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Email Marketing for NonprofitsTips for improving your email marketing now

Lara BrownSenior Marketing ManagerSage Nonprofit Solutions

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Agenda• List growth• Campaign elements• Deliverability• Testing and optimization• Segmentation• Automation

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“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”- email

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Does your organizationconduct email marketing?

Why Email Marketing?

• Inexpensive• Immediate• Effective way to communicate

with supporters• Able to quickly test and

optimize• Able to segment audience for

customized messages

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Successful Organizations:• Define clear objectives and measurable goals• Benchmark and track email performance metrics• Take measures to improve deliverability• Use tactics to grow and retain email contacts• Send emails that are relevant and engaging• Integrate email with other marketing channels• Segment their list according to behavior and interest• Test and optimize key campaign elements

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Objectives and Measurable Goals

What are your organization’s top 3 objectives?

What are your organization’s top 3 measurable goals?

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Why Email Marketing Fails• The one and done email

– Need to send messages multiple times before a supporter notices it, let alone responds (unless it’s tailored for them)

• The stand-alone email– Lack of integration with other on- and offline marketing

channels (where social media comes in)• Generic emails (not targeted to areas of interest)• The registration / donation form is overly complicated or

requires too much information• Key campaign elements like the subject line are ineffective• Deliverability issues

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Ready, Aim, Fire• Growing and retaining email contacts

– Get your message to your audience• Deliverability

– Get your email to the inbox• Subject line (The promise)

– Get your email opened• Copy (Delivering on the promise)

– Get your email read• Content (Making it relevant)

– Get your target to engage / respond

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GROWING YOUR LIST

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Growing and Retaining Contacts

Which statement best describes your organization’s email list growth trend for the past 12 months?

Does your organization actively work to grow and retain email contacts?

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Unaware

Aware

Active / Engaged

Donate

Click on Form

80%

15%

50%

15%

The Donor Funnel

Email Contacts

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Tips for growing and keeping contacts• Online

– Facebook registration page– Web site registration– Offer incentives for signing up– Make it easy, don’t ask for unnecessary information– Referrals: Forward to a friend / give advocates the tools to share your

emails and your story– Social media sharing icons– Blog sign up

• Offline– Direct mail, events

• Retain contacts by delivering value and making it worthwhile for them to stay

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Facebook Registration Page Tip: Lower the Barrier

to Entry witha Soft Ask

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DELIVERABILITY

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Tactics for Improving Deliverability• Regularly clean your data

– Remove hard bounces – Remove inactive contacts– Evaluate soft bounces – Update email addresses

• Monitoring inbox placement• Spam checking software

– Your email service provider (ESP) should include or offer• Ask contacts to add you to their Safe Senders

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Tactics for Improving Response• Make it possible to view email as a web page

– For those who have display images turned off• Use text and graphics, not just graphics• Use consistent from line: credibility / recognition• Reactivation campaigns to non-responders• Survey results show average unsubscribe rate is 4%!

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CAMPAIGN ELEMENTS

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Key Email Campaign Elements• Subject Line

– Same rules as apply to a headline. – Attract attention. Be provocative, enticing:

“We had no idea” – Specific, urgent, compelling, concise (40-60 characters)– Question marks okay, no or limited exclamation points– Don’t be afraid to include the Ask: “Donate to Save an Kitten Today”

• Call to Action– Strong v. Soft (Give now v give today), sense of immediacy– Exclusivity (Part of a special club)– People want to know WIFM (what’s in it for me?)

• Simplify donation pages– No need to sell them at that point– Reduce the number of clicks– Don’t send them off to a third-party site to donate

Tip: Write a simple brief to

guide the process

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Landing Page

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Content

• Deliver on the promise made in the subject line (how measured? CTR)

• Don’t bury the lead / Cut to the chase quickly• Make it scan-able (bullets, short paragraphs)• Tone: compelling, action-oriented, conversational

vs. formal• Keep important content / links above the fold • Stop talking about yourself (the wewe test)• Personalization and video

Tip: Write the copy,

then delete the first line.

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TESTING AND OPTIMIZATION

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Elements to Test• Subject Line• Call to Action• Target Audience• Landing Page• Donation Form Fields• Content• Time / Day• Personalization / Video• Frequency

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Types of Testing• A/B Testing

– Test one element at a time– Don’t waste time testing “whispers”– Tip: Split a small portion of your list and send 2 different emails

with 2 different subject lines. Send the winning email to the rest of the contacts.

• Multivariate Testing– Testing multiple elements at a time (e.g, subject line +

headline + list)– Pro: speeds up optimization– Con: complex

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SEGMENTATION AND AUTOMATED MARKETING

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Segmenting Your List• Reach the right prospect with the right

message at the right time– Send messages to a segment of your audience

based on behavior and what you know about them• Benefits

– Cuts through the clutter, more likely to get opened– If providing value, can send more frequently– Improve open rates and reduce

opt-out rates.– If their behavior

indicates interest in cats, give ‘em cats!

Tip: Set up a preference center so supporters can opt-in to specific

content.

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Automated Marketing• Multi-step, trigger-based on if / then

scenario• Score to prioritize for follow up

– Explicit: Their activity (opens, clicks, etc.) – Implicit: What you know about them (adopted a dog)

Tip: Use for driving people to an

upcoming event

Sage E-marketing Lead Scoring

AutomatedTrigger-BasedMarketing

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TRACKING

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Benchmark and Track Key Performance Indicators

• Click-through rate• Open rate• Total contacts• Total new contacts• % active, email-able contacts• Unsubscribe rate• Bounceback rate• Total emails sent• Conversion rate• Campaign ROI

Does your organization benchmark email

performance?

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Successful Organizations• Define clear objectives and measurable goals• Benchmark and track email performance metrics• Take measures to improve deliverability• Use tactics to grow and retain email contacts• Send emails that are relevant and engaging• Integrate email with other marketing channels• Segment their list according to behavior and interest• Test and optimize key campaign elements

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Q&A• Download the complete Email Marketing

Report– x

• Get a free trial of Sage E-marketing– http://bit.ly/y0RgOs

• Learn about Sage Fundraising Online– www.sagefundraisingonline.com

• Sage Nonprofit E-Books – Event Fundraising Best Practices– Year-End Fundraising Guide

Thanks for Attending!

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Appendix

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Challenges and Obstacles

What are your organization’s most significant challenges?

What are the barriers to overcoming them?

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Top Campaigns / Appeals

• Events / Year End Campaign Best Practices– Create an email timeline– Mention event date in every email– Send a save-the-date email– Use after-event email or survey– Make it easy to donate / register