A relevant first experience
Lead with the person’s strongest known interest and introduce other ministry content intentionally.
One newsletter.
Relevant to each person.
Replace the siloed KMI newsletter structure with a unified Focus on the Family newsletter. Use what we know about each constituent to prioritize relevant content, deepen engagement, and learn what they need next.
One consistent Focus identity. Content ordered by individual affinity. A simpler process that can grow into deeper personalization.
DELIVERY RHYTHMWeekly, on TuesdaysContent due Thursday at noon
MVP CONTENT SUPPLYFour editorial areasMarriage · Parenting · Culture · General
TARGET LAUNCHJanuary 2027Aligned with Focus’s 50th year
Why this matters
The planning baseline describes roughly 500,000 new email names per year, with losses at a similar scale. Flagship addresses the relevance and cultivation gaps that keep audience acquisition from producing lasting growth.
What the first release delivers
Affinity-ranked content using existing data, a constant CRM section, respected content opt-outs, and a foundation for testing and improvement. The MVP is the first step in the broader Flagship project.
Build in phases
Launch and stabilize the MVP first. Then strengthen data enrichment, introduce deeper segmentation, and expand the program based on measured results.
Acquisition needs a relationship
that lasts.
The current newsletter structure fragments the experience across ministry areas. A unified Flagship creates an intentional path from initial interest to ongoing, relevant ministry engagement.
ANNUAL EMAIL ACQUISITION~500,000
New email names per year over the three years described in the planning baseline.
Audience losses were roughly matching acquisition.
When nearly as many people leave as arrive, the ministry has to keep replacing the audience before it can grow. Improving the ongoing constituent experience helps preserve the value of acquisition and the opportunity for ministry.
June 2026 planning baseline. These figures describe the original case for change and are not live performance data.
Why people unsubscribe
Reported reasons for unsubscribing
Inbox overload leads the list.Nearly half cite too many emails overall.
Reported percentages total more than 100% and are shown independently. The report does not specify a period or response method.
Inbox overloadOne coordinated
newsletter
newsletter
Unclear expectationsClear signup &
preference choices
preference choices
Content mismatchContent ordered
by interest
by interest
What Flagship changes
A reason to stay connected
Provide useful, ongoing content, learn what people need, and develop clearer preference options.
A stronger ministry relationship
Connect content to appropriate next steps, ministry journeys, relevant resources and opportunities to give.
A sustainable operating model
Coordinate content, delivery, quality checks and reporting around one newsletter that improves over time.
The strategic need
Focus needs a consistent way to keep serving the people it acquires. The Flagship newsletter provides that shared foundation, with relevance and constituent choice shaping how the relationship develops.
The MVP, clearly defined.
Use the data and delivery capabilities already available to consolidate the current process. Improve the experience through testing as the broader strategy develops.
Rank by interest
Begin with four affinity positions. Use known interests to determine the order. The first affinity can carry any score; rank is the organizing principle.
Use a clear default
When interests are unknown, use this order: General, Marriage, Parenting, Culture. Earlier discussions about signup-source backfill need reconciliation with this current fallback.
Honor content opt-outs
Leave the ranking blank for interests a constituent has opted out of. Exclude those KMI content areas from their newsletter.
Supply four content pieces
Prepare one piece each for Marriage, Parenting, Culture and Default/General. Advocacy falls within Culture in this MVP content structure.
What belongs in the structure
- Intro messageIncluded in the September operating rules.
- Affinity-ranked KMI contentFour pieces in the editorial supply; exclusions apply to each recipient.
- Broadcast scheduleIncluded in the September content requirements.
- Data-enrichment questionShown after Broadcast on the whiteboard; question rotation is still to be defined.
- Constant CRM sectionSpecified in Brandon’s October 1 clarification and shown above the footer on the whiteboard.
The basic design supplies the section order. Donor-specific treatments and handling of an edition with fewer eligible areas still need definition.
