6 Reasons People Aren’t Reading Your Newsletter And How to Fix Them

Your newsletter is important. It’s your way to keep people up to date with the incredible things God is doing in your ministry. Many of us spend a lot of time preparing our monthly newsletter and eagerly await replies each month. When those replies don’t come, it can feel discouraging. And more so, when we check out those Mailchimp stats and see how many people didn’t open, we start to wonder why we bother.

Let us encourage you: we LOVE getting your newsletter. Those people who do open it every month, LOVE getting your newsletter. It is important and God uses it.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. Below we outline six reasons some folks might not read your newsletter and give you some quick practical tips to address them. We hope you can apply these and begin to see more engagement each month.

Your subject line isn’t interesting

In one day, most people will get dozens or hundreds of emails. It’s easy for your newsletter to get lost in the crowd. The first step to get someone to read your newsletter is getting them to open it. Do you have a subject line that is consistent, descriptive, and interesting? Here are a few tips to improve your subject line and increase your open rate:

Combine consistency with description.

Maybe in your newsletter, you share the story of meeting a new friend. A good subject line might be something like, “Smith News: Meet Our New Friend”. This subject makes me understand that it’s your normal update, but also makes me curious to learn more about the content. Please note, we aren’t going for click bait style subject lines, those only work a few times (“BIG NEWS!” or “You won’t believe what this person said to me…” etc. It needs to be descriptive.)

Make it personal.

You can add someone’s first name to the subject line (if you have their names in your Mailchimp account). Making a subject line personal has been shown to increase open rates. Example: “Hi *|FNAME|*, meet our new friend! [Smith News]”

Create a List.

Some people see great results in doing list-style subject lines, maybe combining something ministry and something personal: “Our Kids in Action, New Friends, and Sharing the Gospel”

You aren’t sending consistently

Sometimes, we think it’s strategic to send fewer updates. That way, when we do send something, everyone will be eager to read it, right? Apparently not. The problem is, most people get dozens or even hundreds of emails each day (as mentioned before). A lot of life is happening. If you aren’t communicating regularly, you can be forgotten. That single email you send once every few months can get lost.

Many retail companies take the opposite approach and even send multiple emails A DAY to ensure they stay on top of the inbox. We don’t suggest doing that, but it’s worth noting that the companies that pay millions on advertising, stats and research are finding more success in over-communicating than under-communicating.

Don’t become as annoying as a retailer, but do take note – they are having enough people stay subscribed and engaged with over-communication that it’s worth it for them. How could you do that in a less annoying way? We suggest:

• Sending regular prayer updates weekly or bi-weekly (consider trying out prayvine.org)
• Creating a private facebook group and posting regular updates
• Sending your newsletter consistently EVERY month (Note: this is also required)
• If something exciting happens, don’t be scared to send an extra email highlighting just that one exciting event!
• Send personal notes. If you send someone a direct email, just to them, they are much more likely to read and respond.

You aren’t including relevant information

Why are your supporters supporting you? Think of the answer for different people on your list. The answer is what is relevant to them. The motivations probably include:

They love you and your family.

Are you including family pictures and updates in each newsletter? Have you considered a video update that features your family (It doesn’t have to be fancy; they know you aren’t a videographer. Just use your phone.)?

They were moved by your story.

When you first shared your story with them, they were swept up by your passion and wanted to be a part of it. Are you still communicating that passion?

They have a passion for missions/they want to see the Great Commission fulfilled.

Are you regularly updating your progress? Maybe you don’t have numbers to share, but you can share stories of conversations you’ve had, prayers that have been answered, and steps that have been taken.

There are other scenarios. Think of why your team supports you and make sure you are communicating relevant information based on that each month.

Your newsletter is hard to read

This is a long blog. But, you could get the gist of it with a quick skim because of clear headers and a clear layout. Do you have that in your newsletter? If it’s just one long block of text, your reader will feel overwhelmed. If someone opens your newsletter and decides they don’t have time to read it in that moment, they will likely not remember to come back to it. If you do this every time, people begin to stop opening. Also consider the color scheme and fonts you use. I’ve seen some crazy colors and fonts in newsletters that can be hard on the eyes (and they aren’t in our style guide). Stick to our official colors and fonts and keep things easy to read.

They’ve lost interest in your ministry

I’ve been on the email list for a missionary couple from another organization that I never met for about 10 years. They were given my information by friends. I chatted on the phone with them one time when they asked me to support them. I wouldn’t say I lost interest in their ministry; I’d say, the interest was never really there. Not everyone will have a vested interest in your ministry, no matter how hard you try via newsletter to make things sound interesting. And that’s okay. If you’re doing everything else well, don’t worry about losing the interest of a few folks along the way. That’s going to happen.

Take a moment to clean your list. You may find that many of the people who aren’t opening your newsletter are people you don’t even know.

They’re too busy

It’s amazing that people can be too busy to read your newsletter, but not too busy to binge a season of Netflix shows and do a quick perusal of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We get it, it’s frustrating. So, how can you possibly compete?

Use the platforms they’re already checking:

Create a Facebook group, Instagram page, or Twitter account. Keep people updated in a way that’s convenient for them.

Send shorter updates more regularly.

Tools like Prayvine.org are built around the idea of sending shorter, more regular updates.

Consider creating a prayer calendar that has daily prayer requests.

Help your supporters create a habit of praying for your ministry daily.