A colleague asked me to help him set up a Mailchimp account and template for him this week to help him communicate with his ministry partners. It got me thinking about what my ministry partners like and dislike most about these sort of ministry email newsletter updates. So I asked them in Christine: Behind the Scenes
Here’s their top tips:
Bottom line up front : readers don’t want to scroll down a long length of content to get the important bits. Including financial support needs.
Prayer points at the top.
Use photos to help tell your story (3-5 is a good number).
No attachments : refrain from adding documents, pictures or slideshows
Add hyperlinks when you can so the reader doesn’t have to google it.
Keep it simple. 5-6 sentence paragraphs in each section.
Save long-form writing for a blog post you can send readers to.
Give church leaders notice of how to best share your news with their church. Include a 1-2 sentence blurb for their members email or upfront Sunday missions announcements.
Use headings and dot points and bold sentences at the beginning of paragraphs to help readers know what the content is they’re about to read. It actually helps them read more than just scan the content.
Don’t go into depth about the entire ministry in one email. Break up your ministry updates into topics you can dive into throughout the year.
Maintain a consistent design and get some helpful feedback on what looks good and help makes a newsletter readable. Messing around with fonts and colours is not ideal.
What would you add?
At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.
Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.