Improve Your Email Campaigns
I suppose at this point in December you’ve already pulled out all the stops with respect to your online fundraising. One group I support (maybe having second thoughts!) has already sent me four email appeals as of December 10th. I’m sure more are to follow until I relent and give!
So here’s a ‘next year’ resource to set aside, if you haven’t seen yet, and read over your holiday window — The Essential Guide to Email Marketing 2014, from Direct Marketing News.
Plenty of intriguing stats, of course …
- 63% of emails opened on mobile phones and tablets;
- Mobile purchases comprised 22% of all email-driven purchases, up 40% year-over-year;
- 30-50 characters ideal for subject line length;
- 70% say they’ll always open an email from a brand they trust;
- 6 a.m. — the highest click-through rate of any hour;
- 9% increase in email volume year-over-year.
But more importantly, lots of tips and experience from a very wide array of email marketing practitioners …
How to convert email leads — to serious customers/donors.
5 Ways to Marry Mobile and Email — how to optimize your use of mobile for email.
8 Actions for Avoiding Email Errors — lessons from classic email blunders (“There are at least 107 ways an email can go wrong, any of which can alter its original intention,” says one email expert.).
What’s Hot in Email Marketing?
E.g., triggered messaging. Notes one expert: “Triggered messaging — messages prompted by behavior, events, or milestones relevant to the subscriber — combines the two most important factors for successful communications: relevance and timeliness.” Open rates for all campaigns — 15.1%; for triggered campaigns — 38.9%.
Other examples: responsive design, ‘abandoned cart’ emails, one-click purchase from within an email.
Any Agitator readers have examples of using triggered messaging?
Good resource. Worth downloading.
Tom
5 responses to “Improve Your Email Campaigns”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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Now I know why we see your Agitator email by 6 AM!
Nice gift for the holiday season, guys!
This is wonderful! Thank you!
Auto-responders=triggered messaging. Lots of great nonprofit models in welcome messages, post action (donate, petition sign, etc.) follow-up and more.
Series (i.e. more than one message in a string, over timed intervals) work well.
Can’t wait to dig in here!
Thanks for your great work. YOU deserve a raise.
Just now getting a chance to dig in. Wish I could ‘like’ your comment, Nancy. Yes, you deserve a raise – great stuff!