So you want an easy way to send classy-looking emails to your Prayer Team, Outside Supporters and/or Launch Team? For years Constant Contact has been the big kid on the block, but my new favorite is MailChimp.

Why Do I Need a Newsletter Service?

You need one for several reasons, and they all come back to the CAN-SPAM Act, enacted by the US Congress to reduce the amount of spam in everyone’s inbox.

1. Major email providers like Google and Yahoo! keep a blacklist of known spammers; you don’t want to be on that list
2. An easy way to get on that list is to send a mass newsletter-type email from your personal account to hundreds of recipients. Red flag!
3. Another easy way is to routinely neglect to include these elements in your email, all required to comply with CAN-SPAM:
• Physical/mailing address of sender (that’d be you)
• One-Click opt out
4. You need a reliable way to honor opt-out requests so you don’t send unwanted emails

How it Works

A Great Example

Here is the newsletter that comes out religiously from a great church in Albuquerque: