Standing Out In A Crowded Mailbox
We’re talking over-crowded email inboxes here.
Were your email appeals ever ‘sexy’?!
I thought not.
But there’s an important point made in this article from Synchronicity Marketing, titled: Bringing Sexy Back to Email: 3 More Ways to Stand Out in a Crowded Inbox. The competition in the inbox is getting tougher and tougher. Your email appeal is competing with some pretty flashy content from other marketers.
Claims the article: “Today, three exciting innovations are bringing video, audio, animation and dynamically-updated content to email and the inbox has never looked hotter!”
It goes on to describe how new open standard HTML used in the most prevalent email receiving environments has opened the door to video displayed directly in the body of an email. Ditto for animations.
In addition, email tools now permit dynamically customized content to be served in the email, based upon factors like current time, location or other business rules defined by the marketer.
Commercial marketers are diving in … possibly making your email appeals look pretty pedestrian. Links to examples of all of the above are provided in the article.
This is not Email 101 stuff, but for you experienced big-time users of email fundraising, it’s probably time to take a look.
Tom
4 responses to “Standing Out In A Crowded Mailbox”
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 […]
Read Full Answer
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 […]
Read Full Answer
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 […]
Read Full Answer
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 […]
Read Full Answer
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 […]
Read Full Answer
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 […]
Read Full Answer
With the possible exception of #3, I really have to wonder about how much these actually work. For myself personally, I find that the more complex an email is (even before I click the button to “allow” images), the more likely I am to just hit the delete button. And I’m even more patient than others. For me, the best you can do is a few concise lines of text, and maybe one image and a link. Anything beyond that makes me think…why is this all crammed into this email? Why can’t I just click through to a site? Not to mention…50% of email browsers accepting video is not enough for me to move in that direction (yet). I’m not comfortable with frustrating 50% of those receiving my video emails.
Of course, I don’t want to be someone that’s incapable of moving with the times, but…speaking of the times – didn’t I just read an article the other day about how movement to simpler emails is preferred for direct marketing? Maybe I can’t keep up with best practice anymore.
I agree with the conclusion though, it’s time for everyone to start taking a look at these, because it won’t be long until they’re the norm. I’m just not sure if we’re there *yet.*
I don’t know… guess I’m an old curmudgeon, but that doesn’t interest me in the least as a reader.
I rarely take the time to watch a video (when I could read the information much faster). Animation would have to be pretty compelling to catch my interest.
I’m thinking if we provide meaningful content, people will read.
Or if we add all those bells and whistles, we’d best be sure that they’re dressing something good up, not putting lipstick on a pig.
Call me the devil’s advocate (curmudgeonly advocating) – maybe this is where a high-impact info-graphic or relevant [& simple] animation might serve a given development message well.
I’m inclined to agree with Mary & Matt …to an extent.
Especially given the number of mobile email users out there. Mobile Email don’t even play this sort of content w/ in message. Video frames within messages usually link out to YouTube or sender-specific hosted page for the videos anyway.
I like the idea of lite animations perhaps on testimonial sort of appeals or renewals – but videos?? eh. I’m already wringing my hands with current open rates on our messages – I don’t need to compound my headache with a frustration statistic to which Matt refers.
My humble opinion? The best fundraising comes from long-term relationship building – not gimmicks.