Email marketing best practices for nonprofits by Jon Burgess of RedFusion Media. This is a 101 presentation to help organizations communicate effectively and in an engaging way using email. Includes: ICANN, unsubscribe, list management, follower growth and more.

1. Email 101 for
Nonprofits
Jon Burgess, MBA

2. Jon Burgess
• RedFusion Media, Digital Consultant
• American Advertising Federation, Board of Directors
• University of Redlands, Internet Marketing & Social
Media Adjunct Professor
www.linkedin.com/in/jonburgess
www.twitter.com/jonburgess

3. Email Basics
• Email is cost effective
• Nonprofits should use email to nurture
http://e-benchmarksstudy.com

4. ICANN Basics
• Respect your subscribers’ privacy so they will stay
Active.
• State that you will never sell their information or give
their information to a third party.
• You must also honor their request to be removed
from your list.
• CAN-SPAM law

5. DO NOT
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Send an email to 10+ (Carbon or Blind Copy)
Send emails to people who do not want them
Buy Lists
Send more than twice a month

6. 10 Steps
1. Lists
2. Set Expectations
3. Goal Setting
4. Who is Sending
5. Subject Line
6. Email Body
7. Personalize
8. Signature
9. Proof and Test
10. Send and Review Statistics

7. Step 1: Lists
• Step 1: Optimize for
Deliverability
• Good lists. Segment if
possible
• Add a “Signup” to
your website.

8. Step 2: Set Expectations
Why they should subscribe
How many emails will they receive
When they will receive the emails
What the emails will be about
What address and brand/person are the emails
being sent from
• How will you care for your list
• Who in your office is responsible
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9. Step 3: Goal Setting
• Why are you communicating?
• What are you asking for?
Examples:
o Alert customers of a new feature or product and see how
many customers adopt it
o Announce an upcoming event and measure how many
people register for it
o Send an email to get people to subscribe to your blog and
measure how many subscribed
o Make donors aware of your social media pages, grow
followers

10. Step 4: Who is Sending
Email Address & From Name
• Corporate email account
(jon@redfusionmedia.com)
• Personal Names (Jon Burgess) work best
• Secondary Name of “RedFusion Media”

11. Step 5: Subject Line
• Call to action so the recipient knows what action
they need to take and why.
• Simpler is better
• Short and to the point

12. Step 6: Email Body
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Compelling information
Most people read email in less than 10 seconds
Use bullets to break up content
Include links to Call to Action
Plain text, do not use exotic fonts
Images, use just a couple
Keep it clean and simple

13. Step 7: Personalize
• Most systems allow
you to personalize
the email
• Include First Name

14. Step 8: Signature
• Add a signature at the bottom
• Keep it personal, from a real person
• Personalize if your relationships, like salesmen are
connected to specific people
• Place all of your organizations contact information
in the footer
• Add in your social media links
• Include and “Unsubscribe”

15. Footer Example

16. Step 9: Proof & Test
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Make sure you proof your work
Make sure another person proofs your work
Send a test message to you and a few colleagues
Check all images, check all links

17. Step 10: Send & Review
• Select your lists.
• Hit send.
• Watch for results, look to respond to questions or
comments
• Review and measure your Sent, Open, Clicks

19. Email Tools
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Mail Chimp
Constant Contact
Vertical Response
iContact
GetResponse
HubSpot
Infusionsoft
http://e-benchmarksstudy.com