Changes in Communications Environment
The healthy church will see radical changes in the communications environment and adopt strategies that reflect those changes, even if that means modifying long-standing practices.
Postal is out, except for bills, junk mail and some personal mail.
Competition at the mailbox is brutal, as personal communication moves to e-mail and the mailbox is occupied by flashy, well-designed commercial mailings that make church mailings look dowdy by comparison.
In general, people expect less reward from gathering the day's mail. Some don't gather postal mail regularly or read what they gather. Increasingly, churches can't compete with commercial mailers that employ costly graphics and come-ons.
Readership of mailed newsletters is low, except among older, longtime members. Even older members would prefer electronic mailings, according to informal studies.
Reliance on a postal newsletter communicates negative messages about the congregation: behind the times, wordy, clergy-centered, no room for younger people.
By contrast electronic technologies based on the Internet are:
Faster: immediate delivery of e-mail to an inbox that most people check constantly throughout the day. Texting is even more immediate. Among heavy users of Facebook and Twitter, messages sent through those social networking tools arrive quickly and are likely to be read.
Cheaper: E-mail, Facebook and Twitter are virtually cost-free. Texting might have some cost, but it is low. Cost is borne primarily by the end-user -- e-mail account, cell phone fees -- and not by the congregation.
More reliable: While spam dominates inboxes and is both annoying and rarely read, a well-designed e-mail sent by a trusted sender through a trusted process can expect a delivery rate of over 95% and a comparable read rate, unless the subject is fund-raising.
Easier to measure impact: A good e-mail system like Constant Contact or AWeber will give you reports on how many opened, how many read and how many forwarded your e-mail. You can test out time of sending -- day of week, time of day -- subject matter, length, use of graphics and links, to see what works. A mailed piece, by contrast, is guesswork.
More attractive: A well-designed e-mail template enables you to use color, graphics, formatting, dynamic links, surveys, polls, and other features that are unavailable in print or cost-prohibitive.
Meet people expectations: Thanks to the Internet, people have come to expect speed in delivery, ease of use, ease of response, and web-delivered tools. Exchanges of information by postal mail feel one-sided and slow.
Multi-purpose communications are powerful.
One e-mail with embedded links can:
- draw reader to web site, where more content and richer opportunities to interact with others are available
- facilitate a transaction, such as registering for an event, paying a fee or a pledge, expressing an opinion
- generate an e-mail response, enabling a simple click-and-speak process that feels both familiar and immediate to the user
- gather data, or opinions, desired activities, plans to participate
