Meet Your Email Competition
It’s not bad enough that every nonprofit you compete with for funds is badgering your donors with email appeals. Their appeals are just the tip of the iceberg. This remarkable infographic from ExactTarget shows you just how crowded those in-boxes will get over the balance of the year.
According to ExactTarget, the average online retailer will send 17 promotional emails in July, 18 in August and September, 20 in October, 25 in November, 27 in December and 18 in January. That’s 125 before the year end’s. And that’s just one retailer!
Here’s the environment you’re fishing in. The advice given on how to use those 125 messages is really designed for online retailing, but it’s interesting to see the retailer’s mindset at work.
With such huge promotional email trafffic, it’s actually a credit to nonprofit online fundraisers that you succeed at all … thankfully online giving is steadily rising.
Perhaps two reasons …
You’re really offering a better ‘product’.
And, despite the occasional lapses discussed yesterday, experience is growing, winning tactics are visible for all in the biz to see and learn from, and consequently, you’re getting better and better at it.
Tom
P.S. Yesterday I proffered a “We haven’t heard from you” email from NTEN as a soft touch alternative to EDF’s call-out of non-responding email activists. But wait, even the soft touch caused backlash. Read about it here. Golly, online ‘supporters’ are a prickly bunch!
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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