Where do these numbers come from?

Three of them are yours: first-time visitors a month, how many come back, and average household giving. The calculator adds three stated assumptions. Your return rate rises by 15 percentage points with structured follow-up, a household is 2.4 people, and Passport costs $49 a month on the Companion plan. Change any input and the estimate updates.

Is a 15-point improvement realistic?

It is a planning assumption, not a measured result, and you can judge it for yourself. We assume structured follow-up raises your return rate by 15 percentage points, capped at 75%. If your church already follows up with every guest, your gain will be smaller than the estimate.

Why does the result lead with payback instead of the return multiple?

Payback is the question a church treasurer asks. Yearly giving compared with a subscription of $588 a year produces a large multiple very quickly, and a large number reads like a promise. "Pays for itself in" is the same arithmetic, stated plainly.

What if my church does not take tithes or track giving?

Enter $0 for giving. The calculator then shows how many more families stay, which is the number most pastors care about first. Once Passport is running, its retention reports show who came back, week by week.

What does Passport cost for guest follow-up?

Guest follow-up starts on the Companion plan at $49 a month. It includes the Guests hub, the Visit page, Guest Journeys with automatic texts, follow-up tasks with a named owner, and retention reports, and it works alongside Breeze or Planning Center.

Church visitor retention ROI calculator

What is one retained visitor worth to your church? Enter three numbers to see how many more families could stay, and how quickly better follow-up pays for itself.

27more families retained each year, about 65 people

Passport pays for itself in 1 week

An estimated $73,926 a year in giving, against $588 a year for Passport Companion. That is a 125.7x return.

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How does the ROI calculator work?

The calculator turns your monthly first-time visitors into a yearly count, then compares how many return today with how many would return if your rate rose 15 percentage points. Each extra household that stays is valued at the average giving you enter, and that yearly figure is set against Passport's Companion price.

The assumptions, in full

Improvement. We assume structured follow-up raises your return rate by 15 percentage points, capped at 75%. This is Passport's planning assumption, not a measured result.
Household size. The people figure assumes 2.4 people per household.
Giving. The giving field starts at $2,738, the average given by U.S. households that gave to a religious congregation in 2020 (Philanthropy Panel Study, 2020 giving). It is a mean, so put in your own church's figure if you know it.
Cost. $49 a month for Companion, the plan where guest follow-up starts.

These are estimates. Your results will depend on your church, your community and how consistently your team follows up.

Your estimate, line by line

First-time visitors a year15 a month × 12	180
Come back todayat your rate of 20 percent	36 visitors
Come back with structured follow-upat 35 percent, your rate plus 15 points	63 visitors
More families who staythe difference, rounded	27 families
Estimated yearly giving27 families × $2,738	$73,926
Passport Companion$49 a month × 12	$588
Payback periodcost ÷ yearly giving × 52 weeks, rounded up	1 week

Why do the weeks after a first visit matter so much?

Guests decide quickly: in a 2023 Lifeway Research survey of churchgoers who had switched churches, 71% decided to attend regularly within three visits. Only 21% of church switchers say a welcoming team contacted them when they visited their current church, down from 28% in 2006. Lifeway Research, 2023

Passport gives every first-time guest a named person to follow up within 48 hours, and a Guest Journey of texts, emails and tasks keeps going until they are connected to a group, class or ministry. The visitor journey report then shows who came back and where people stop.

How Passport handles guest follow-up Church visitor retention statistics How to retain church visitors

Passport's visitor journey report: bars for first visit, return visit, in a group, enrolled in a class, serving interest and fully engaged, with the biggest drop-off flagged

Questions about the ROI estimate

: Three of them are yours: first-time visitors a month, how many come back, and average household giving. The calculator adds three stated assumptions. Your return rate rises by 15 percentage points with structured follow-up, a household is 2.4 people, and Passport costs $49 a month on the Companion plan. Change any input and the estimate updates.
: It is a planning assumption, not a measured result, and you can judge it for yourself. We assume structured follow-up raises your return rate by 15 percentage points, capped at 75%. If your church already follows up with every guest, your gain will be smaller than the estimate.
: Payback is the question a church treasurer asks. Yearly giving compared with a subscription of $588 a year produces a large multiple very quickly, and a large number reads like a promise. "Pays for itself in" is the same arithmetic, stated plainly.
: Enter $0 for giving. The calculator then shows how many more families stay, which is the number most pastors care about first. Once Passport is running, its retention reports show who came back, week by week.
: Guest follow-up starts on the Companion plan at $49 a month. It includes the Guests hub, the Visit page, Guest Journeys with automatic texts, follow-up tasks with a named owner, and retention reports, and it works alongside Breeze or Planning Center.
Compare every Passport plan

Want a different angle on the same question? Take the church visitor retention assessment

A greeter high-fives a child as a family returns to church the next Sunday

Start with this Sunday's guests

Set up Passport, put your QR welcome card at the door, and every first-time guest gets a named person to follow up. Companion is $49 a month.

Start your free trial Try the live demo

30-day free trial, no charge today
Cancel a monthly plan anytime
Most churches are live in under 30 minutes