Creating Email Campaigns that Increase Donations while Saving Time and Money
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Historical data, behavioral targeting, automation. Are you using these resources and tactics to run your fundraising campaigns? A strategic email communication plan can be a highly-effective and cost efficient tool to help nonprofits with their fundraising goals, but only if you put your resources to good use. In this exclusive webinar, learn learn how you can put data at the heart of your email marketing and create more effective fundraising campaigns.
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Creating Email Campaigns that Increase Donations while Saving Time and Money
- 1. Creating Email Campaigns that Increase Donations while Saving Time and Money Jeanette Brown, MBA Marketing Strategy Manager, Informz
- 2. 30%
- 4. About Me @emktg_guru
- 5. Challenges Faced Retaining accurate contacts Lack of staffing and budget Integrating email with other outlets Integrating data systems
- 7. Creating a Plan Conduct asset inventory Set realistic goals Diversify communications Plan your communications
- 11. Utilizing Email
- 12. Speak to Who They Are
- 17. Past Donor
- 20. 37% open rate!
- 21. ROI Tracking
- 22. Social Media
- 23. 24.3%
- 27. Social Tips Include an email sign-up Share stories Post pictures Thank donors in status
- 28. Video How-To
- 31. Video How-To Subject Line <90 seconds Cross Promote Keywords
- 32. Donor Management
- 33. Simple Message
- 36. Foot in the Door
- 37. $ $
- 39. Thank You
- 44. Final Notes Target donors based on actions Humanize your communications Integrate technologies
- 46. Let us help you! Jeanette Brown brown@informz.com @emktg_guru Informz: www.informz.com 1.888.371.1842 @informz
Editor's Notes
- This number, is what you can expect to see your bottom line increase by just by using your data to personalize and target your messages. As you sit at your desk, do you say to yourself that you know you have data that you could utilize more? And then quickly after that thought, the lack of time pops up and you decide to just proceed with what you are doing? Today we will fix this, I am going to show multiple examples of what other groups are doing when it comes to communicating in the fundraising world.
- Good afternoon everyone, I am jeanette brown and I will be your host for today.For those of you who don’t know who Informz is,– we are an email service provider with a range of solutions, including those you see on your screen. And because these solutions all live on one platform, the data is captured and can be leveraged again and again. All too often I see the difficulties of having data here and there and nothing really talks to one another, which can be a big struggle with many organizations. Making them talk will allow you to work smarter and not harder.
- As for me, I have worked in the marketing departments at a couple of associations prior to joining the Informz team, and understand what many of you face when it comes to communicating to your members. From membership to conference marketing, I have done it all.As the marketing strategy manager at Informz, I work directly with our clients to achieve certain goals they have for their campaigns, such as membership welcome campaigns, content development and anything in between.
- First up, challenges. This should all sound very familiar to you. In a study it was found that keeping data was very challenging.Next, staffing, budget and I assume time falls into that, then integrating email with other outlets. In no way is email the only communication outlet you should be using, but it does need to integrate and complement other outlets.And lastly, data systems. Having a data platform that collects actions, demographics, etc, connect with your email platform is invaluable. Why? First, it helps reduce the challenge of having inaccurate data because users can update it in one place and it is done across the board. Next, and I will show you a variety of examples today on how having data flow freely between two systems can automate your email communication and effectiveness of it even more. First step,
- Create a plan. And this plan is to look at all areas
- Such as, look at your asset inventory, this includes covering what type of technology you have, staff and what projects you want to tackle first.Goals, always think of baby steps, you will walk out of here with great ideas, see examples from others, start with a plan, pick one campaign, one event, to start making changes.And with email, comes with different ways to communicate. Email is your driver, use it to deliver information in videos, what is going on your social media sites.This all requires a plan
- And you want to use a calendar. This is hard to read, but it gives you an idea of what I am referring to. Use a calendar and share with other departments. We are here to discuss fundraising right, but many of us work at associations, non-profits that have meetings, membership and marketing departments. It is essential that this calendar is shared. Because all too often we hear members are getting over communicated. Ok, so we have set the stage for planning. Time to communicate
- I am going walk through in less than hour how to integrate email, social and video. And how this can be used to cultivate donors and then how to maintain them.
- First speak to who they are. because
- One size does not fit all when it comes to communication
- What data do you pull on, member status and if they are a past donor? That is great data to use, but what aboutGenderPlace they liveBirthdayFinancial statusWhat do they read onFamily sizeEducationProfession and lastlyGenerationData leads the way in what your strategy should be. It is essential in taking this data and using it to convert nondonors to donors. And the key is not to just blast a message out to everyone at the same time
- The key to creating a relevant message is to find the people to send it to. Smaller lists do result in higher engagement due to the increased targeting. So start targeting by using your data you already have. Take this for example
- Pull directly from your database to ensure you have top notch data, and have it update your email lists in real time.This also feeds back into your database so you can pull more accurate lists, which then become those smaller niche lists.
