10 Key Tips for Improving Your Emails

Here are 10 Key Tips for Improving Your Emails.

1. Have an interesting subject line. If they don’t open it, your message is lost. So, create interest in your subject line that will make them want to open the email and read it. The more effective the subject line, the better the open rate of the email and, thus, the better your results.
2. Personalize it! ‘Dear Church Member’ is not personal. ‘Dear Mark and Valerie’ is. Work to make your appeals as personalized as possible. Many mail programs like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and others can easily and affordably do this for you automatically.
3. Be short and to the point! People are multitasking as they work and walk. No matter how compelling the message, they won’t read an epistle from you. You can be longer in a snail mail piece but keep emails short and to the point. With that in mind, think…
4. Two to four paragraphs. This is hard for preachers who can’t say hello in under five minutes! Yet, in our fast-paced society, people only give you a few brief seconds to make your point. So, make your point!
5. Use bold and underlined text. People skim articles and emails. With that in mind, use bold and underlined text to draw your readers’ attention to key points. This makes your appeals more readable and, thus, more effective.
6. Provide clickable links to your giving page. We want people to respond because we believe in what we are doing and that it is worth funding. So, if donations are a reason to send an appeal, make sure they can easily give. Use embedded links that go straight to your giving page, such as this one from one of my clients…https://www.crosschurch.com/give/.
7. Use multiple links to your giving page. Again, since people skim, you must put your giving link in multiple places. Consider putting a link early in the text and another somewhere further. Then put another link in the PS. Speaking of which…
8. Always have a PS! Studies have consistently shown that people almost always read a PS. Use the PS to focus on online giving or summarize the appeal’s gist. The opening sentence and the PS might be the only two lines of your appeal a donor reads. So, make sure they are appealing and to the point.
9. Determine the best time to send the appeal. Studies show that more charitable gifts come online at 2pm EST during the middle of the week. Pay attention to your past email to see your best time for sending it.
10. Follow the three C’s. Great “asks” are clear, concise, and, most of all, compelling! Remember, while you are making your appeal, others are doing the same thing to your members. The appeal that best tugs at their heart will be the appeal that gets the dollars.