Mailchimp

Mailchimp dominates email marketing for small organizations with an approachable interface that makes sophisticated email campaigns accessible to non-technical staff. For churches sending newsletters, event announcements, and giving appeals, Mailchimp provides professional results without requiring marketing expertise. The free tier supports up to 500 contacts with 1,000 sends per month - adequate for many small churches. The drag-and-drop email builder creates professional newsletters without HTML knowledge. Choose from dozens of templates or start from scratch with layout blocks for images, text, buttons, and dividers. Audience management lets you segment your congregation meaningfully. Tag subscribers as members, visitors, volunteers, small group leaders, or any other categories relevant to your church. Then send targeted emails - youth ministry updates go only to families with teenagers, while giving appeals reach regular attenders. This relevance improves engagement over blast-everyone approaches. Automation sequences handle repetitive communications. Create a welcome series that sends three emails to new subscribers over two weeks. Set up birthday greetings that send automatically. Build donor thank-you sequences triggered by giving. Once configured, these run without staff intervention. Analytics show what's working. Track open rates, click rates, and subscriber engagement. Learn which subject lines perform better through A/B testing. See which links attract the most clicks. This data improves future communications. Integration options connect Mailchimp to church systems. Many church management platforms sync contacts with Mailchimp automatically. Website signup forms add subscribers directly. The API enables custom integrations for technical churches. The landing page builder creates simple web pages for campaigns, events, or signups. When you need a quick page without involving your website, Mailchimp handles it. Free plan limitations include Mailchimp branding in emails and limited automation. Paid plans ($13+/month) remove branding, increase limits, and unlock advanced features. However, many churches operate successfully on the free tier for years.

Create a free account at mailchimp.com. The setup wizard asks about your organization - select nonprofit or similar. Connect your domain for sending emails from your church address rather than a Mailchimp address, improving deliverability. Import your contacts via CSV export from your church database. Mailchimp requires confirmed opt-in for new subscribers, so use this import for existing newsletter subscribers rather than your entire member directory. Include any segmentation tags during import. Set up audience tags and groups before heavy use. Plan how you'll categorize subscribers - by ministry interest, membership status, campus, etc. Consistent tagging enables targeted sending later. Create your first campaign by selecting 'Email' and choosing 'Regular.' The campaign builder walks through recipient selection, subject line, and content creation. The email designer lets you drag content blocks into layouts. Preview how your email looks on desktop and mobile before sending. Build at least one reusable template for your common communications - perhaps your weekly newsletter layout. Save it as a template for quick reuse. Include your standard header, footer, and color scheme. Set up signup forms to capture new subscribers from your website and social media. Embed forms on your church website or link to hosted signup pages. Configure welcome emails that send automatically to new subscribers. Explore automation after mastering basic campaigns. The Customer Journey Builder creates multi-step sequences triggered by subscriber actions or dates. Start simple - a three-email welcome series - then expand as you learn.