One of the biggest pain points nonprofits have is how to get their message heard.
If more people know about your cause, more people will lend their support, donations dollars will flood in, and all of a sudden your community impact is skyrocketing.
Yet with so many distractions competing for your donor’s attention, it can be hard to break through the chatter. That’s why we recommend going straight to the source with a tried and true method: Email.
Emails are a direct lifeline to your donor database, reaching people in their homes, at work, or on their phones while they’re on the go. This makes it so much more effective than hoping you’ll be seen on Twitter, or spending an arm and a leg on traditional advertising.
You can use email marketing campaigns to reach a variety of goals: you may be looking to fundraise, prompt interest and enthusiasm for your organization, inspire your supporters to take action, share important updates, or ask for feedback.
Just make sure to be clear on the goal of your email each time, and keep the content aimed at achieving that goal.
And when you consider that the ROI of email marketing is $44 for every $1 spent, you’ll start to understand how the email reigns supreme in your efforts to get noticed, grow your donor base, and achieve your fundraising goals.
To be successful in your emailing endeavors, you’ll need to be creative. Build content that speaks to your donors, and most importantly measure how effective your campaigns are so you can be sure you’re maximizing your message.
Good subject lines need to be short, to the point, and compelling. As the first thing people see, it needs to make a good first impression otherwise they’re likely to not open it.
Starting with your subject headline, consider that each line that your reader reads signposts them to the next action. The right subject line directs them to open the email.
Your email subscribers may be your supporters, but they’re also individuals who want to know that they are valued in your organization.
This is why personalized emails can improve click-through rates by an average of 14% and conversions by up to 10%. So make sure all of your emails address supporters by their name.
You can send personalized emails for thank you letters, donation receipts, newsletters, organization updates, donation asks, and other touchpoints in the donor journey.
This is the message you’re including in your email. Think about who you’re sending it to, and why.
An important point to note when contacting your donors via email is that the message you need to send is not actually about you or your organization. The most successful email marketing campaigns aren’t the ones that let donors know what you’re up to. They are the ones that are centered around your donor.
What has the donor done? What impact have they made? What impact could they make? By shifting focus to them, you’re engaging them on an emotional level and proving their value to your cause, which is why they engaged with you in the first place.
If your reader has made it this far, congratulations.
It means you’ve succeeded in creating a compelling subject line, your content spoke to them personally, and now they’re here, at your call to action. What is it that you want your audience to do? Remember, you should have set a goal before you sent this email campaign out.
Your CTA can be simple and direct, like “Donate now”, or “Read the Annual Report.” Or you can get creative with your CTAs to see which messaging better engages your audience. You’ll be able to track how many donors clicked on this CTA button when you draw up your post-campaign report.
As our base of donors gets younger, being mobile-friendly has never been more important.
In 2019, 60% of email campaigns were opened on mobile devices. So if your emails don’t automatically resize based on whether they’re opened on a tablet, desktop, or phone, chances are you’re losing out on getting your message across.
These are probably words very familiar to any nonprofit professional. Monitoring and reporting are an important part of any project your organization does, and the same goes for every aspect of online marketing and fundraising.
Use the following data to monitor how effective your email campaigns are, we have included some benchmarks below for comparison:
It’s nice to think that whatever you send out will be well-received by your audience. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
Lean into your data to paint a picture of what you did right, and what’s an opportunity to improve upon for next time.
If you have a low open rate, maybe you should consider switching up your subject line.
If you had a high unsubscribe rate, maybe you sent that email to the wrong donor segment. Try a different one instead.
Creating an A/B test allows you to send one version of an email to a group of contacts, and a slightly different version (changes to your subject line, copy, CTA, etc) to another. You’ll be able to track which one was better received, which will guide your communication strategy going forward.
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Analyzing and using your data to segment donors in order to better understand them will allow you to hone in on your email marketing strategy. It’s not just about sending a good nonprofit email, it’s about optimizing your strategy and perfecting your outreach as you continue to grow.
If you’d like to learn more about wielding your data as an important storytelling tool, read the second part to this series on Keela’s blog.
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Samantha Lego, Marketing Director at Keela
A storyteller by nature and an organizer by inheritance, Sam enjoys crafting meaningful content equally as much as color coding spreadsheets. As Keela’s Marketing Director, she is always on the hunt for new and innovative ways to educate nonprofits and help them maximize their impact.
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