Email marketing and digital newsletters are two of the most effective tools in the engagement toolbox. At minimum, email is an important touch-point with your parish community. But you also have a greater opportunity to make your emails meaningful and work as a successful tool for engagement. An effective email marketing campaign has the ability to engage existing and potential parishioners and move them to participate in activities and ministries.
In this webinar Emily Mentock, Associate Director of Strategy at the Archdiocese of Detroit unpacks how to make the most out of your parish email marketing efforts, by outlining how to use them as an engagement tool. She offers tips on how to build a list of parishioner email addresses, best practices to increase open and click rates, and appropriate tools to use to support engagement-focused email campaigns at your parish.
Action Steps
- If it’s been more than six months since you’ve done a targeted email subscription campaign, build a campaign that will make it possible for first-time parish visitors and newcomers who haven’t yet subscribed to subscribe to your parish’s digital newsletter.
Give yourself a timeline to work within and be sure to build a strong “new customer journey” before launching.
Get creative, and think about using things like QR codes to take parishioners to your email subscription form.
- If you’re already using an email marketing tool (HubSpot, Mailchimp, or Constant Contact), evaluate how it is working for you by reviewing your last ten emails’ open rates and click rates.
Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses based on those numbers: what effective strategies were used to lead to higher engagement, and what in terms of the content of your emails can improve?
If you’re not already using an email marketing tool, do a little “online shopping” and consider which of the recommended services will be the best fit for your parish. Be sure to consider things like list management, templates, and cost.
Connect with someone in the Engagement Group in the EGW Mighty Network and share some of what you’ve learned!
