Emails as Social Media:How and Why Non-Profits and Educational Orgs Should Use Email Lists

Gretchen Weber, Communications ManagerDaniel Jones, Digital Media ProducerBerkman Center for Internet & Society

About the Berkman Center

Dozensprojects launched to study and influence the development of

the Internet, including Creative Commons and Global Voices

100+events, reports, tools, videos,

podcasts every year

Founded in 1997“to explore cyberspace,

share in its study, and help pioneer its development”

We build, study, educate, and

connect.

The Berkman Center: information flow

Dozens of projects &

100+ reports, tools, events, videos, podcasts every

year

Project specific communities and audiences: teachers, lawyers,

parents, developers, journalists, policy makers, activists,

librarians, storytellers, etc, and the interested public

We build, study, educate, and

connect.

500+ staff, fellows, affiliates, faculty associates , & alumni from 40+ countries;

Network of 50+ Internet & society research centers

internationally, as well as other partner institutions and Harvard

WHY THE HECK DO WE NEED EMAIL???

2.5 billionemail users worldwide, many with multiple accounts

Source: The Radicati Group

2.9 billionemail users worldwide by 2019

Facebook: 1.1 billionTwitter: 310 millionLinkedIn: 255 millionPinterest: 250 millionGoogle+: 120 millionTumblr: 110 millionInstagram: 100 million

>

10 millionlists

600 millionemails sent per day

22-25%open rate for emails in our sector (non-profit, education)

Step 1: Assess the problem

Welcome to List Management Hell

● Using (mostly) 4 entirely separate lists (newsletter, events, reports, jobs)

● Buried among many other active, outdated, & defunct lists

● No mechanism for detecting overlap between lists● No system for clearing bounces● Unsubscribing was nearly impossible

Trapped in an outdated template

Negatives:● coded in html every week

● time consuming ● error-prone● totally limited by

outdated template● not mobile-friendly

Postives (sort of):● We had thousands of

subscribers… but did they engage with the content?

Impossible to gauge impact or success

No metrics???

Know what you want

PRODUCTION NEEDSEasy list managementQuicker production timeFlexible templatesMultimedia inclusiveMobile responsiveMeaningful metrics

EDITORIAL GOALSProvide value to audienceBe interesting to readBe inviting, tone &

visuallyBetter showcase our work

with context & formatsShare work from the

broader community

Consider your audience...

...and their privacy

“Can we import your email address into MailChimp?”

Be Transparent

Migrating was easy

Migrating was easy

Migrating was easy

Customizing cut our prep time in ½

Better User Experience

when your emails are mobile friendly:

Editorial

After the pilot phase: Expansion

Migrated 3 more lists - found tons of crossover

Created groups within main listMerged our events & Buzz

emails to reduce volume of emails sent

A/B tested headlinesOn-boarded other staff

Prettify our templatesCreate better systems for

finding good contentLearn & experiment with

featuresLook more closely at dataMore A/B Testing

More work to do

Why Email?

.8%

5% 8%

Join our Listsbrk.mn/mail

Follow us@berkmancenter

Email usgweber@cyber.law.harvard.edudjones@cyber.law.harvard.edu

Thank You!