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They are:

1. Not designing for preview panes
2. Assuming images will work
3. Too many images, not enough text
4. Not testing in different email programs
5. Neglecting your footer
6. Too fancy-schmancy

Read the full post here.

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By the way, I just sent out my email newsletter last night (Finally, I know!). Take a peek here.

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It costs $10 per campaign send, plus 2 cent a recipient.

If you have questions, Lynn Bloomer is a great contact within Element who I’ve met previously … and he’s also a believer.

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Very nice examples!

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Check out these great resources:

• Free HTML Email Templates & Design Guide — I use a modified template from MailChimp for my email newsletter. See an example here.
• Free 50-page email marketing ebook
• Email Marketing Etiquette

If you’re looking for an online email newsletter solution, check out Express Email Marketing, which I use for my Church Communications Pro and my church email newsletters.

See also:

• 6 Tweaks for Better Email Newsletters
• Using an Email Newsletter to Build Community, Inform Your Congregation (Download the Printable PDF Version here.)

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According to Jupiter Research, online users receive an average of 35 emails a day. With all those other messages in your subscribers’ email inboxes fighting for their attention, you need to stand out from all the rest so they choose to open your message. The open rate is what is referred to as how many of your subscribers actually opened your email message.

Here are some techniques that this study found to increase open rates.

1. The From Line
Using a person’s name achieved slightly better results that using the company name as the sender of the email.

2. The Subject Line
Email messages containing the company name or brand achieved better results than messages without a brand or company name. The average open rate for email messages containing a brand or company name was 29% versus an open rate of 22% for messages without a brand or company name. Plan on incorporating the church name and/or the area of ministry that is the subject of the email for your next email dispatch.

3. The Preview Pane
Chances are many of your users are using an email program that features a preview pane. If the user clicks on the subject line in a program such as Outlook Express, a small portion of the email message appears on screen. The size of the preview is totally out of your control, so you’ll need to make good use of that small sliver of the message to intice the reader to open the message or scroll down to read the entire email. According to the study, placing your church’s or ministry’s logo in the upper hand left hand part of the message achieved better open rates than not including a logo.

Congratulations, you’ve used a person’s name, incorporated the church’s name in your subject line, the logo is neatly in the upper left-hand corner of the preview pane. The reader clicks on the message and scans through your carefully written email or newsletter.

If your only goal is to inform your reader, you’ve accomplished your goal. However, many of you have a purpose other than to simply inform the recipient of your email. From encouraging the reader to participate in area of ministry in your church to alerting them that tickets to a church-wide event are almost sold out, you’re hoping the recipient will respond to your message. Your readers’ responses can be measured by the rate at which they click on links in your email that lead to your site. The rate at which they click on the links is referred to as the click-through rate, often abbreviated as CTR.

Here are some suggestions to increase the click-through rate of your email campaign.

4. Images to Text Ratio
Use plenty of images in your messages. Email using more images than text had a response rate almost twice as high as messages containing only text.

5. Format Choices
The newsletter format performs the best. Silverpop’s study placed the different email messages into seven different categories of formats. The categories were: 1 column, 2 columns of equal size, 2 or more unequal size columns, postcard, letter, newsletter, and varied cell blocks.

The winner was the newsletter style. It’s a format I’m sure you’ve seen in your inbox, it incorporates just the right combination of text and images. The CTR of the newsletter was 7.1% versus a CTR of 3.4% for the all text letter format.

6. Hyperlinks in the Message
More links translates to more click-throughs. According to the study, the ideal number of links within an email is between six and 10. Incorporating more than 10 links could have a negative effect and the readers may feel so overwhelmed with the number of links, they choose to not click on any of the links.

For better results from your next email campaign, try these techniques to increase your open rate and bump up the click-through rates.

