The Grecians went in front when Craig Woodman's corner was diverted into his own goal by Matt Duke and Lawson D'Ath celebrated his debut with a headed second on the stroke of half-time.
Kyel Reid scored direct from a corner to give the Bantams hope, but further goals by Scot Bennett and John O'Flynn sealed an emphatic win for Tisdale's side.
"It was a very much-needed three points, it was a comprehensive scoreline in the end against a very good team and we had a host of extremely good individual performances," Tisdale said. "Most of all, though, it was an excellent team performance.
"It was a very gusty, wet, slippery day, but I think we played the conditions very sensibly and we did the job
"We were very competitive. Our back four has been quite settled and in very good form. Mark Molesley and Scot Bennett don't play together very often in centre midfield and as a pair they were very competitive and tough. They were aided by the quick thinking of Lawson D'Ath, who had a fantastic debut, Arron Davies and Jake Gosling.
"We played with the breeze in the first half and got the ball forward early. In the second half we had to defend our final third under some stiff pressure from Bradford but we counter-attacked very well.
"Bradford gave it a real go and I am delighted to win 4-1 against a side that are very effective and attack with a lot of purpose."
