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CONTENTS
01 HOW TO MAKE YOUR EMAILS STAND OUT IN YOUR DONOR’S INBOX
5 NONPROFIT EMAIL NEWSLETTER MISTAKES
4 EMAIL TIPS TO INCREASE EMAIL OPEN RATES WITH PSYCHOLOGY
0203
John Haydon, author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies and Facebook Marketing All-in-One, is one of the most sought-after digital marketing experts for
nonprofits and charities. He has helped hundreds of nonprofits realize and achieve their best marketing and fundraising goals.
The highlight reel includes:
- Helped Epic Change launch one of thevery first fundraisers on Twitter.
- Helped Komen Greater NYC increasetheir walkathon revenue by almost 300% in one year.
- Helped the Ellie Fund win a nationalonline fundraising contest ($53,000 in 24-hours).
- Helped Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity raise over $215,000 during a 24-hour giving day.- Helped Go East, Young Dog raise $200,000 in 10 days to save 70 dogs from being euthanized.- And more...
SPEAKER. AUTHOR. COACH.
John has spoken at CauseCamp, the Nonprofit Technology Conference, New England Federation of Human Societies, New Media Expo, BBCon, Social Media 4 Nonprofits, AFP New Jersey, Boys & Girls Club, Jewish Family Services, and many other conferences throughout the United States. If you’re looking for more from him, John is also a regular contributor for the Huffington Post, Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today and npEngage.
OWNER. TEACHER. PARENT.
- Founder of Inbound Zombie, a consultancy in Cambridge, MA that develops mobile websites fornonprofits.
- Leadership council member at Social Media for Nonprofits.- Instructor for Top Nonprofits and Charityhowto.- Regular contributor to the Huffington Post, npEngage, Top Nonprofits, Social Media Today, and
others, Constant Contact- Artist – Yes, you want someone creative on your side. A natural-born storyteller.- Parent – a proud dad, committed to making a better planet earth.
Meet the Author
01.H O W T O M A K E Y O U R
E M A I L S S T A N D O U T I N Y O U R D O N O R ’ S I N B O X
Despite the unfounded rumors of its death, email is still one of the most effective ways to engage, convert, and retain donors. And the number of
people using email is only going to increase.
But there’s just one problem: Your marketing emails are not the only emails your donors receive.
There are virtually hundreds of other emails competing for the attention of your donors. Promotional emails, work emails, personal emails, and yes,
emails from other nonprofits.
But once your email gets opened, all that competition disappears. You are the only game in town – for the moment.
If you’re like me, one of the first things you do in the morning is delete emails. You scan your inbox to decide which emails are NOT important, and you delete them. Select all, deselect the keepers,
and then click delete.
You do not want your marketing emails to be on the chopping block.
But if supporters don’t get value from your emails, why would they open them?
1. GET OFF THE CHOPPING BLOCK
It’s perfectly acceptable to send your email newsletter to everyone interested in stories about impact. Major donors, first-time donors, volunteers all want to hear how they have made a difference. But what about your fundraising emails? Or emails
promoting an upcoming event? Should everyone receive these? Of course not!
Sending the right message to the right people is precisely why you segment subscribers in the first place! For example, people who attended last year’s fundraising
gala should receive emails promoting this year’s fundraising gala.
There are several ways you can segment your list:
By location (city, state, zip) – Perfect for promoting events or advocacy in key locations.Giving history – Recent, lapsed, returning, monthly, etc.Gift amount – Potential leads or follow-up for development.Donor satisfaction – Donors who would recommend your nonprofit to their friends.Surveys – People interested in specific programs, topics, etc.
Phase in donor funnel – People who are in an active nurture cycle or marketing funnel* *(the framework defining the steps a supporter takes to go from 1. awareness about your cause, to 2. donating to your cause, and to 3. sharing your cause with friends.)
Email engagement – People who open every email versus people who unsubscribe.Website visits – Follow up with people who visit certain pages, or fail to complete a donation.
2. SEND THE RIGHT MARKETING EMAILS TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE
01.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR EMAILS STAND OUT IN YOUR DONOR’S INBOX
HOW TO MAKE YOUR EMAILS STAND OUT IN YOUR DONOR’S INBOX
The best time to send is when it works best for your community.
But even if you discover the best time to send that email blast, it certainly won’t work for everyone. That’s because your email is essentially an interruption. It’s sent on your
timeline, not theirs.
so how do you send an email to your supporters on their timeline?
The short answer is to send emails after your supporters have recently interacted with you. For example, when someone makes a donation, the email you send immediately after will have a much higher open rate than your email newsletter. Again, this is because it is not seen as an interruption, but rather a follow-up to an action that was
initiated by them (making a donation).
3. SEND YOUR MARKETING EMAILS AT THE RIGHT TIME
Your subject line has only one job: Get the recipient to open the email.
To do this, you have to appeal to the number one interest on each one of your subscriber’s minds: themselves. The simplest way to make your subject line focused on the recipient is to include the word “you” in your subject line. Bonus points if you
use their first name.
Check out these subject lines:• We’ve Got Your Back: Nonprofit Tech Donations (TechSoup)
• John, I need you to take urgent action on health care (Democrats)• We made this for you John (Human Rights Campaign)
• John, have I heard from you yet? (Mercy Corps)
4. MAKE THE SUBJECT LINE ABOUT THEM
Donors don’t give because they’re generous, or because they like your nonprofit. Donors give because it makes them feel amazing. They give because giving creates
meaning in their lives.