Source: http://www.silverpop.com/practices/studies/email_creative/index.html

About the writer: Mark Anderson has over 12 years in the sales and marketing field and has spent the last several years focusing on projects involving web design, email marketing, and graphic design. He’s part of the Creative Arts team at Evangelical Free Church of Naperville in Naperville IL.

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Here’s everything you wanted to know about using email newsletters …

THE BENEFITS

There are many benefits to producing an email newsletter for your church or ministry:

Cost – Depending on how you distribute (through an email list program, or online services), email newsletters are a bargain. You can purchase an email program for approximately $100, or subscribe to an online email service for as little as $15 a month or less (or cheaper).

Simplicity – Email newsletters are relatively simple to produce. If your church already publishes a bulletin (who doesn’t?), that text can serve as the basis text for an email newsletter. It’s simply a matter of cutting and pasting it into an email program or service.

Communications – Think of an email newsletter as another channel of communication with your congregation. In addition to informing your church of upcoming events and activities, an email newsletter can serve as an emergency communication tool when you need to mobilize your church for urgent prayer meetings, disaster relief mission trips, or even severe weather threats.

Community – Just as your local newspaper helps foster a sense of community, an effective email newsletter, when done properly, can give your congregation a sense of being more involved in your church’s ministry.

THE DANGERS

Along with the great benefits of using email newsletters, there are also inherent dangers to using them:

Overuse and Abuse – This is one of the worst dangers of using email newsletters, but also the easiest to avoid. If you continue to barrage your congregation with worthless emails, they will simply stop reading them. Because they are so cheap to use, the temptation is to abuse (Pun intended). As an email newsletter “publisher,” you must not inundate your congregation with emails with little or no value to them. The best way to avoid this is to set up a simple publication schedule and use policy. First, determine the frequency you’ll publish and send the newsletter (Say, each Monday or twice a month on Fridays). Second, set the circumstances in which you’ll break that schedule (For example, for emergencies like severe weather interruptions of services, or urgent needs requests like a special offering for disaster relief mission trip). Then, stick to them!

Using Email Addresses without Permission (Don’t!) – You may already have an in-house database that lists your church members email addresses. Please don’t use this list to start your email newsletter. To work effectively, email newsletter subscriptions must be voluntary. There are several ways you can build your database the right way, but I will give you two. The first option, depending on how the email newsletter program or online service you’ve chosen works, is to place an electronic subscription form on the front page of your church’s Web site. Give it a prominent place on your Web site and label it clearly. The second option is to pass around a sign-up sheet through your Sunday school or worship service (i.e., maybe, on their offering envelopes) to enlist subscribers.
Company Email – It is also vitally important that you ask for your congregation’s personal email addresses and NOT their company/work email addresses. This has to do with Christian values in appropriately using company resources. Please be especially sensitive to this and avoid potential conflicts with your members in their vocations.

CONTENT IDEAS

It has been said that content is king, when it comes to publishing in any format. Producing quality, timely and relevant content is vital to success in using email newsletters as a communications and connecting tool for your church.

Here are some suggestions for content in your email newsletter:

A Word from the Pastor – I have found people will read what the pastor’s writes before anything else. People want to hear what their pastor has to say. Starting your newsletter off with a brief note or article (100-200 words) from the pastor gives the whole production a personal touch. Think about it. Their pastor has taken time out of his day to jot down a short note to them, while simultaneously trying to keep them informed about their church’s activities. Again, this section of your newsletter doesn’t need to be a polished sermon, or even a devotional (although it could be) – just thoughts from what’s on the pastor’s mind and what he wants to share with his flock.

Spiritual Guidance or Prompts – One church I know asked several key teachers in his church to write a couple short 100-200 word devotionals. They were then edited by the pastor and distributed throughout the church. This would be perfect for this section. But you could also collect good resources from the Internet and put the links to those trusted sites in your newsletter, accompanied by a brief note of what it would be helpful to readers. Ideas for this section could also include: Read through the Bible verses for that week, links to articles on evangelizing cults, past sermon MP3 files from the pastor or another Bible teacher, among others.