WEEKLY OPERATING CADENCE
Thursday → Tuesday
Thursday · noon
All newsletter content is due to Daniel Buehner.
Between handoff and send
Assemble and review the edition. The final QA owner and approval deadline still need to be assigned.
Tuesday
Weekly newsletter send, subject to audience eligibility and readiness.
Target launch: January 2027
See what lands in the inbox.
Switch between the template and a fully populated edition. Both views share the same structure and preserve your reading position.
THE FOCUS NEWSLETTERA NOTE FROM JIM DALY
Small moments. Stronger connections.
Dear Friend,
Family life is shaped by small, everyday choices: making time to listen, encouraging one another and turning to God in prayer. My hope is that these resources give you a practical next step to strengthen the relationships that matter most.
Thank you for allowing Focus on the Family to come alongside your family.
Jim Daly
MARRIAGE
Reconnect Through Meaningful Conversation
Greg Smalley shares how setting aside ten minutes each day can help couples move beyond schedules and to-do lists to rediscover each other’s feelings, interests and dreams.
Read the articlePARENTING
Getting Kids to Listen
Everyday games and small moments of practice can help children become better listeners. Discover ideas from fellow parents for making instructions clearer and encouraging attentive habits.
Explore the parenting ideasCULTURE
The Nine Supreme Court Justices Need Our Prayers
As a new Supreme Court term begins, Paul Batura calls Christians to pray for the justices’ safety and resolve, and for all government officials regardless of political views.
Read on The Daily CitizenGENERAL / FAITH AT HOME
Grow Together in Faith With Family Prayer
Bring prayer into everyday family life with activities children can join. Share worries, celebrate answered prayers and discover simple ways to turn ordinary moments toward God.
Find ideas for family prayerCOME ALONGSIDE MORE FAMILIESHelp more families
Help more families
find hope.
Your generosity helps Focus on the Family come alongside marriages and parents with trusted encouragement and practical resources.
ON THE FOCUS BROADCAST
Encouragement for the everyday.
Focus on the Family with Jim Daly
Sample weekly lineup · Real episodes from the archive
HELP US MAKE THIS MORE USEFUL
Which format is most helpful to you?
Select one. Your answer helps shape what you receive next.
The same newsletter.
Different priorities.
The MVP changes content order around the constituent’s interests. Longer-term personalization can draw on assessments, behavior and the answers people share over time.
See the ranking principle
Choose an illustrative reader profile. The content order updates to show the intended approach.
Demonstration only. Profiles and secondary rankings are illustrative; no constituent data is connected. The documented default order and opt-out exclusion are applied.
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY
Your flagship newsletter
Intro message
Broadcast schedule Included content
Data-enrichment question Whiteboard structure
CRM section Constant in the MVP
Affinity signals
Existing affinity data is the starting point. Source discussions identify signups, email engagement, giving, purchases and assessment responses as relevant signals. Exact mappings and weighting need validation.
Progressive profiling
Use single-answer multiple choice or yes/no questions. Avoid open entry. Ask actionable questions, confirm the response, and store answers consistently. Answer counts do not have to be identical.
More specific ministry
Connect broader interests to relevant needs, such as marriage communication or conflict resolution. Assessment-driven targeting and website behavior remain development opportunities.
Send time optimization (STO)
Personalization can also adapt when the newsletter arrives. Send time optimization uses prior email engagement to predict when each constituent is most likely to engage and schedules delivery within a defined window.
Proposed next step: Test STO after the MVP is stable. Confirm platform readiness and the sending window, use the weekly Tuesday send as the comparison, and measure clicks and downstream engagement before expanding.
Assessment and journey strategy
The June marketing discussion connects acquisition to ministry-specific journeys, then to ongoing Flagship engagement. Marriage-interested constituents who have not taken an assessment could be invited into that deeper experience.
Whether Flagship continues during an active product journey, how many invitations to send, and how to use older assessment responses remain decisions to make.
