Using an E-Newsletter to Communicate

Bethany First Church of the Nazarene in Bethany , Oklahoma , is heading into their centennial year in 2008. They have an active, dedicated congregation that the church inspires through their innovative and creative communications.

Bob Miller, their communications pastor, made it his mission to update the way they share their message to the congregation and make sure the next 100 years are filled with inspiring news and stories. As the church's needs grew and became more sophisticated, they looked for a solution to efficiently, and affordably, reach their congregation - Constant Contact's Speak Up! e-mail marketing product, www.constantcontact.com, was what they were searching for.

You've Got Mail
Bethany First Church of the Nazarene has been active for the last 100 years, and, from their experience, they know that in order to continuously engage members, it's important to grow and change with their congregation.

When Miller became the communications pastor in 2005, he reviewed their current member outreach practices and determined that the church needed to elevate the way they reached out to their community. The church was sending out bi-weekly bulletins that contained mainly facts and information. Miller found this to be repetitive because the information was already available in the regular faith folder during services. He also knew that print newsletters are ineffective in reaching the younger demographics that the church was trying to engage. He knew that they would be more likely to read an e-mail.

While he knew that he needed to update the church's member communications, what Miller did not know was how difficult it could be.

"I was doing research to find a service for creating and distributing our newsletter, and I was very concerned by what some companies required," said Miller. "You're required to be a 'poindexter' - to know HTML, work easily in tables, input your own graphics - that was just going to be too big of a learning curve for me, and I didn't have the time to learn."

Then Miller received an e-mail from someone who had used Constant Contact and, after reviewing their Web site, thought, "This is so easy, and I know I can use this." The initial setup was simple for the church, and the customer service they received was what confirmed that they made the right decision to use Constant Contact.

According to Miller, "The customer folks were so nice. They were able to give me full answers to my question, and I felt like they really wanted me to succeed."

Spread the Word
Miller has also realized that by using some of the management tools Constant Contact offers, he can be certain that his newsletter goes out on time even when he's thousands of miles away. Recently, members of the church went to Africa for two weeks. Before traveling, Miller was able to set up the newsletters for a scheduled distribution so there wouldn't be any disruption in their schedule. He also made sure to include links in the newsletter for how the community could track his travel through his blog on the church's Web site. They were thrilled with how many readers clicked through from the newsletter to the site.

The church also takes advantage of the reporting mechanisms of Constant Contact's e-mail marketing product to learn exactly what their community cares about. Every Wednesday, there is a huge spike in Web site traffic because that's the day that the newsletter goes out. Miller loves watching the numbers grow, as well as seeing who opens the newsletter and what their interests are. He has learned what the "hot buttons" are with their readers, such as upcoming concert information, registration details for seminars and retreats, and blogs from the pastors. And, he knows that if he really wants their attention, he needs to include photos or a link to a slideshow on their Web site.

Another use of the newsletter is as a vehicle for sharing vital information about church members in order to solicit additional support within the community. For example, one of the church's families recently had a health crisis involving their son; to support the family, Miller included a link to the parent's blog for interested church members to go to and read the most up-to-date information on the boy and chart his progress.

Linking members to each other through the newsletter has become one of the best and unexpected benefits of using Constant Contact, and it has helped the church to provide much-needed support to its members during times of need.