Forrester Research has just released some interesting bits of information from its recent study querying 33,500 US online adults (I wonder if that means you don’t have to be an adult offline … but I digress).

This research should remind you that your organization’s emails arrive in a blizzard of competing messaging. And according to Forrester’s study, 42% of consumers delete most email advertising without reading it. Do you think your email recipients regard you as more than just another advertiser?

Why should they? Just because he or she opted in? Or because you think you’re more significant to them than Amazon or Starbucks or L.L. Bean or some other brand whose messages they also elected to receive?

If your nonprofit’s email message has any comparative advantage in terms of getting opened, it would have to be because of its perceived relevance. 38% of the study respondents said most emails they receive don’t offer anything that interests. Hopefully your emails don’t fall into that category.

On this point, take some advice from this post by Amanda Kiviaho on MarketingProfs, Five Email Mistakes Even The Experts Make.

#2 on their list is Mailing Irrelevant Content. Commenting in a business context: “Emailing content that serves the agenda of the company but doesn’t take into account what the recipient would find valuable seems like an obvious hazard. However, with immediate goals looming and marketing initiatives that need supporting, this mistake can easily become reality.”

Their advice … Segment!

“You can achieve content relevance by sending tailored content to strategically segmented audiences, created based on actions taken by the recipient. For example: opens, clicks, purchases, and sign-ups are a few common actions that are used to create segments. Creative (including copy) can be further positioned to speak to these delineated audiences. Out of all the optimization available in email marketing, segmentation, if done correctly, provides the notable metric lifts companies are looking for.”

The other mistakes are:

• Leaving the subject line for last.
• Expecting New creative to immediately lift metrics.
• Focusing only on ROI (Their point here is to not forget relationship building: “…even your best friends can get on your nerves if they start showing up at your house every day, at odd hours…”)
• Thinking email exists in a silo.

Good post … worth a read.

Here are some other findings from the (for sale only) Forrester study …

In summary, email remains a proven marketing workhorse, but not one to be taken for granted. Your message is just one in a very crowded in-box.

Tom