Email marketing: Keeping your email out of the spam filter
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Presented at the American Pets Alive No-Kill Conference 2014.
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Email marketing: Keeping your email out of the spam filter
- 1. Keeping Your Email Out of the Spam Folder
- 2. Amy Starnes New Media Fundraising & Email Manager Best Friends Animal Society amys@bestfriends.org
- 3. What Are We Doing Here? Session Topics •Building a successful email program •Steps to create effective email messages •Tips to measure and grow your program
- 4. Why Do We Love Email? • Cheap • Fast • Easy to reach large audiences • Measurable • Almost everyone has email “Even though they can use some work, I still think e-news gets our message to the most people.” “Email continues to be the top driver of website traffic and event ticket sales.” “Our email newsletter is great to get out a mix of time-sensitive info and some interesting links and resources.” -NTEN Trend Report 2012
- 5. Did You Know… • Email is the second most popular way donors stay in touch with charities • 27% of donors surveyed will share an email from their favorite charity with friends & family -NTEN 2012 Benchmarks Study
- 6. What Are the Building Blocks?
- 7. Email Strategy • Strategy • Email Platform • Email Lists & Segments • Campaigns & Messages
- 8. The Key Questions • Who is my audience? • What content will I send? • What are my goals? • How often should I send email? • How do I measure my results?
- 9. Step 1: Define Your Audience You may have several! •Donors •Adopters •Volunteers •Advocates •Who else? If you know who you’re talking to, you can customize your messages, send useful information, and instill trust.
- 10. Step 2: Define Your Content Email Content Types •Newsletters •Fundraising appeals •Event registration •Adoption promotions •Welcome series Ask yourself “Where does this email fit in the strategy?”
- 11. Step 3: Define Your Goals Every email should have one measurable goal •Newsletters: Drive traffic to website •Fundraising appeals: Donate •Event registration: Signups •Adoption promotions: Adoptions •Welcome series: Read/watch/give/share Make your goal clear- don’t distract people with lots of actions
- 12. Email Goal: Shop Now
- 13. Email Goal: Make a Donation
- 14. Step 4: Set Your Schedule 2013 eNonprofit Benchmark Study Average 4.1 emails/month for animal orgs (Your mileage may vary) Recommendation: At least monthly as a reminder that they opted in to your list. But if you don’t have anything useful to say, skip a month. Bottom line: Do what works for you and your audience
- 15. Days of the Week -Mailchimp 2014 http://mailchimp.com/resources/research/ Bottom line: Do what works for you and your audience
- 16. Time of the Day -Mailchimp 2014 http://mailchimp.com/resources/research/ Bottom line: Do what works for you and your audience
- 17. Email Platforms • Strategy • Email Platforms • Email Lists & Segments • Campaigns & Messages
- 18. Picking an Email Platform • Requirements – Easy-to-use interface – Can manage multiple lists – Analytics – Mobile support – Trusted sender reputation – Ideally, an integrated fundraising tool & signup forms • What is your budget? • What can you manage?
- 19. Email Platform Solutions MailChimp •FREE option for small lists (0-2,000 12,000 emails/mo) •5,000-10,000: $15/mo •Sign-up forms •Easy interface •List segmentation •Testing & reports •Mobile support Constant Contact •Starts at $15/mo (0-500 emails) •5,000- 10,000: $75/mo •Sign-up forms •Great interface, lots of integration •List segmentation •Testing & reports •Mobile support •Lots of documentation, support •Integrate with Network for Good fundraising tool
- 20. Email/Fundraising Solutions Blue State Digital •0-5,000: $450/mo •Unlimited email sends •Testing & reports •Signup forms •Donation forms •Mobile-optimized Quick Donate •Event registration •Advocacy •Constituent management •Custom domain Blackbaud Online Express •0-5,000: $275/mo •200,000 send limit/year (~3/mo) •Testing & reports •Signup forms •Donation forms •Reporting dashboard •Event registration (in 2014) •Integration with Raisers Edge •It’s really, really new!
- 21. Get More Info @ MailChimp http://mailchimp.com Constant Contact http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing http://www1.networkforgood.org/for-nonprofits/email-marketing- by-constant-contact Blue State Digital http://tools.bluestatedigital.com Blackbaud Online Express https://www.blackbaud.com/online-marketing/online-express/
- 22. Email Lists • Strategy • Email Platforms • Email Lists & Segments • Campaigns & Messages
- 23. Building an Email List • Add a signup button on your website right now • Adoption applications • Direct mail • Events • Social media • Add share options to your messages Offer something unique. Your newsletter, stories, videos, etc.
- 24. Building an Email List How NOT to Build a List •Buy email lists •Take email addresses from anywhere •Trade lists from other organizations Every email address you have must be opted in to receive mail from you.
