For all it’s impressive features and amazing qualities, sending out church email newsletters is useless if you don’t have the email addresses of your church members. Here is a collection of suggestions on how to grow or maintain your list of church members’ email addresses.
- Put an announcement in the bulletin, requesting everyone to send an email to the church email address in order to have a record of their email address.
- Provide a tear-off or request card in the bulletin that enables people to write down their email address. They can place this in the offering plate or leave it with a church leader.
- If you have some form of contact with members (phone, Facebook, etc.) send them a message or give them a call and ask them for their email address.
- Pass around a sign-up sheet in your meetings, especially small group meetings or Sunday School classes, to collect email addresses.
- Request an email address on the church membership form.
- Include an email address request line on your visitor information cards.
- Include a contact form on the church website in order to collect names and email addresses. You may also wish to include a “Join Our Mailing List” button or “Forward to a Friend” feature for broader distribution.
- Put email request cards in high traffic locations of the church facility, such as lobbies, near restrooms, etc.
- Make an announcement from the pulpit requesting email addresses.
- Use a video (click on the image above) that displays the church email address and website as a means to gaining additional email addresses.
- If you do not have a church directory, consider starting one. Request email addresses as part of the information in the directory.
Constant Contact, in addition to being one of the best email marketing tools available, also has one of the finest email list management tools. Each email you send gives recipients the choice to opt-out of future mailings.
Remember, “church email marketing” isn’t a term meant to denigrate the dignity of the Body of Christ. It is a term that is used to spread the life-changing Word to as many people as possible using the medium of email communication. And if you haven’t yet started using Constant Contact, click here to get started on your free two-month trial. (No credit card information is required.)