Church communication is different from commercial marketing. You're not selling products—you're nurturing a community. But that doesn't mean good email practices don't apply. Here are ten strategies that actually work for church email marketing, based on what we've seen work across hundreds of congregations.
1. Send a Welcome Email Within 24 Hours
When someone new joins your email list—whether from a visitor card, website signup, or event registration—they're most engaged right now. Don't wait until next week's newsletter.
What to include:
- A warm, personal greeting (not corporate speak)
- What they can expect from your emails (frequency, content)
- Service times and location basics
- One clear next step (visit again, join a small group, etc.)
Many platforms offer automation to send this automatically. Set it up once and every new contact gets a proper welcome.
2. Segment Your List
Not everyone needs every email. Parents of toddlers don't need youth group updates. The 8am service attenders don't need 11am service-specific announcements.
Essential segments for most churches:
- Members vs. regular attenders vs. visitors
- Service time preference
- Life stage (young adults, parents, seniors)
- Ministry involvement (volunteers, small group leaders)
- Pastoral care needs (bereavement, new baby, etc.)
Start with 3-4 segments and expand as you get comfortable. Over-segmenting creates more work than value.
3. Write Subject Lines That Get Opened
Your subject line determines whether anyone reads your email. Generic subjects like "Weekly Newsletter" or "Church Update" get ignored.
Better approaches:
- Specific and timely: "This Sunday: Pancake Breakfast After Service"
- Question format: "Can you help with the Easter setup?"
- Personal touch: "A note from Pastor James about next week"
- Clear value: "Your kids' Sunday school schedule for January"
Avoid all caps, excessive punctuation, and clickbait. Your congregation isn't a marketing target—they're your community.
4. Find Your Best Send Time
When you send matters. Through working with churches, we've seen some patterns:
- Tuesday-Thursday mornings (9-10am) work well for general newsletters
- Thursday or Friday evenings for weekend event reminders
- Saturday morning for Sunday service reminders
- Avoid Monday mornings (inbox overload) and Sunday (people are at church or resting)
But your congregation is unique. Test different times and check your open rates. The "best" time is whenever your people actually read.
5. Keep It Focused
The temptation is to pack everything into one email: upcoming events, volunteer needs, prayer requests, small group updates, a message from leadership, mission trip photos...
Resist this urge. Long, cluttered emails get skimmed or ignored entirely.
Better approach:
- One main message per email
- Maximum 3 items in a weekly roundup
- Use "read more" links to your website for details
- Send separate emails for distinct audiences (parents, volunteers, etc.)
6. Make It Mobile-Friendly
Over 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices. If your email doesn't look good on a phone, most people won't read it.
Mobile-friendly basics:
- Single-column layout
- Large, tappable buttons (at least 44x44 pixels)
- Text that's readable without zooming (16px minimum)
- Images that scale appropriately
- Short paragraphs with plenty of white space
Always preview on your phone before sending. Most email platforms have a mobile preview feature.
7. Create a Welcome Series
One welcome email is good. A series is better. When someone new joins your list, they're interested and engaged. Use that window to help them connect.
A simple 3-email welcome series:
- Immediately: Welcome + service times + what to expect
- Day 3: Introduction to your community (small groups, ministries, ways to connect)
- Day 7: Personal invitation from leadership + survey asking about their interests
This kind of automated sequence runs in the background, welcoming every new person without manual effort.
8. Track What Matters
Don't obsess over metrics, but do pay attention to the basics:
- Open rate: What percentage of people open your emails? For churches, 30-40% is typical; 50%+ is excellent.
- Click rate: Are people clicking the links you include?
- Unsubscribe rate: If it spikes after a particular email, something went wrong.
Use these to improve over time. If open rates are low, work on subject lines. If clicks are low, improve your calls to action.
9. Clean Your List Regularly
Email lists decay. People change addresses, leave the church, or simply stop engaging. Sending to people who never open creates problems:
- Email providers may flag you as spam
- You're paying for contacts who don't engage
- Your metrics become misleading
Quarterly cleanup process:
- Identify contacts who haven't opened an email in 6+ months
- Send a "re-engagement" email asking if they want to stay subscribed
- Remove anyone who doesn't respond or explicitly unsubscribes
A smaller, engaged list is better than a large, dead one.
10. Respect People's Time and Inbox
Every email should pass this test: "Would I be glad to receive this?"
Churches sometimes email too often. Three newsletters, two event reminders, a volunteer ask, and a prayer chain update—all in one week—overwhelms people.
Guidelines:
- One regular newsletter per week maximum
- Additional emails only when truly important
- Combine related announcements into one email
- Let people manage preferences (weekly vs. monthly, types of content)
When you do email, make it count. Quality over quantity, always.
Putting It Into Practice
You don't have to implement all ten practices at once. Start with the basics:
Start Here (Priority Order)
Good church email isn't about marketing tricks. It's about clear, helpful, timely communication that serves your congregation. Get the basics right, and you'll see engagement improve.
If you're looking for tools built specifically for church communication, that's exactly what we've built at sendifai. But these practices work regardless of what platform you use.