Church Activities, Services, and Events – This is rather self-explanatory, but I should mention it. Generally, for this section, I will include a paragraph for each ministry activity or event, giving details information (Answering the vital questions of: Who, what, when, where, why, and how?). Make sure if, for example, you’re highlighting a Parent’s Night Out that you include a registration deadline and who to contact and any other pertinent information. Here is an example of how I usually arrange these paragraphs: Sample Paragraph of an Event:

FAMILY FUN NIGHT SEPT. 30 – The church will host its annual Family Fun Night Thursday, Sept. 30, from 6-10 p.m. in the gymnasium. Events will include face painting, free throw shooting contest, a special showing of a kid’s movie, and a short devotional by Pastor Todd. Cost is free; bring a friend or neighbor. Contact: Anne Baker at the church office at 555-5555 ext. 50 for more information.

Calendar of Events – List all your activities and special events for the upcoming month. I would not include every regularly scheduled event, as you could list those somewhere else.

Church Information – Since you are mass distributing your email address, it is important to list your full church name both in the header of the email message body as well as at the bottom so the reader knows where the email is coming from. Include the church’s name, address, simple directions to the church facilities, and phone number at the bottom of the email. Be sure to also include Sunday services times and other weekly, regularly scheduled worship services and Bible study times. Plus, I would also add, that due to the fact some of your members will forward the email to their friends they would like to invite to church, I would also include your church’s “on call” or emergency number as well as the church’s office hours.

Unsubscribe Instructions – At the very end of the email you should include instructions for how a reader can unsubscribe to the email newsletter. Most programs and services provide this information. If not, you could say, “To UNSUBSCRIBE to this email newsletter, send an email message to: Church@Church.com with the word ‘UNSUBSCRIBE’ in the subject line.”

EXTRA DO’S AND DON’TS

Here are some additional thoughts and suggestions for your church’s email newsletter: Use a template and stick to it. – A template is just a standard format of how your newsletter will look. Most email newsletter programs or services offer sample templates that are well designed and effective. Find one that is simple, easily read and use it consistently.

Send in text format, not HTML – I suggest using the simple text format for your email newsletter. Unless you have someone in your church with Web site experience, the time and energy it takes to prepare an HTML email newsletter is not worth it. By HTML, I mean that your email newsletter looks similar to a Web page, with graphics, etc.

Give it a good name – Name your email newsletter. I have used “Updates@[Church Name or Abbreviation].” Another title could be “Life@First Church.” If you have a printed newsletter, you could also name it the same, but only use the name “Online” or “Email Newsletter.” We call ours Quail Mail.

Don’t send mass emails through BCC – The temptation is to use your BCC (or Blind Carbon Copy) function of your individual email program (like in Microsoft Outlook and others). I have been told there is a security risk to your readers from SPAMMERS. As a precaution, invest the money in an email newsletter program or online service. In the short- and long-term, it’s worth the money.

Encourage members to forward – Using good common sense, I would encourage your members to forward your email newsletter to their friends and neighbors they would like to invite to your church. This could be especially helpful when you’re promoting evangelistic events or programs that fill key needs in the community (for instance, upcoming summer camps for kids).

Pick a good gatekeeper/editor – Ideally, you should have one person responsible for sending out the email newsletter and at least one person to be the designated backup. Make sure you document how it is done with the appropriate passwords and put those in a safe place. Enlisting one person to be the gatekeeper of the distribution of the email newsletter ensures proper use of the service.

EMAIL NEWSLETTER SERVICES

Here are four email newsletter publishing options:

• ConstantContact.com – Monthly email service
• MailerMailer.com – Monthly email service
• Pensaworks.com – An Internet-based software that is installed on your site. I used this at two different places of service. (Check with your hosting company before buying though.)
• Church Communications Pro’s Express Email Marketing – I use this for my CCP. Click here to subscribe and to see how it looks!

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