“What does this mean and how can we use this information to help people live their Catholic life every day and bring people in our community closer to Christ?”
Over the past year, we have been working hard to develop our new myParish App analytics. After hearing from you and taking into consideration your needs we are excited to offer our new platform that will help you evaluate your app activity.
Building Catholic Community
Let me take you on a short journey before we dive into the data. I, like many of my colleagues, come from the parish world. Until this past summer, I was the youth director for three parishes in my community and wore many hats when I was full-time at the parish. Like many of you, I was a great multitasker; answered phones sat on committees, and organized many parish events. I can remember, time after time, our team would plan faith-filled events hopeful each would have a better turnout. Think of the hours spent in planning and hosting each of these events. When we brought in a speaker there would often be an additional monetary expense as well. Our goal was basically the same each time: to bring people closer to Christ and live their Catholic life more fully every day. As a full-time team member at Diocesan, I have this same goal. I help people like yourself help your community live their Catholic life every day.
Each time a parishioner goes to the myParish app and taps on a button or a feature they are engaging in your virtual community. If the message sent or the announcement you made inspires them to open the app, you have helped them grow in their faith. In just a few short minutes each week, you have the potential to reach every parishioner who has downloaded the app. If they choose to open the app a second time or a third, your communication helped to make that happen. Instead of weeks of planning for one event, just minutes of intentional planning and implementation with your app will have an ongoing impact.
Now more than ever your faith community is looking to connect through technology. Let’s seize this opportunity to bring our fellow Christians closer to Christ. Although analytics gives us a clear idea of how many people have engaged in your app over time it does not tell the whole story. Take a deeper look into what these numbers are telling us and the opportunities they present to engage your community more fully.
The Details
The analytics page in the myParish app portal displays your parish’s unique users over a period of time. (It is important to note that accurate numbers were not reported until the beginning of February 2021.) Not all users will access myParish app every week. Looking at a month or more of data is a good starting point. The frequency of users to your app is based largely on the frequency of your communication. Sending messages and promoting myParish app features will generally increase usage of your app.
Here are some insightful questions to ask yourself when evaluating your data:
- Are there spikes in viewership?
- Was a message sent out on that day?
- Was an announcement made at Mass?
- Was it a feast day or a special day in the liturgical season?
- Did our parish have a special event happening that day or the next?
- Are there valleys in viewership?
- What days of the week are these trending?
- Is there an opportunity to engage in a mid-week event?
- How often are these happening?
- What buttons might appeal to your community every day?
- Prayers? Setting a daily prayer reminder?
- Readings? Reading the daily readings every day?
- Custom Button? Inspire Daily or Three-Minute Theology?
- What buttons might appeal to your community every day?
myParish app will assist your parishioners in living their Catholic life every day
A little work on your part will inspire and strengthen the faith of your parishioners.
Our team will continue to develop the analytics platform with features that will allow you to see the number of new users as well as how your users are specifically utilizing your app. You will know if your messaging is inspiring new downloads and what features to promote. Our team and our Admin Resource Center have a wealth of resources to help you do this with ease. Please schedule a call below for a 1-on-1 review of your app’s analytics.
“stewardship,” they think, “The Church wants my money.” However, DiCosola wants Catholic leaders and parishioners to think of stewardship as the response of a disciple of Christ. DiCosola also covers the use of technology, including myParish App, for parish stewardship needs.