- So, past donors, what do we usually do, we message them with, as a past donor, as a past donor, you helped us last year, please donate again, right.Why not just communicate to them during the campaign, without making the ask?
- This email went out at the start of their summer toy drive, and just shared with their past donors that they donated last yearClick And informed them once again, how their donation was used last year. We do this usually at the close of the campaign, but we need to cultivate these relationships, build them, create that trust all year long. Do this even during the campaign and you may just surprise yourself.Here, they had someone open it 16 times and donate in the end, without even the ask. Just a simple thank you. So look, this simple message, with out an ask, received a donation.
- Next, this group utilized behavioral data based on the actions the user took in an email. So after the that first email,
- They sent this email to follow up to those that opened the email but did not convert. Here they made the ask. Reaching out to a group who showed you that they were engaged, it is time to leverage that excitement and follow up with themAnd they found an open rate of 37%. That is much higher than the average 20% open rate we mostly see on other emails. This group, the group that shows that they are engaged in your emails, they need to be nurtured and encouraged to donate again.Once you send it out, data is important to justify your efforts.
- Of course, standards stats, open, click throughs are good, but what about connecting your efforts with the financial outcome?Using a report similar to this, shows a correlation of donations directly after the send date of your email. Of course additional factors can effect this but hopefully your strategy doesn’t overlap efforts but spreads them out.Remember I talked about integrated systems, this is an example of that, this is a report that is unique to our iMIS integration, which it pulls directly from their database, activity tables. So no more manually creating tables, trying to figure out which email, message, etc, created the best results.
- So we talked about email, how about social media.How can social media be used to advance your efforts.We all use it right, but does it really work?
- Shared emails delivered an average increase in reach of 24.3%. If shared emails, such as forwarding it, just think about a platform where you could increase your reach 4-7x more due to everyone’s size of a network.
- Take a look at this.First, the ask to give occurred during nurses week. When they choose to give, there is an option to download a facetime banner image to use for that month. These images are friendly, useful and an easy way to share the message to a larger audience.
- Next, all of us hopefully include these but do you use the data. Do you identify those who actually share your pages, forward on an email CLICK
- This information is a great resource to trigger a thank you or even thank them in your status or next e-newsletter. Everyone loves to see their names in lights.
- So to conclude, some basic tips to add to what you are doing
- And lastly, video
- Video can improve your click thru rates by almost 50%In this example, they included it as a PS. Using a PS is a great way to get readers to see something important
- Next, always use a play button on your screenshot. We all love to push play
- Quick tipsAlways include in your subject line, keep them short, post everywhere, just like your social media sign ups and manage your keywords.
- So your campaign has ended, relationship building is essential to keep the trust growing.
- First up a simple message
- And what about someone’s birthday. Here, they combined video with this as well. You can make something simple as a birthday card funny and I guarantee you, the recipient of these types of email will be forwarding it to others to share, as well as talking about it when they are out with friends and family. Next, what about trying to take current donors and grow within them.
- Ok, so the foot in the door theory. This is where you already have had some relationship with the donor, such as volunteering at an event, so you have been able to gain a little bit of their trust. Now, how far can you get this donor to go, can you get them to take the next step and get involved monetarily. This is key to use to overcome
- The decline or flat line many of us have seen with our fundraising events. So why not go after those that are your one time donors and try to turn them into repeat donors during the year. This is a great tactic to use for those who have not donated monetarily but have volunteered for an event. This also provides a chance for you to test.
- So a simple thank you, reminding them how valuable they are as a volunteer.This is a great area to test, test out different requests.Also use a video. My only tip is to not ask for money right after they volunteer, gain their trust, gain their commitment, use your data to identify those that are active that year in your emails prior to going for the ask.
- And of course, thank you messages
- Again, wonderful place to use video. You may be thinking, well, I already do that, I put in the recipient of the donations and have them thank them. That is great, but lets take it a step further.
- And if you want to do something that does not ask for money from them,
- Before we open up for questions, I want to reiterate how important timing is in email. Don’t leave your donors hanging after they signed up to volunteer or donated money. As I said earlier, automating emails can really improve the engagement of subscribers by targeting them more. I am going to show an example of an email, but just some things to be aware of and look for when you send your next mailing.
- So, it is great to have an email go out quickly, letting the donor know that the donation was received and that they can expect something in the mail in the short future.I am removed the college’s name from here, but I wanted to show how sometimes automation still needs to be monitored a little, mostly in the template used. CLICKLook right here, it is asking them to give again. This is an email thanking them for their donation. So word to the wise, go back, make sure the templates that you use are relevant to who is receiving the email. In conclusion
- Remember, target donors based on data and actions. You have the data in your AMS and if you are integrated with an email platform, you have the action-based data as well from the emails, all in one place.Make sure you get personal. The videos, if you need to, create multiple versions and send them. And lastly, integrate your technologies and your marketing outlets. Make things easy on yourself with tools that are out there today to help you overcome the lack of staff and time.
- In the end, take these ideas I shared with you today, implement them one step at a time. Don’t go back and try to overhaul everything. One change can bring big results.