4 Things Your Church Email Newsletter Must Do Every Time

Your church email newsletter helps you know how many are reading it and what they’re interested in. Here are four things to keep in mind.

By Mark MacDonald

A church email newsletter is an excellent way to remind and inform your members of events, sermons, and resources they need to know about. Unlike the printed newsletters of the past, you can actually know how many are reading the emails and what they’re interested in. So, you know how you can improve.

By applying these techniques, your open rate (the percentage of people opening an email for at least four seconds) will increase, and your congregation will feel more engaged with ministries. According to statistics for non-profit organization emails, the open rate remains quite low. Only about 25% of recipients open the emails. This is a pretty low bar.

Let’s improve this for your church. Here are four things your church email newsletter must do every time you send your email communication:

1. Give edited information in a tiered manner

This is tricky. Of course, you want to provide all the information you think your congregants need. The problem? Most don’t want all that information. The easiest solution? Send separate emails (with more personalized information) to segments of your list. Then you can deliver the information they want.

“If segmentation isn’t possible in your church email, consider tiering content based on how many people need it.” — @markmac1023 Share on X

If segmentation isn’t possible, consider tiering content based on how many people need it. Start with tier-one information (all-church events and information) at the top of your event listing. Then, move to tier-two events (ministry-specific; e.g., kids, students, etc.). Perhaps those two tiers are all your newsletter should list. It’s up to you. Or simply provide a link to your web calendar for smaller events.

2. Provide scannable content for a fast read

No one likes a long email. How do we know? Research reveals it. A shorter church email newsletter is always better than a longer one. How short should it be? Most people prefer less than 150 words. But that’s difficult if you’re not segmenting. So, make sure you have “scannability” in your content.

“A shorter church email newsletter is always better than a longer one. How short should it be? Most people prefer less than 150 words.” — @markmac1023 Share on X

Use sections to cluster events for each demographic (e.g. adults, kids, etc.). Make headlines bold (or larger) so people can quickly search from top to bottom for content they’d like to read. Use bullet points rather than long paragraphs. Keep sentences short by editing wordiness and removing unimportant details. Only concentrate on information that would compel someone to attend or click the link.

3. Connect to your church website for more details 

In summary, you want a church email newsletter as brief as possible with eye interruptions that make it scannable. So where do you put the details that someone might need after they’re interested (e.g., times, dates, etc.)? On your website. Then in the email, link to a web calendar event or ministry page. Just resist putting too many details in your email. People will start scanning and quickly ignore most of your email.

4. Concentrate on the subject line and who’s sending it

After you have your church email newsletter written, decide what email subject line would encourage someone to open the email. It shouldn’t be long, and it should be in the active voice. Some email programs allow you to personalize the subject line based on the database. Try that. Also, research has shown more people open emails if they’re from a person rather than an organization. Consider having the email newsletter sent from the pastor, loved ministry assistant, or, if segmented, a ministry leader.

For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.