New Fundraising Email Benchmarks Reveal Exciting Insights for Small Nonprofits

Where do you get your nonprofit marketing best practices, statistics, and metrics? If you’re like many fundraisers, you pull from several different sources. And, since for-profit organizations spend a lot of time and money researching buying behavior and consumer trends, their research probably impacts how you structure your own programs.

This is especially true if you find yourself looking for email marketing best practices: Most of the available information about nonprofit email performance comes from a small handful of very large organizations. If you work for a smaller organization, that can make it difficult to tell if you’re performing well.

That’s why the release of The Nonprofit Email Report: Data-Backed Insights for Better Engagement was so exciting. It’s full of nonprofit-specific data about email marketing and fundraising. And, as it spotlights unique data for small and large nonprofits alike, it reveals that small nonprofits are doing a remarkable job of communicating with their audiences—and they’re outperforming those large organizations in some significant ways.

 

New Data, New Email Fundraising Benchmarks

If you send email appeals, keeping an eye on those campaign results can give you really valuable insight into the types of stories and asks that appeal to your donors. While it’s most valuable to track your own results over time, industry standards can set a useful baseline. 

The following benchmarks come from The Nonprofit Email Report, and they include data specifically for small and large organizations. For the purposes of this study, “Small” nonprofits are organizations that have between 250 and 999 contacts on their lists. “Large” organizations have lists that contain 1,000 or more contacts. 

 

Average Amount Raised per Nonprofit Email Campaign

To set these fundraising email benchmarks, we looked at results from the four biggest giving days of 2022: GivingTuesday and the last three days of December. We found that the average nonprofit raised $5,598.51 per campaign. Large organizations raised $6,513.41 per campaign while small organizations raised an average of $3,522.54.

 

A Couple of Caveats

The data set included in this research included more than 37,000 different campaigns. We wanted to focus specifically on fundraising campaigns, but we didn’t have a surefire way of entirely eliminating non-fundraising emails like newsletters and impact updates.

To get as close as we could, we looked at email campaigns sent during those very high-volume fundraising days and how they impacted fundraising. Because those fundraising averages represent the results of very big giving days, your fundraising campaigns during other parts of the year may not match those results. And that’s okay! The appeals you send this spring are probably not as “successful” as the ones you’ll send on GivingTuesday or during the end of the year. As long as you’re seeing incremental progress—or, at the very least—seeing steady results, you’re doing fine.

 

What Does This Email Fundraising Benchmark Mean?

These benchmarks will be most helpful for fundraisers who want to evaluate their own fundraising results, especially at the end of the year. If your year-end fundraising results mirror these averages, great! If they don’t, compare your 2022 year-end appeals to the ones you sent during 2021. Did you see any improvement? Excellent. Did you see a decrease? That’s useful information, too! Use that as a prompt to revisit your strategy this year.

When you first glance at these benchmarks, how do you feel? It seems like large nonprofits out-perform their smaller counterparts, right? Their overall fundraising totals were higher, after all. But, when we took a closer look at the data, we found something wonderful.

This Email Fundraising Benchmark Should Thrill Small Nonprofits 

Fundraising totals are a great metric to use as you evaluate your fundraising email programs. They give you insight into how well your story and your appeal landed with your base of supporters. But another metric—the average amount raised per contact—can give you even deeper insight into how your appeal resonated with your audience. It’s here that small nonprofits’ ability to inspire generosity really shines.

When we looked at all nonprofits together, the average organization raised $1.11 per contact on their list. Small organizations raised an average of $6.15 per person, while large organizations raised around $0.88.

 

What Does This Mean?

Small nonprofits may not have raised as much per email campaign, but they raised more per contact. If you’re a fundraiser and feel pressure to hit the same fundraising totals as larger nonprofits, take a look at your average amount raised per contact. It’s a great indicator of how well you’re reaching your supporters and how effective your appeals are at inspiring them to give generously. Higher overall fundraising totals aren’t the #1 indicator of how well you’re doing: The big nonprofit up the street may raise more than you, yes. If you’re working with a much smaller list, it will be much harder for you to hit the same fundraising totals they do. But your donors may be giving more on average, and that’s something to be proud of.

You can take it a step further by looking at your average amount raised per contact through some other lenses. Try:

• Looking at your average raised for different segments: Which segments give most generously? Which segments tend to give less? How can you adjust your appeals to be more appropriate for those different segments? Should you change your communications tactics for different groups of people?
• Comparing the average amount raised for different campaigns: What appeals raised the most per contact? Which raised the least? What can you tell about your donors, their motivations, and their preferences? How can you apply those lessons to future appeals?
• A/B testing different versions of the same appeal to get a feel for which types of campaigns are most effective. Do your donors respond more strongly to one type of story over another? Do shorter appeals prompt more donations than long ones? Which calls to action is most compelling to your audience? 

The amount raised per contact is an invaluable email fundraising benchmark. Do you track yours?

