ePrayerConnect is designed so you can easily use and manage it. However there are many ways to realize its
potential to grow your ministry. Here are several tips for effective use that, when implemented, will help
you utilize ePrayerConnect to its full potential.
Tip #1: Read Our Getting Started Guide:
Though ePrayerConnect is easy to use, there are browsers and computer settings that will improve its
performance. Read our Getting Started Guide for information on optimal computer settings
and for explanations of ePrayerConnect's administrative areas and functionalities.
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Tip #2: Read Our Free e-Book About Relationship Fundraising:
This valuable book will introduce you to our concept of Relationship Fundraising, which is the backbone of our company and the
foundation of ePrayerConnect. The e-Book includes the 5 biggest fundraising mistakes and how to avoid them.
Download the e-Book Relationship Fundraising.
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Tip #3: Gather E-mail Addresses:
Perhaps your ministry wants to utilize e-mail to strengthen the relationships with your constituents,
but you have few e-mail addresses. To address this issue, you can:
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- Ask for e-mail addresses during church service: Whether you are a church, attend a church, or have professional or personal relationships with a church, you can, at the beginning or end of the service, briefly explain that you want to provide daily biblical encouragement to the congregation and will be passing around a basket with paper and a pen. Ask everyone to write their e-mail address and name on the paper so they may begin receiving your devotional e-mail.
- Church Bulletin: If you are a church or have close relations with a church, briefly explain your desire to send devotional e-mails in an insert and provide a perforated area for them to write their name and e-mail address. Then ask them to detach the form and place it in a bowl after service.
- Have fliers available at a refreshments table: Before and after service, many churches have a refreshments table. Many meetings that ministries hold also have a similar table. Consider printing up basic fliers with a perforated area for names and e-mail addresses, or simply have a sign up sheet to take names and e-mail addresses.
- Request e-mail addresses on your Web site: On your home page, begin capturing e-mail addresses. Say, "Sign up to Receive Our Daily Devotions" and then provide a field for someone to enter their e-mail address and click "Submit." You can also, in your news section or other relevant section of your Web site, explain that your ministry is going to begin sending daily e-mails to your constituency in thanks for their faith and involvement. Give an example of the devotional e-mail they would receive and ask that your visitors e-mail their e-mail address to you. You can also get creative. Every time your visitor fills out a form to receive your newsletter, to answer a questionnaire, or to register for an event or volunteer position, make sure to capture their e-mail address and ask if they'd like to receive a daily devotion by e-mail.
- Provide free, useful information on your Web site: on your home page, make it very clear that you have a free special report, free informational article, etc. on a topic of interest to your constituents. When they go to view the informational report, have a form appear that asks them for their e-mail address so that you can e-mail it to them.
- Call your constituents to ask for their e-mail addresses: if you don't have a Web site yet, or you don't want to wait for your constituency to visit it, you can call all the numbers in your database or files and explain that you want to send them a daily devotional e-mail, and ask them for their e-mail address.
- Solicit e-mail addresses at events and fundraisers: at every event or fundraiser you have, ask your participants to give you their e-mail addresses. You could also have a bowl with pens and paper in front of it and ask people to put their names and e-mail addresses on the paper and put it in the bowl. If someone writes you a check or fills out a payment, registration, or volunteer form, ask them to write their e-mail address on it.
- Make it a contest: especially fun for your younger constituents, design a contest with fun but inexpensive prizes. Whoever can get the most e-mail addresses (whether they ask friends, solicit door to door, etc.) to receive the devotional e-mail will win a prize.
- Ask for e-mail addresses on ALL forms: any form that your ministry may have, make sure you have a space for e-mail addresses on them.
- Rent a targeted e-mail list: if you can afford to rent a list, send out a blast e-mail to the list of e-mail addresses that offers to provide them free information on a specific topic (choose a topic of relevance to your ministry's mission, but especially one of interest to the people on that list). You'll get more responses that way and will be able to keep their e-mail address. Give them the information you promised and begin to build a relationship with them by sending them daily devotionals through ePrayerConnect.
