The perfect weekly email template™️
(it is, of course, not actually trademarked)
Subject Line: Avoid “Week of 1/8” syndrome… Make your subject line something unique and unexpected – this is your one chance to convince someone to open the message and see what’s inside.
Devotional thought: Write a 3-5 sentence reflection on the sermon, a section of scripture, or something you’ve been pondering.
ONE Primary Announcement: Ask, “If my reader only remembers one thing from this email, what do I want that to be?” Then, add that single announcement.
TWO Secondary Announcements: Think of this as your “Save the Date” section. Understand that people need 7 touches with a promotion for it to stick – this can be one of those 7 touches. (Newsletter on that concept here)
Valuable Resource: A YouTube video for an upcoming hymn, a WELS devotion, Time of Grace video, a book from NPH, read the Bible in a year schedule, an article for parents, a cute classroom highlight, etc.
External link(s): Add your website or your social media. Maybe a volunteer list for the upcoming week(s).
NOW – this may seem short – and it is. That’s on purpose.
(According to this 16-year study, people keep marketing emails open for, on average, 51 seconds. Humans read at an average 200 words/minute. So – keep it under 200 words.)
You might be used to sending longer emails… full of birthdays, anniversaries, etc…
For those things, I’d like to present a challenge:
For a few weeks, write this information in shareable Google Documents.
At the end of your email, add buttons for each “thing,” and link those buttons to the Google Doc(s).
Then, using your email service provider, spy on the results. This is how it looks in ConvertKit:
If they get clicked, great. I give you permission to keep them in your emails. 🫡 But – if they don’t receive traffic, stop spending your time on them.
For the overachievers…
You can get fancy by segmenting your email list into 2-3 groups (Ex: Retirees and young families).
Then, you can copy the same email for both groups, but you can tweak the primary announcement to be relevant to the particular group.
Retirees: Highlight that you can Zoom into Bible study on Wednesday night, add a bright “Click to Join” button.
Young Families: Highlight that there is childcare available for the Bible study on Wednesday night.
Would you be willing to give this a try next week?
Keep me in the loop if you do!