How to Calculate Your Average Amount Raised per Contact

If you want to track your own, the formula is simple: Simply divide the amount raised as a result of your campaign by the number of people who received your email. If you sent your campaign to 850 people and raised $4,000, you raised an average of $4.71 per contact.

What to Do If You Want to Improve Your Amount Raised per Contact

As you evaluate your campaign performance, don’t panic if you notice your numbers don’t match industry fundraising email benchmarks. Okay? That’s important. Instead of getting discouraged or feeling bad, look at it as an opportunity to find ways to improve your campaigns. Benchmarks should never be a cudgel you use to beat yourself up: They should be a motivator!

 

If you want to work on improving your email fundraising performance, here are three steps you can take.

Appeal to Your Donors’ Identities

Giving to a nonprofit is a personal decision that’s driven by lots of different motivations. But, whatever that driver is—whether it’s because they’ve benefitted from work like yours themselves or simply want to make a small difference in their community—it’s almost certainly deeply tied to a donor’s sense of self. Resist the temptation to make your appeal logical to the point of eliminating emotion! When you write your next appeal, appeal to your audiences’ identity. Reference someone’s kindness, generosity, or enthusiasm for your cause.

 

A simple example would be writing something like, “Success stories like these are only possible because of the kindness and generosity of our community. Will you help others succeed by making a gift today?” You’re indirectly speaking to a donor’s identity as a kind, generous person—and that’s very compelling.

Make Sure You Actually Ask

When you write an appeal, you know it’s an appeal. You know that the end goal of your email is to inspire someone to make a donation. And, when you’re deeply immersed in telling a compelling story, it’s easy to assume that everyone else will know you want them to donate. Make sure you actually ask! Don’t simply tell a compelling story and drop a link to your donation form—include an explicit call to action. Ask someone to “Make a donation” or “Give today.” By the end of your email, every reader should know exactly what you want them to do.

Make It Easy to Act

After you’ve made a specific appeal, make sure it’s easy to respond to that ask. This means making it very easy to get to your donation form and make a gift. Here are some simple strategies that will help:

 

• Link to your form multiple times. If someone reads a paragraph that hits them hard, don’t make them scroll up or down to find a link to your form!
• As you link to your form, do so using a mix of buttons, linked images, and text hyperlinks. This will make it easier for you to give your readers lots of opportunities to navigate to your donation form without getting repetitive.
• Make sure your links are easy to click, especially on mobile. According to HubSpot, 41% of emails were accessed on mobile devices in 2021. Some sources put that percentage as high as 81%! Though that’s a humorously wide range, both figures reiterate that emails must be easy to engage with on mobile devices. 
• Double-check your donation forms. Clunky, awkward forms that cause a lot of friction will dampen the enthusiasm of even the most engaged potential donor. An easy way to get a feel for the efficacy of your donation form is to compare the number of clicks to your donation form and the number of gifts made on that page. If you get lots of clicks but few donations, something’s disrupting your audiences’ decision to give. Make a gift yourself and see where you get stuck, confused, or frustrated.

 

As you adjust your tactics, keep an eye on your email fundraising performance benchmarks over time. You’ll quickly notice what works, what doesn’t, and which strategies you can apply to future email campaigns.

Whether You’re a Large or Small Nonprofit, Track Your Fundraising Email Benchmarks

All nonprofits—regardless of size—will benefit from keeping a close eye on their fundraising email results and their progress over time. As you track your own performance, remember that industry benchmarks, while useful, are guidelines. Seeing incremental improvements in your organization’s campaigns is much more valuable than measuring up to industry averages.

 

If you’re a small nonprofit that feels pressure to perform at the same level as larger organizations with bigger lists, be encouraged! Even if you’re not hitting the same numbers as big charities, you’re probably doing a wonderful job engaging your existing donors and inspiring them to give generously. Keep an eye on your fundraising email benchmarks—particularly your average amount raised per email contact—and look for areas you can improve to get even better results. 

Looking for more information on industry email benchmarks (and more areas where small nonprofits really shine)? Download your copy of The Nonprofit Email Report: Data-Backed Insights for Better Engagement!

The post New Fundraising Email Benchmarks Reveal Exciting Insights for Small Nonprofits appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

No matter how relevant the content in newsletters or welcome emails is, if they don’t get into the recipients’ inboxes, senders won’t get conversions. So, how can you get the desired effect from email marketing? Start by learning what may affect email deliverability and how to improve it.

What is email deliverability?

To put it simply, email deliverability is when emails reach recipients’ inboxes. This statement shows the core of mailing efficiency as a whole. In other words, the goal is to make sure the message won’t end up in the contact’s spam folder or get stuck in the email sender’s outbox.

How to improve email deliverability

There are a couple of factors that have an impact on deliverability, with the sender’s domain reputation being the main one. Numerous spam complaints or a poor open ratio only worsen the credibility of your domain. Chances are that subsequent emails will have an increase in bad deliverability.

Maybe you’ve already detected an issue and want to improve email deliverability. Maybe you’re just eager to be on the safe side when launching campaigns. Either way, check out some common sender traps and ways to avoid them. 

