13 Questions To Ask Before You Send A Church-wide Email

If your role on a church or ministry staff involves any sort of volunteer coordination or event planning, you’ve probably experienced the frustrating lack of email responses or asked yourself, “Why won’t people read my emails?!”

If you're emailing volunteers, effective email communication is especially important. Every church and ministry needs more volunteers, and having an effective communication plan in place that respects your volunteers’ time and encourages them to action will help you retain your volunteer base more successfully.

If your church doesn’t have a clear email communication plan in place, you’re likely not engaging your church community effectively.

Aren’t receiving the responses you’d like from your church-wide emails? Ask yourself these thirteen questions before you send your next email and see what happens.

1. If I received this email, how would it come across to me?

Am I being sensitive to how these email will be received emotionally, spiritually, and professionally?

2. Is it clear and concise?

Have I said too much or too little? Am I respecting the time of the volunteer or church staff member reading this email by saying only what I need to say?

3. Do I have a clear call to action?

Is it clear what I am asking people to do and is it easy for them to do it (i.e. Sign up, reply, RSVP, etc…)

4. Is this communication consistent with the vision, values, and mission of my church?

Is it also consistent in language with the other emails I have sent about this topic previously? Will I confuse people or add clarity upon sending this email?

5. Is my subject line clear and engaging to provoke action?

Subject lines that are too long or unclear discourage people from opening the email.

6. Have people opened my email and not replied or have they not even opened it?

Look into the past data from your email system. Analyze why people may not be opening or replying to your emails to see what the missing link might be.

7. Is this email readable to all personality types?

Will detail-oriented people feel like they have what they need to know and will quick readers be able to get what they need through skimming the email? Use bullet points and include more details under them.

8. Similar to the question above, is it visually appealing?

Make sure your email is easy to read and includes pictures, videos, or graphics. Dont make people wade through long paragraphs to get the relevant info.

9. Is this email mobile friendly?

Most people check personal email on their phone, so if it's not mobile friendly, it's not helpful.

10. Is this email okay to be forwarded?

If not, don't send it.

11. Is this email shareable via social media?

Is it easy for people to invite their friends with the click of a button from this email? Can they share it on twitter or facebook?

12. Are the visual components and logo consistent with our church’s branding?

When people open this email, will they be able to tell it came from our church? Make sure everything you send is branded.

13. Is our church database up to date or am I emailing people’s old or inactive emails?

Do a regular clean up of your church email database.