Why HTML Email Might Be Good For Your Congregation

August 7, 2007

Our church has done a weekly email for almost eight years now. In the main, it’s been a great success. However, the last few years we’ve been haunted by formatting issues.

The crux of the problem is that most church members and staff don’t understand how their email clients work. Thus what looks fine on their machines can be a mess on someone else’s. This is particularly true for something like our weekly email, which is initially built in Microsoft Word. Plop the document into Outlook with HTML email turned on, and the results are a disaster. While we know how to stop this problem (turn HTML off and plain text on), we’re at risk every time staff or computers change.

Enter Constant Contact, one of the best-know email marketing services. One of our Communication Committee members happened across it some months ago and signed up for a free trial. Committee members experimented with it and we were impressed. However, we were busy and forgot about it, until the end of the fiscal year came round. When we had a little extra money, one of the co-chairs shrewdly suggested that we dive in.

We did, and the results have been even better than we had hoped. Church members love it, and (surprisingly enough) in many ways it’s easier to produce than a text email. Moreover, on Websters, the listserv for UU webmasters, a couple of people who have been using it for much longer than us (including Dean Goddette — thoughts, Dean?), recently wrote that they too have been very happy with Constant Contact.

If you, like us, have been hovering on the edge of using an HTML email service, I’d recommend giving it a try.

Why Do I Recommend It?

• Both church members and committee members really like it.
• Many think it’s attractive. I’m actually not crazy about the way it looks, but that’s probably just because I’m an HTML snoot. More to the point, I’m clearly in a minority. And really, I don’t think it’s bad. In fact, it’s easier to read than the old text version. My aging eyes appreciate the larger font.
• Managing subscribers is amazingly simple. It only took me about 15 minutes to import our list, and adding new subscribers is a breeze. In fact, they can easily do it themselves…
• I followed Constant Contact’s simple directions, and we now have a nifty newsletter sign-up box on our home page. Not only that, it turns out to be rather clever. I tested it and it knew I was already a subscriber; it refused to let me sign up twice and spam myself.
• Unsubscribing is equally easy for the end user.
• While designing a template for the look-and-feel isn’t the easiest, comparatively speaking it is. In my professional life, I use a comparable service, and Constant Contact’s interface is considerably more intuitive.
• Once the template is set up, it’s easier to produce than plain text emails.
• The company is geared to small businesses, and nonprofits.
• It’s relatively inexpensive. One year’s service is under $300 for us.
• A user can receive it in plain text if they’d prefer or if they have a firewall that prevents HTML email.

The Drawbacks?

• It’s an ongoing cost. But compare it to other ongoing costs, such as the Yellow Pages, and the value becomes more obvious.
• The WYSIWYG interface can be temperamental. We had one link that absolutely refused to match others. I finally had to go in and force its hand using raw HTML.
• I’m told that when producing it, response time can be incredibly slow on some machines.

The Bottom Line

If you’re interested in it and think it might meet your congregation’s needs, give it a whirl. They have a free 60 day trial. So far, we’re delighted with it.

Posted in: Email