Data and automation guardrails
- Start with affinity-based selection; do not depend on advanced Einstein selection to launch.
- Define content taxonomy before expanding automated recommendations.
- Do not discard historical assessment data on an arbitrary age rule. Revalidate needs through profiling and evidence.
- Define answer storage, question repeat timing and reusable fields; avoid creating a new data extension for each answer.
Get the base working.
Then deepen the experience.
Phase 1 builds, launches and stabilizes the MVP. Later phases add data enrichment, deeper segmentation and optimization once the content, data and delivery process can support them.
January 2027MVP launch target
October 2026–September 2027 planning view. Future phase windows are proposed and move if the preceding phase needs more time.
20262027
PHASEOctNovDecJanLaunch targetFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSep
Select a phase to see its work, deliverables and readiness criteria.
Development across the phases
| Capability | Phase 1 · Base | Phase 2 · Enrich | Phase 3 · Segment | Phase 4 · Scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content supply | Four editorial areas, shared calendar and standard content fields. | Tag content by audience need, life stage and format. | Provide enough content for tested subsegments and relevant next steps. | Refine the mix using performance and constituent feedback. |
| Data and selection | Existing affinity rank, default order and opt-out handling. | Reusable profile fields, answer confirmation and dependable data flow. | Combine declared interests, assessment insights and other validated signals. | Test recommendation methods; add website behavior when ready. |
| Constituent journey | Consistent newsletter and a clear transition from existing sends. | Short, purposeful questions that improve future relevance. | Pilot new-name sequences and coordinate product and donor journeys. | Refine preference choices and the balance with other communications. |
| Measurement | Baseline file health, block-level engagement and QA checks. | Question response, profile completeness and data usefulness. | Compare segment results and relevant next-step response. | Assess sustained engagement and incremental ministry, donor and product outcomes. |
| Delivery capacity | Assign coordination, content, QA and reporting responsibilities. | Confirm data and content capacity for new attributes. | Review integration needs and technology costs before expanding. | Evaluate additional platform or contract support against proven need. |
The gate between phases
Advance when the current process works reliably, the results can be measured, and the next level of personalization has both usable data and enough relevant content. Keep the weekly MVP running while additional capabilities are tested with limited groups.
Delivery responsibilities
| Workstream | Named contributors | Workstream responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing strategy | Brandon Gresham | MVP direction, content priorities, profiling templates and assumed opt-in validation. |
| Program strategy | John McKeever · Thom Herold | Project proposal, cultivation strategy and integration with donor communications. |
| Marketing Owner | Adrienne Hawthorne | Kickoff, cross-functional meetings, documentation and follow-up. |
| Email execution and design | Thom Herold · Daniel Buehner | Newsletter design and delivery approach; Daniel receives weekly content and develops template scripting. |
| Affinity and audience data | Kevin Shorter | Affinity analysis, audience data, ranking inputs and profiling-data guidance. |
| Content supply | Marketing, ministry content teams, CRM and broadcast contributors | Content aligned to the agreed areas and edition requirements. |
Transition with continuity
The broader plan replaces KMI newsletters with Flagship. Notify existing subscribers and make the transition in stages, aligned to the Phase 1 launch plan.
Dedicated products identified for continued separate delivery include Daily Citizen, Plugged In, Ages & Stages, Pastor and Hope Restored. Confirm the final newsletter inventory and exception list before migration.
Preference work is connected
Evaluate improvements to the public unsubscribe experience before a full preference-center rebuild. Define requirements in Phase 1 and sequence additional development with the data and segmentation work. The larger effort touches signup forms and the underlying data model.
Audience eligibility, protected groups and rules for other departments’ list pulls must be resolved alongside the experience. Final resourcing and timing were not established in these files.
Relevance that earns
continued engagement.
The proposal defines success across constituent experience, email-file health, ministry engagement and donor or product response. Approved numeric targets and baseline reports are still needed.
