the answer was well it won’t save you anything but we will
increase your cover which as far as the church is concerned that is a no-go so very
nice so lets say for arguments sake we have got £50k cover for our lead and you are
going to double it to £100k great but if nobody ever steals it”
Ads:
Negative reaction to the new ads – preference for existing ads (can see the pictures
better, clearer messages).
Church competition:
Never heard of the church competition prior to the research. Would be tempted to
enter although believe it would take a lot of work “we’d need to know about it at the
beginning of the year so we could plan for it.” Getting a volunteer to manage this and
enter might be difficult.
43
Case Study #4 Town Church in Hertfordshire
Respondent profile:
Treasurer -previously a treasurer of the local parish church which had a daughter
church attached to it but that’s now become a stand-alone LEP Methodist Church.
Congregation a mix of Anglican/Methodist . Respondent also involved in other
volunteer roles : involved in Alms House charity and scout group and his wife is a
Church steward.
Ecclesiastical
insurance:
Both churches within parish insured with Ecclesiastical – including one integral and
one standalone church hall and one curates house.
Been involved with Ecclesiastical for about 30 years - been the one throughout who
is the main contact with Ecclesiastical with regards periodic survey visits, sum
assured, notifying them of faculty applications, new works.
Have had to get permission to do work on church buildings found the interactive PDF
on EIG website asked a lot of irrelevant questions
Key issues facing the
church:
Funding for Church maintenance. Had major works done this year including kitchen
refit and leaded window repairs. Finding and retaining volunteers with sufficient
knowledge/skills for various roles.
44
Case Study #4 Town Church in Hertfordshire
Service
experience:
Tends to deal by email and uses website. Expressed some frustration with lack of
acknowledgment of emails and emails taking a long time to be answered.
“What doesn’t seem to be working very well at the moment and it is twice now I emailed them
stuff , once to say we have got two lots of building work going on and we have applied for
faculties and what do you want from us and I had to send a reminder because I hadn’t got a
response. I sent in a buildings works questionnaire fairly recently and it hasn’t been responded
to, quoting policy number and everything. I am sure there must be thousands of churches and it
must be a nightmare in allocating emails to the right desk and the right person but they don’t
seem to be particularly quick at responding to emails.”
Also recently had survey and had to lodge a complaint about survey report: “Well the
surveyors report I lodged a formal complaint about that I am sorry to say it has lots of
inaccuracies in it and it had to be re-written.”
Communication
recall:
Recall of Church Matters newsletter and Enewsletter. No recall of Archdeacon
Visitation News. Aware of Church Matters website as had previously visited it
when needed to find information on obtaining a faculty . Also recalls receiving
Parish pack following recent survey
Reaction to
communication:
Respondent thinks the materials are useful not so much for himself but other
volunteers but challenge is getting them to read them “I do whizz through them
(Newsletter/emails etc)I think these things it depends on the knowledge of the recipient having
been involved in church finances and insurance for quite a long time I wouldn’t say I know
everything but I have less need to be fed information, I think the problem is getting people to
read it even people that need to read it if it not attractively produced, they are probably after my
money so chuck it away unread which is a shame because I think there is a lot of useful stuff
and there is a lot of ignorance out there in various churches who don’t really know what is going
on and don’t make themselves aware of what is on offer”.
45
Case Study #4 Town Church in Hertfordshire
Ads:
Not covered due to lack of time
Social Media:
Not a big advocate of social media, Respondent uses Face book in a small way
personally and has a twitter account purely just to keep up to date with scout group.
Does not see a role for social media for the Church and would have no interest in an
Ecclesiastical Facebook page or twitter feeds.
Church competition:
Recalls a competition for about 10 -15 years ago – Church website competition – the
church didn’t take part but found the results interesting/helpful. Feels the prize
money is attractive.
Feels a competion is a good idea but must be very simple to enter and not absorb a
lot of volunteer time – suggested best church newsletter/magazine as a theme as
that would only require someone to post off newsletter. Wasn’t keen on best use of
Church buildings as feels it wouldn’t provide equal opportunity – some churches
have big advantage in terms of location with passers by – easier to attract people to
events etc than others locate off the beaten track.
46
Case Study #5 City Church – London Borough
Respondent profile:
Vicar ( however has recently left parish)– two church buildings in a relatively poor
London Borough. One of the churches was derelict when the vicar first arrived in
2003 – A huge fund raising exercise was undertaken to renovate the derelict church £3.5m project over a 14 month period.
Ecclesiastical
insurance:
Both church buildings insured with Ecclesiastical. Ecclesiastical was closely
involved during the 14 month renovation period providing health and safety advice
on construction site etc. Vision was to have the renovated church open every day of
the week to provide place of sanctuary/solace to local population over and above
service congregations – received lots of advice from Ecclesiastical on practical
matters around how to safely leave a church open in a London Borough with high
crime rates. Had named face to face contact at Ecclesiastical who was easily
accessible by phone and made site visits.
Key issues facing the
church:
Keeping church open everyday in London borough with high crime rates and many
vulnerable people. Trying to increase congregation numbers and engage younger
people. Fundraising always on the agenda. Lead theft – had three lead thefts several
years ago. The parish is currently without a vicar (interregnum) which means church
wardens have had to take on extra responsibilities. Outgoing vicar (respondent)
found it very difficult to find information in advance of departure that could be
provided to the wardens to help them after her departure.
47
Case Study #5 City Church – London Borough
Service experience:
From the Vicars perspective all servicing communication was done either face to
face or by telephone with a designated representative and was predominantly
focused on the church building renovation
Communication recall:
Recall of Church Matters newsletter, Archdeacons Visitation News (one edition that
featured their own church). No recall of Enewsletters and no awareness of Church
Matters website – thought the buildings manager would probably be aware of the
website.
Reaction to
communication:
Positive reaction to all pieces of communication. Church Matters newsletter and
Enewsletter – considered useful, anything on topical risk issues and /or funding
raising/grants etc considered relevant – would pass on to buildings manager. Found
calendar idea quite appealing, thought it would be good have some form of
reminder/alert throughout year suggested a phone app could work. Particularly liked
idea of links to videos on Church Matters website – literacy rates relatively low in
borough and therefore things like video as a means of communication is more
accessible. Volunteers time poor more likely to spend 5 minutes watching video than
reading a lot of material. Parish Pack not seen before but considered extremely
useful. “Wow, this is really good it’s a fill in kind of thing, the kind of thing church
wardens can work through and go back to”
48
Case Study #5 City Church – London Borough
Ads:
Prefer old over new advertisement – new ad colour too dark/dull, imagery not clear,
too wordy.
Social Media:
Church set up own website page (driven by young curate and youth worker) – good
way of engaging community – posted cartoon on meaning of Good Friday and it is
received 5000 likes.
Respondent felt it would be appropriate for Ecclesiastical to use social media (face
book, twitter or what ever is the current trend) – good way of reaching out to younger
volunteers etc.
Church Competition:
Aware that Ecclesiastical does run competitions – 1st prize of £5,000 considered an
attractive incentive to enter – no real views on theme.
49
Church Communications Research 2013
September 2013
Julie Irwin and Kate Turner
68 Lombard Street, London EC3V 9LJ Tel: 0870 787 4490