- 25. Reporting Spam If people don’t know how they got on your list, they may mark your message as spam. If enough people mark you as spam, mail servers may block you. Bottom line: Only send email to people who said they want your email
- 26. A Word on Opt-In/Out Opt-in means you have permission to email Opt-out means you do not have permission This is the law. CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 requires unsubscribe option on every email, and prohibits the use of lists acquired without permission and falsifying sender information (and some other stuff)
- 27. Email Messages • Strategy • Email Platforms • Email Lists & Segments • Campaigns & Messages
- 28. Call to Action Tell me what you want me to do •Take a survey •Register for an event •Make a gift •Read a story The Call to Action is the goal. Always make sure you have one (and usually just one!)
- 29. Some Tips for Great Content • Send useful information • Show your personality • Keep it short • Make it easy to skim – White space – Bullets • Make it easy to take action • Proofread
- 30. Subject Lines • Keep it short, descriptive, and to the point • Less than 50 characters • Be personal (you, your, we, localization) • Avoid salesman language (act now, sale) • Use active words (save, help, act) • Test! 33% of email recipients open email based on subject line alone* *Convince and Convert via Salesforce.com, 2013
- 31. Subject Lines Examples from Organizations in December 2013 •A very special video for you from the animals at ______ •Still looking for gift ideas for your family? •Amy, your donation will change lives •8 Incredible Things You’ve Done This Year •It’s Not Too Late to Help!
- 32. Building Trust DO: •Use your branding and voice •Say who you are (Use a consistent “from” line) •Personalize your message •Make your point clear •Send relevant information •Include a way to reach you •Use a real “from” address that can be replied to •Test your messages before you send
- 33. Building Trust DON’T: •Have a misleading subject •Forget an unsubscribe link •Write in all caps. Ever. •Use spam words ($$$, free, act now, click here) •Use excessive punctuation!!! •Use red fonts (or a ton of colored fonts) •Have sloppy HTML •Send just one big image
- 34. Mobile-Friendly Messages 48% of emails are opened on a mobile device •Write good, concise content •Link to donation forms and websites with mobile layouts •Test on mobile devices •Images are ok, but don’t rely on them
- 36. How Will I Know If I’m Successful? Use your mail program to learn: •If you met your goals •If your schedule works for your audience •If your messaging is speaking to your audience
- 37. Key Metrics • Open Rates: How many opened the email • Clicks: How many links got clicked • Conversions: How many people performed the measured action • Unsubscribes: How many opted out of your mailing list
- 38. Benchmark Metrics Industry Benchmarks for Animal Welfare •Open Rate: 13% •Click-through: 0.42% •Response Rate: 0.07% Every org is different. Every type of message is different. Measure and study your results so you know what’s typical for you.
- 39. Other Things to Measure • Performance against your goal • What subject lines and messaging works best for your audience • What times/dates they are most likely to read messages If you can define it, you can test it
- 40. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Goal: for everyone to walk out of here with at least a few tips to start or improve what you’re currently doing in email. Show of hands: Who emails their donors and other supporters today? Who emails for fundraising purposes?
- 2012 Nonprofit Marketing Communications: A Recap of Trends, Tools, and Tactics, NTEN 12/13/12 Reich, Julia http://www.nten.org/articles/2012/2012-nonprofit-marketing-communications-a-recap-of-trends-tools-and-tactics
- NTEN 2012 Benchmarks Study w/Charity Dynamics. Ignore the “email is dead” hysteria. This is a good part of your program.
- This will guide our presentation today. Above all, strategy. What are our guiding principles about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it.
- Take the time, no matter where you are in your program development, to map out your strategy.
- If you already have a program, go through the exercise of mapping this out and find the holes in your program.
- Content is how you decide what your campaigns are. Some of these will be ongoing. But for others, select from your list and build your campaigns from here
- Content is how you decide what your campaigns are. Some of these will be ongoing. But for others, select from your list and build your campaigns from here
- If you go a couple months, they may forget you and report you as spam. Email once a month, assuming you have something to say! Put together a calendar for the year to help keep yourself organized.
- Most emails are sent between Monday and Friday, with the highest volume on Tuesday and Thursday. More subscribers open email, however, on Wednesday and Thursdays
- Subscribers are likely to open email after 12pm in their respective timezones, and the most active hours are 2-5pm.
- Take the time, no matter where you are in your program development, to map out your strategy.
- Take the time, no matter where you are in your program development, to map out your strategy.
- Comparison to the Do Not Call list
- Take the time, no matter where you are in your program development, to map out your strategy.
- Inspiration: Keep an idea file. Actively look for good stories throughout your organization. Get awesome photos. Keep a record of what you’re done and how well it worked. See what other people are doing and keep what you like AND what you don’t like.
- Recipients often only read the subject line or the first few lines of an email. Include your CTA early on in your email.
- Recipients often only read the subject line or the first few lines of an email. Include your CTA early on in your email.
- Bottom Line: Don’t try to trick people or systems.
- Bottom Line: Don’t try to trick people or systems.