Constituent relevance
Feedback on usefulness and fit, expressed interests, and answers that improve future content selection.
Are we meeting the person’s needs?Email-file health
New, retained and reactivated constituents; unsubscribes and reasons for leaving; net file change over time.
Are we keeping the audience we acquire?Meaningful engagement
Clicks by content block, repeat engagement over time, opens, and participation in relevant ministry next steps.
Does relevant content deepen the relationship?Donor and product response
First gifts, second gifts, retention, reactivation, sustainer growth and product response attributable to the newsletter.
How does engagement support the ministry?Test the actual assumptions
- Affinity effectivenessDoes the ranking predict engagement?
- Content density and designCompare more content with lighter design against fewer pieces with heavier design.
- RecommendationsDetermine whether additional recommendations earn engagement.
- Cadence and content mixUse weekly delivery as the current baseline; evaluate results before changing it.
July notes call for stable test groups. Avoid changing people between design treatments mid-test.
HISTORICAL PLANNING CONTEXT
Why retention mattered
The June proposal described roughly 500,000 new email names acquired annually, with losses at a similar scale. It cited unsubscribe feedback about both email volume and unsolicited messages.
It also estimated reach of 600,000–900,000 and potential first-gift revenue of $150,000–$300,000 annually. These were early planning assumptions, not approved targets, verified current totals or realized results.
Define the scorecard before launch.
Confirm metric definitions, reporting owners, baseline period, test design and attribution. Keep projected impact separate from measured results.
What is settled.
What still needs an answer.
The MVP establishes the first operating model. Future capabilities develop in stages as the base process, data and content are ready.
| Topic | Current documented direction | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Core experience | One Focus on the Family newsletter with dynamic, affinity-ranked content. | Defined |
| Frequency | Weekly on Tuesdays, replacing the early twice-monthly proposal. | Defined |
| Content handoff | Four editorial areas; all content to Daniel by Thursday at noon. | Defined |
| Launch timing | January 2027 is the latest target, superseding July and September dates in earlier drafts. | Target |
| Content opt-outs | Exclude opted-out KMI content and leave its ranking blank. | Defined |
| Profiling format | Single-answer multiple choice and yes/no; no open entry; consistent answer storage. | Defined |
| Send eligibility | Assumed opt-in must be validated; reconcile “all constituents” with earlier protected-group exclusions. | Open |
Decisions still needed
Audience eligibility and exceptions
Brandon is to validate assumed opt-in and notify Kevin. The early proposal excludes FA, DR, AIO Club, sustainers and Hope Restored active/alumni groups, while later correspondence questions how existing subscriptions and sustainer protection should work. Confirm the final inclusion, exclusion and suppression rules.
Final content and template behavior
Define how the wider affinity fields map into the four MVP content areas, how ties are handled, and whether suppressed positions collapse or remain empty. Carry the whiteboard structure into a final production template, reconcile the PDF’s sample sections with current rules, and confirm the intro approach.
Newsletter migration and product journeys
Complete the inventory of active and paused newsletters. Confirm which are retired and which remain separate. Resolve whether Flagship pauses during an active product journey and how constituents move between journeys and the newsletter.
Profiling, data freshness and assessment targeting
Define the reusable question bank, answer storage, repeat frequency and timestamping. Establish how older assessments are revalidated, which traits drive content, and how often to invite people into a new assessment.
Donor communications and CRM treatment
A constant CRM section belongs in the MVP. The relationship with separate appeals, donor report-backs, sustainer communications, product offers and frequency of asks still needs a coordinated strategy.
Preference experience and list governance
Confirm feasible unsubscribe alternatives, preference-center scope, signup-form implications and the rules governing list requests outside Flagship. July timing and vendor estimates remain discovery assumptions.
Launch readiness and reporting
Assign ongoing ownership, QA and approvals; confirm the migration communication, test plan, baseline metrics, reporting cadence and current resourcing. Record launch readiness and measured MVP performance before expanding the program.