5. MAKE YOUR DONORS FEEL AMAZING EACH TIME THEY OPEN YOUR EMAIL
01.
02.5 N O N P R O F I T
E M A I L N E W S L E T T E R M I S T A K E S
You spend a great deal of time publishing email newsletters. After all, it’s one of the most effective ways to stay in touch with supporters.
But while most nonprofits spend lots of resources writing their email newsletters, many that I talk to aren’t using it as effectively as they could.
DO NOT add total strangers to your list or people who didn’t give you permission. If you do this, you will eventually see dismal open and click rates, as well as poor
deliverability.Instead, you should be asking every email subscriber for permission to join your list. The easiest way to ensure that you have permission is through a verified opt-in
(example below):
Verified opt-in ensures is that people subscribing are actual human beings (not bots or people entering their friend’s email), which will help you build a list of people who
are open to donating, volunteering, and promoting your cause.
And while it’s true that your list won’t grow as fast with a verified opt-in, quality will win over quantity in the long run.
1. ADDING TOTAL STRANGERS TO YOUR LIST WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION
02.
5 NONPROFIT EMAIL NEWSLETTER MISTAKES
2. GIVING SUBSCRIBERS CONTENT THAT ISN’T INTERESTING
Take a moment and log into your email marketing software. Pull up the reports for your most recent email newsletter and look at the click rate. How does it compare to
your best-performing emails?
If the click rates are less than 50% of your best performing email, you have a lot of room for improvement, which is awesome!
Here are four quick tips for improving email newsletter engagement:• Make sure the person writing the newsletter is passionate about your cause.
• Make sure your newsletter has excellent stories (about outcomes and volunteers).• Make sure your newsletter has clear calls-to-action, answering the subscriber’s
question: “How can I get more involved?”• Make sure the messaging is about the subscriber (second person narrative), not
your organization.
3. SENDING YOUR NEWSLETTER TO EVERYONE
Just because someone attended an annual event doesn’t mean they want to receive your email newsletter.
Remember!Sending your newsletter to people who didn’t give you permission will cause your list quality to go through the basement.
Instead, follow up with event attendees and invite them to join your newsletter as a next step. They just attended your event, so surely they’d want to hear from you the day after! Many of them will be asking themselves, “How can I get more involved?”
02.
5 NONPROFIT EMAIL NEWSLETTER MISTAKES
02.
5 NONPROFIT EMAIL NEWSLETTER MISTAKES
4. NOT ASKING PEOPLE TO TAKE ACTION
The purpose of your email newsletter is NOT to give supporters information! It’s to engage your supporters in ways that are meaningful to them.
Remember, they are past the honeymoon phase. They’ve already donated, volun-teered, signed that petition, or joined your email list. They are interested in your cause
and they want to know what else they can do.
Whether it’s making a donation or simply watching a video, your email newsletters should include specific actions subscribers can take to get more involved.
Little clicks are little “yeses” that lead to big “yeses”.
5. NOT USING A MOBILE EMAIL TEMPLATE
According to research from Litmus, 80% of your email subscribers will delete an email if they can’t read it.
More and more people are reading mobile emails with their mobile device, and all email marketing tools now provide mobile templates (Constant Contact, iContact, Emma, MailChimp). So there’s really is no excuse for not publishing a mobile-friendly
email newsletter.
03.4 E M A I L T I P S T O I N C R E A S E E M A I L
O P E N R A T E S W I T H P S Y C H O L O G Y
Getting donors, volunteers, and subscribers to open your emails can sometimes feel impossible.
Everyone gets way too many emails, and we’ve learned to filter out messages that aren’t important – either by ignoring them, deleting them, or marking them
as spam.
All the research about what works and what doesn’t for email eventually point to psychology. Remember, your emails are attached to actual people.
03.
4 EMAIL TIPS TO INCREASE EMAIL OPEN RATES WITH PSYCHOLOGY
1. WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM?
Your email message subject line/body should be 100% about the recipient, and NOT about your organization.
Opportunity to make an impact: “Give clean water to those who need it most”Connection with their peeps: “Meet other vegans who love to cook”
Look cool to their peers: “Donate now to get this cool t-shirt”Make sure your strategy is about giving subscribers value first, and asking for favors
second.
2. WHAT DID YOU DO FOR THEM LATELY?
Subscribers are more likely to open your email messages if they’ve recently attended an event. Make a point of emailing supporters soon after attended and event, making a donation, etc. This enhances the experience they just had with you, and
gets them used to opening your emails!
3. WHO DO THEY CONNECT WITH?
Research also shows that people are more likely to open emails if they have an affinity for (or at least recognize) the sender.
People prioritize emails from people they know (friends, colleagues, relatives), so using a person’s name might be a smart idea.
Tech Tip: Most email marketing software lets you to change the sender name. So your return address can say “XYZ Foundation” instead of [email protected]
4. DO YOU MAKE THEM SQUIRM?
Research shows that cognitive dissonance influences open rates. This makes sense when you realize that the only way for a person to resolve a question posed in the
subject line is to open the email and read it!
.Test & Measure
Make sure you measure what’s working now before you change anything. Measure which messages get a higher open rate and
then ask why.
Then experiment. Then measure
What did you learn?
Have any questions about website design and how it can benefit your organization?
Go to www.johnhaydon.com for more information!
Thanks for Reading!For more from John Haydon, check him out on Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/JohnHaydon.Marketing/
https://twitter.com/johnhaydon
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhaydon/
