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.)

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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," like so:

Birthdays

Anniversaries

... 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.

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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.

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Would you be willing to give this a try next week?

Keep me in the loop if you do!