By now, your organization's holiday campaign is coming to an end and the year-end email message is going out or is out to your housefile. But, maybe open rates aren't where you expected them to be this time of year. You can blame the economy (we all can), snort about the fact that people aren't at work this week, or wonder if the ever-changing changing email spam filters have kept you from reaching into your constituent's inbox. Eventually, the question will be raised, "are we sending too much email?"
There is no overall magic number for the number of email messages sent by an organization. Your org can send two or 100 messages and may or may not be inundating your housefile. There may be a severalmagic numbers specifically for your organization. That's right, your housefile is not one giant block of people to blast messages, these individuals came to your organization for a specific reason. Now you have to tailor your messages' content and frequency to address those interests. However, with a few tips and best practices, this is an easier task than you might think. Even if you are already doing some of these tips, make sure your organization is doing all of them.
Review Open/Click Rates: Why are they up or down? What did the subject bring to the open rate? Did you get a lots of clicks/actions? Where in the message did you get the most clicks, top or bottom? Which items in your newsletter performed the best? This may tell you what people like about your newsletters and what you can focus on with more targeted and less frequent emails.
Newsletter Frequency: Tell your constituents whether your newsletters will be delivered weekly, monthly, bi-monthly (careful with that one, right?) or quarterly. Be sure to be constituent with your messages. If you plan to send a newsletter every third week of the month, be sure your production won't miss a week.
Rotate Out Donors from Appeals:If you have three appeals in a series, do your donors need to see every appeal? The first one, sure. Afterwards, be careful how many times you reach out to donors. Remove them whenever possible to assure that you don't kill their interest with too many appeals.
Advocates Expect More:Too many emails may not apply to your hard-core advocates. If you are a 501c4, constituents usually expect to see a lot of messages. Your hard-core supporters want to stay in touch with your actions, so message away. Geo-target constituents whenever possible (why does someone in Montana care about a New Mexico policy?). Also, try using newsletters, blogs, social networks, and feeds for one national item instead of an email blast, just to gauge response rates without the use of email. This test can show you how your advocacy networks respond without email.
"Survey Says": Ask your site visitors, constituents, donors, and advocates why they came to you and what they would like to see. This is as simple as a five question survey:
- How did you hear about us: be sure to list most common online and offline marketing methods, such as news story, ad in paper, calendar mailing, etc.
- What information would you like to receive: Specify newsletters, advocacy messages, volunteer messages, RSS feeds for blogs and news releases, etc.
- Do you prefer HTML/Text messages: This is a common tool for most CRMs and mail tools, just be sure you specify it and ask in the survey. You may be surprised how many people receive text messages.
- Select interests: List five-eight checkboxes programs, services, or offerings for constituents. before you act on any interests, take a look at the most selected interests. Now, see how you can segment your audiences and work these interests into yours newsletter and appeals.
- Text field for comments: Read these results! Even if you only get ten of them, there may be some very informative answers that will shape your email program.
We all know that email open rates are declining. So, it's more important than ever to tend your org's housefile. Want a magic number for emails? OK, try 12-15 and see how your various messages and audiences fit within that number. Keep the clutter to a minimum, stay relevant and viable, and keep your messages essential.
More reading:
Gilbert Center
Building Your Online List
Katya Non-Profit Marketing Blog
5 Ways to Get People to Sign Up for Your Email List
Network For Good
How to Get More from Email
Comments