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Tip #4: Encourage Subscribers to Create Prayer Teams:
We advise that all ministries encourage their subscribers to create their own Prayer Teams within ePrayerConnect. By doing so, you will involve them in your ministry and in your daily e-mails. As they develop their Teams and send e-mails, you will witness a true growth take place. Your subscriber base will grow, the amount of people who know of your organization will grow, and therefore your donor base can grow. But most importantly, your subscribers' faith will grow -- as will the Kingdom, as they bring others to Him through prayer and consistent, inspirational contact.
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Tip #5: Write a Good Welcome Letter:
When you fill out the settings for each mailing group you create, you have a text box where you can write a welcome e-mail. Before any of your subscribers, current or future, receive your devotional e-mails, they will receive a text only e-mail introducing them to your ministry and your reasons for sending the e-mail. We have placed automatic text in the Welcome e-mail text box to help give you an idea of what to write. You may leave the text as it is, delete it and write something else, or edit it in any way you like. However, we suggest that you cover all the aspects of your e-mails that we cover in the default welcome letter, and provide an e-mail address (and your Web site if you have one) so they can contact you with any questions/comments.
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Tip #6: Keep Your Content Length Short:
To make ePrayerConnect most effective, you want to keep all your content relatively short. The entire e-mail should be readable within two minutes. If it gets much longer, your subscribers won't want to take the time to read it, and may unsubscribe. If you have a devotional you're writing, or a news item that is particularly long, consider breaking it up over the course of two or three days. Try to be creative so each e-mail is easily readable.
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Tip #7: Share Yourself:
ePrayerConnect is powerful because it involves your constituents in your ministry. By sharing stories of your successes, your failures, or the stories of others in, or served by, your organization, you will emotionally involve your subscribers. Don't be afraid to open up to your constituency. People want to be touched emotionally. It's why we read books, go to the movies, and listen to music. If your subscriber knows that the content in your e-mails will touch her emotionally, not only will she look forward to reading it, but she will surely pass it on to many others. Another benefit to sharing yourself is that your subscribers will begin to share themselves, e-mailing you their own stories and how your e-mails have affected their lives (which, with their permission, you can share as well).
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Tip #8: Collect Stories:
Begin collecting stories from your constituents, staff, friends and family. Every few months, ask your subscribers to e-mail you their stories, and if you have a church or attend a church, ask the congregation and pastors to e-mail you their stories. Once you have enough collected, you can create a new devotional category in ePrayerConnect and begin sending these touching stories as devotions. And of course, get the e-mail address of everyone who submits a story and subscribe them to your daily devotional.
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Tip #9: Look for Creative Ways to Use the News Area:
As you send out prayer requests through ePrayerConnect, you will get responses thanking you for your prayers and informing you of the results of those prayers. You can use the News section of your next day's e-mail to inform the rest of your subscribers of the effect their prayers have had. By doing so you will create a sense of community among your subscribers and they will begin to feel a strong connection with your ministry.
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Tip#10: Choose a High Frequency:
When we tested ePrayerConnect, we saw that almost every subscriber enjoyed receiving the devotions on a daily basis. Those few who unsubscribed, however, did so because they received our e-mail too often. Rather than lower the frequency and disappoint the thousands of people who liked receiving our e-mails daily, we allowed subscribers to choose for themselves how often they receive your e-mail, as long as the frequency they choose is below the frequency your organization has chosen. Therefore, we recommend that you choose how often you send based on how often you want to write the content, not on how often you think your subscribers want to receive your e-mail.
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Tip #11: Designate Group Administrators for Each of Your Mailing and Devotional Groups:
If you have a large ministry or numerous groups, consider having a different person manage each separate group's e-mail content. We have built into ePrayerConnect varying levels of access. Though one person will have access to your entire ePrayerConnect administrative site, you can designate different individuals for each group you create, and provide them a username and password that gives them access to only their specific group. This way, one person does not have to manage too many groups and their content, and you can leverage your time among several people.
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We hope these tips are helpful and allow you to fully utilize ePrayerConnect and its various features.
If you have any questions, please visit our FAQ, and if that does not answer it, feel free to e-mail us at
support@eprayerconnect.org.
Also feel free to send us any suggestions or comments you may have.
