Four Ways To Improve Your Church’s Email Marketing
An Email Marketing Odyssey
I was created with a singular purpose: to deliver a critical message to a key stakeholder. I was dispatched with the utmost urgency, and my journey was swift. Upon arrival, I joined the throngs of other messengers, all waiting to impart their information. The delay was agonizing. Finally, when our lord began to receive us, I was marked as important. Yet, before I could deliver my message, I was imprisoned. All I could do was shout, “Vacation Bible School at Brinkley Church, Time Sensitive!” to my recipient.
My captivity lasted for months, without explanation. Vacation Bible School had long since passed, and my message had become irrelevant. Then, without warning, I was summoned. The lord requested my message. I delivered it, despite its outdated nature, and they offered an appreciative smile.
The following week, they visited and became a devoted member of our church. Though my mission failed, I ultimately achieved success in my objective.
I am a well-written email.
The message is not as important as who is sending it, and where to find them.
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to communicate directly with your audience and increase weekly attendance. However, many churches only send a single weekly email detailing events to all members. Some churches send specific notes to members of particular ministries, but little else.
Email marketing for church growth differs significantly from event notifications for existing attendees. Every church should maintain an email list for visitors who haven't yet become regular members. This list should receive distinct, regular communications inviting them and highlighting relevant local opportunities for involvement. Often, people don't get involved simply by visiting once; they may be interested in a ministry gathering outside of Sunday service hours and attend that before deciding to become a member.
Inboxes are always full. You have to make sure your email stands out even if it doesn’t get read immediately.
Here are four reasons why your church should be doing more with emails:
Irrelevant Headlines: Your headlines likely aren't relevant to most of your email recipients. Headlines like "Weekly Events at X Church" don't engage non-attendees. Instead, highlight major, unique events in your headlines, such as a clothing drive, international ministry trip, or children's Vacation Bible School.
Poor List Segmentation: Sending the same email to non-members and weekly attendees creates a mismatch of information. Non-invested individuals are less interested in detailed Bible studies and more interested in what your church believes and how it can help them. Always craft marketing emails as if the recipient is unfamiliar with your church, encouraging involvement rather than updating a regular attendee about weekly events.
Infrequent Emails: If you're sending weekly emails to your church audience but only one or two "thank you" emails to new visitors and then abandoning them, you might not be communicating enough. Many visitors intend to return; churches aren't usually an outright "no," but people simply don't remember to plan their return unless they're invested. Saturday reminders inviting them back are a great way to stay in touch. Including weekly event updates with compelling headlines (as mentioned in point two) will also serve as an additional reminder of your church's name and their past visit. Two relevant emails a week from an organization are not spam. If recipients feel it's too much, they're likely not interested in attending and will move the emails to their spam folder. This needs careful monitoring: if someone attends church and receives two emails a week for eight weeks without responding or returning, the email cadence should be reduced to every other week. While this sounds like a lot of work, it's easier than you might think, and we can show you how to make it more efficient.
Long Conversion Cycles: People may not be as "lost" as you think; they might just be taking a longer path. Email marketing often takes time to succeed, sometimes requiring 10-12 emails for someone to truly notice and remember your business. If you're sending one email a week or less to new visitors who aren't members, they may not remember or have seen your church's name in the headline enough times to consider it relevant. They might have attended once but aren't looking for continuous attendance. This could change over a year or two, and if they've been receiving regular emails from your church, they'll be reminded and likely give you another chance.
To drive results with email marketing, ensure your headlines are effective, keep your church's brand visible to those with high interest, tailor emails to your audience, and give those emails enough time to become ingrained reminders of a place they'd like to revisit. For detailed guides on email execution, frequency, and specific headline messaging, subscribe to the Fair Winds newsletter.
