THE VIBRANT PARISH NEWSLETTER

7 Steps to Better Parish Emails

You have some email addresses, you know that email messaging is important for your parish … now what? Knowing where to begin with email marketing can seem daunting, especially when facing the unknown world of list management and scheduling.

Fret not! Here are seven email marketing best practices that will help you build a strong email marketing strategy. With a strong strategy in place, you can streamline your process and communicate with your digital audience effectively.

Tips for “Spring Cleaning” Your Email Segmenting

Spring has sprung, and chances are your parish building and grounds crew is starting to prune the dead branches and old leaves from your shrubbery and flower beds. But landscaping isn’t the only thing that might need some tending to after a sleepy winter season — how long has it been since your email lists were spruced up?

Email segmenting (the practice of targeting certain emails to specific subgroups) can boost the performance of your email campaigns and improve your open and click rates. But curating your email lists to optimize your reach can feel a bit like catching lightning in a bottle. Every parish community is different and will have its own “secret sauce” for success. But luckily, there are some best practices that can help anyone improve the efficacy of their email marketing.

Here are four questions to ask yourself when “spring cleaning” your email segments.

Are you getting what you need from your email service provider?

Some congregations will do just fine employing a basic email service provider (ESP) without all the bells and whistles. But it may be the case that your parish needs have evolved or changed. Are you utilizing an ESP that offers reporting features to help you analyze the performance of your campaigns? Do you have access to data and metrics that can provide insights into the behavior of your email recipients? Tweaking email segmenting successfully depends on being able to accurately predict how your subscribers will receive the information, and to do that, you need as much information as possible. Is it time to upgrade your parish to marketing software from a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool that can provide you with more data and tools?

Are your cohorts flexible?

People change, and you want to ensure that your email segmenting can, too! If you already utilize email segmenting to some degree, it’s likely that you have established cohorts or subgroups of recipients defined by qualities like age, donation level, family size or ministry involvement. But are you updating those cohorts regularly to ensure that the profiles of the members are still accurate? Those newlyweds who signed up for the Young Adult Ministry mailing list five years ago, for example, might benefit from receiving marketing emails about the school open house … but the family whose youngest child graduated last year has probably long stopped opening those messages.

Are you utilizing click segmentation?

Anyone with an email list (like your parish, for example) can benefit from click segmentation, whereby subscribers click on answers to questions about what exactly they’re looking for or interested in when it comes to parish life. Here is a blog that describes the process well and can help get you started. Click segmentation will allow you to create well-curated lists of subscribers who have told you exactly what will make them click “open.”

Are you cutting the dead weight?

One of the quickest and easiest ways to spruce up your email segmenting lists is to trim what the pros call the “deadwood” (those who are never opening your emails) from your list. It may sound harsh, but having too many inactive subscribers can lead to deliverability issues for your other email campaigns. Consider sending a campaign to your entire inactive cohort to give them the option of continuing to receive emails. Those that opt out, or don’t open the email, will be cut, resulting in a leaner and more effective subscriber list.

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5 Ways to Engage Your Parishioners Via Email

These days, having a strong virtual presence is crucial for a modern Catholic parish. A good website and up-to-date social media accounts will be a boon to your evangelization efforts, but when it comes to maintaining relationships with existing parishioners, the ability to engage via email cannot be overstated.

Here are five simple ways to ensure you are optimizing your email open rate and keeping parishioners informed and connected.

Analyze Your Data

Use what data you have available through your digital marketing platforms to identify weak spots in your engagement and strategize improvement. Start by taking a look at your open rate (the number of emails opened compared to those sent), click rate (percentage of email readers who clicked a link in the email), and bounce rate (emails delivered vs. emails sent). Measure these against industry standards for faith-based organizations at Constant Contact. Is your open rate low? You may need more compelling subject lines. High bounce rate? Your email lists may need updating. A low click rate might indicate you need to target your content more carefully.

Pro Tip: If your church doesn’t have a digital marketing platform yet, it might be time. Check out our blog Why Your Parish Needs an Email Marketing Platform for more information.

Never Underestimate a Strong Subject Line

We all know the feeling of “inbox overwhelm.” Help your emails stand out from the crowd by switching up the subject line every week. Instead of something generic like “St. Edward Catholic Community Newsletter, Feb. 19-26,” choose a short nickname for the weekly news email and customize the subject line to reflect the liturgical season or to tease information offered within. “The Weekly Word @ St. Ed’s: Fr. John Says Goodbye, Lenten Mission Info and More!” will pique interest and garner a higher open rate.

Craft a Good Hook Paragraph

Once you’ve got them to open the email, keep their attention by hooking them with a short but compelling paragraph that will make the reader want to scroll down. Consider well-placed images or graphics (a little goes a long way) to break up blocks of text.

Avoid Text Blocks

Speaking of text blocks — avoid these! Nothing will lose the interest of a busy parishioner like a daunting, run-on paragraph about the revamped online giving system. Keep it short and sweet (just the facts, ma’am) and highlight keywords.

Don’t Get Lost in Translation

It seems obvious, but make sure you are providing information that can be easily understood by all the language groups at your parish. If there is a growing Hmong community in the neighborhood, for instance, engage the assistance of a volunteer who speaks the language. Pro Tip: Your staff is already busy, so why not combine the work you already do for your bulletin into a top-notch email message? It’s time to check out LPi’s ePub Design.

If your parish is just getting started with email marketing, check out our blog
“Top 10 Ways to Encourage Parishioners to Share Their Email Address” for some ideas to help build your email lists. And if your program is more robust you might be ready for “Tips for Targeted Email Messaging.”

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