HOW TO BUILD LASTING COMMUNITIES WITH EMAIL: CONSTANT CONTACT OFFERS RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS TOP TEN TIPS

Religious organizations embrace new wave of online member communications

New email templates provide religious organizations with an effective tool to easily connect with members, from youth groups to senior volunteers

Waltham, MA. - April 04, 2007

The United States has the greatest number of religious groups in the world, with more than 375,000 establishments nationwide (Dun and Bradstreet). Despite these impressive numbers, the long-term success of many religious organizations today depends on finding relevant, personalized, and inspirational ways to connect with their members and communities. To help address these challenges, Constant Contact® today announced the availability of new email templates and email marketing tips designed specifically to help religious organizations better connect with their members. Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com) is the leading email marketing service for small businesses, associations, and nonprofits.

Email marketing communications-including email newsletters and announcements-are emerging as a vital tool to help religious organizations connect with their audiences, particularly younger members who are accustomed to the Internet and email as primary resources for information. Sixty-four percent of U.S. Internet users have already embraced the Web for religious purposes-with 38 percent having sent and received email with spiritual content (Pew Internet and American Life Project). With more members online, religious organizations represent one of the fastest-growing groups for email adoption.

According to Outreach Magazine, some religious organizations today also face declining membership, as fewer than 20 percent of Americans regularly attend church, making it more important than ever to keep their members engaged and informed. Many religious organizations also have limited budgets and resources, and at a cost of fractions of a penny per email, congregations large and small are increasingly turning to email newsletters and announcements as a cost-effective way to communicate with, and inspire, congregants.

"All types of religious organizations can use the power of email marketing to strengthen their communities and forge stronger relationships with their congregations," said Eric Groves, senior vice president of sales and business development, Constant Contact. "We have designed templates specifically for religious organizations that are fresh, inspirational, and compelling. We also provide free expert coaching so that religious organizations can quickly get up to speed on how to send professional email communications and can start connecting with their communities."

Today, more than 2,000 religious organizations use Constant Contact to strengthen relationships with members, build a sense of community, and communicate events, missions, and values. For more information on Constant Contact's wide selection of template styles, designed exclusively for religious organizations, go to: http://www.constantcontact.com/market/religious.

Top 10 Tips for building a lasting community with email marketing communications:

1. Know your goals. Email marketing is a great way to achieve institutional and membership goals. Define them.

2. Identify how you want to communicate with your audience. Review your current communications mix to determine where email would be most effective. Look at each type of communication you use-mail, printed bulletins, calling tree-and which current and prospective members, donors, and communities would be most interested in hearing from you.

3. Determine which communications can be replaced by email, and which are best supplemented with email. Asking children to bring notices home or posting notices on bulletin boards is hit-or-miss; email can be the solution to communicate with busy members.

4. Build a great list. Religious organizations have many opportunities to create great email lists. Solicit email addresses wherever you can-when families register for school or religious education, at committee meetings, when new members join your congregation, or on volunteer forms. Remember to ask for the permission (agreement that you are allowed to send email to an individual or organization) of your congregation.

5. Segment your list. Give your congregants the opportunity to select the communications they want to receive via email. Examples of types of email communications include:

   • Inspirational messages and prayers
   • Event announcements
   • Religious education schedules and updates
   • Committee meeting schedules

   • Weekly/Monthly newsletters encompassing some/all of the above

6. Determine campaign frequency. Take a look at your calendar and feedback from your congregants to decide what information to communicate and when. For example, some congregants may prefer to receive inspirational messages and prayers on a daily basis. Others may choose to receive event announcements, or the weekly/monthly newsletter update.

7. Inspire congregants-make it interesting. Inspire members with email communications that are personalized and relevant-sermons, prayers, inspirational messages, meeting notices, or volunteer opportunities.

8. Offer them something. Give members updates on weddings, funerals, worship times, committee meetings, special announcements, prayer requests, or ministry-specific events. Offering news that's relevant to your congregation is a great way to involve members in the daily life of the organization.

9. Watch the numbers. Use tracking and metrics to improve email communication results by sending targeted emails based on the particular interests of your members.

10. Keep it fresh and simple. Vary your content to keep their interest while also making your email communications simple, concise, and to the point.

For more email marketing tips, go to http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing-resources/hints-tips.

About Constant Contact, Inc.

Launched in 1998 and headquartered in Waltham, Mass., Constant Contact, Inc. is the leading email marketing service for small businesses, associations, and nonprofits. With more than 100,000 customers today, Constant Contact helps small businesses and organizations succeed in building lasting customer relationships through professional email communications. To learn more, please visit www.constantcontact.com or call (781) 472-8100.

Please direct all press inquiries to:

Kevin Mullins Constant Contact 781-472-6206 kmullins@constantcontact.com