Authenticate your email domain

This step is particularly relevant for senders who use custom email domains, rather than common ones ending with @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, etc. Because mailing systems are all about protecting their users from spamming or spoofing, they suspect domains of unknown origin. That’s why a sender has to validate the credibility of his or her domain with the following 3 methods:

• DKIM signature
• SPF TXT record
• DMARC authentication.

Maintain proper IP allocation

Emails are associated with the TCP/IP protocol. This means that reaching out to contacts from different IP addresses could harm the sender’s reputation (aka your organization’s reputation). As a result, the deliverability ratio will drop.

However, there are cases when several IPs are required—perhaps when the organization’s reaching out volume is high. It’s recommended to use a dedicated rather than a shareable IP address for every mailbox. In this case, if a sender suddenly sees spikes in email volumes, he or she will be able to identify abusive persons by checking out IPs in sent emails’ headers and matching them with the dedicated IP.

You can find an X-Originating-IP in the email’s header and detect from what IP address the copy was sent
Image source

Perfect the opt-in process

Did your supporters opt in? Senders who collect email addresses have to launch a double opt-in verification process—in other words, to get a right to use them. Technically, this is done by sending new subscribers emails and asking them to verify their recent subscriptions. But, a single opt-in is permissible as well.

An opt-in email is the first follow-up with a recipient, so it’s better to keep it short and be precise. Put one key message and highlight it clearly. Don’t use generic CTAs like “Click here.” If you provide something to download, add a summary to that.

Write subject lines of the non-spammy variety

Subject lines play a key role in open rates, but they also impact deliverability. Avoid writing assertive, exaggerated, or insisting subject lines. These should be catchy but not spammy. Never use spam-trigger words like “the last chance,” “expect to earn,” and others. Make sure you also focus on personalization, as this may increase the open ratio by up to 26%.

Provide a preference center

Give your subscribers a page where they can tick off desired options for receiving newsletters from you. This should include the type of content and the frequency. Doing this isn’t just a courtesy—preference centers actually help to retain customers better. For example, if a person doesn’t want to receive your weekly digest, he or she can opt out of these particular emails instead of unsubscribing from the overall mailings.

With email preference centers subscribers get more control over mailings they receive
Image source

Clean up your list regularly

If you test email deliverability and see it decreases over time (other things being equal), it could mean you’re having issues with a mailing list.

Removing recipients who have unsubscribed isn’t enough to keep it accurate. It’s important to continuously review new addresses in your contact list and clean it up from spammy or duplicated emails. Also, pay attention to role-based addresses like ones that begin with “admin,” “support,” or “info.” These may be technical mailboxes used by several recipients at once, so it’s a long shot your message will ever be seen and read.

Avoid spam traps

What exactly are spam traps? These are “honeypots” used by internet service providers or individual webmasters to identify those who violate email marketing best practices. These traps launch regular campaigns without getting consent from recipients.

It’s important to be on the lookout for spam traps, as they may be pristine or recycled. Some indicators include email addresses that are never used or emails that were abandoned for some reason. Unfortunately, getting rid of them is tricky. In general, it’s recommended to stop mailing to contacts who don’t react to your emails after a year or more.

Send an email that people love

An engaging copy is the most assured way to win recipients’ hearts, increase open ratios, and—consequently—boost deliverability. But it’s not always about content alone. Design, accessibility on mobile, and CTAs are just as important for deliverability.

To know what works for your subscribers best, don’t neglect A/B testing. It’s better to test no more than 2 elements at a time, like a button’s color and text. Also, for accurate conclusions, assess results in terms of not only clicks and opens but impacts on the revenue as well.

Check feedback loops

Set up a feedback loop to know when you receive spam complaints from recipients. Refer to your mailing services provider’s instructions and follow the procedure. For example, if you use Gmail, you will need to add a unique identifier in the header of every individual email campaign. Identifiers with an unusual spam rate will be displayed on your dashboard in Postmaster Tools.

Send emails at just the right frequency

The majority of marketers send up to 5 emails per month at the maximum. This frequency can be a benchmark for regular mailings such as weekly or monthly updates. But there’s also a category of emails that are sent in response to the user’s actions. This could be order confirmations or reminders on certain actions. For these, it’s better to use automated drip campaign launchers like the one from Snov.io or other email automation providers and specify triggers upon which certain email content will be delivered to recipients.

Automated triggered campaigns allow sending recipients the right content and at a right time
Image source

Check blacklists

Stuck on a blacklist? You can check out the sender score in suspected emails or IP blacklists, like MxToolbox, Spamhaus Project, Woodys SMTP Blacklist, and others. These look up complaints about your IP address or sender’s domain and show if there were any issues with them.

To run mailing campaigns safely and effectively, it’s important to check your email deliverability ratio. The steps and tips above will hopefully help you detect possible issues and fix them. We want to help ensure that your domain reputation won’t be suspended by email spam checker systems. After all, putting out the right messaging is crucial for your cause.

*This spotlighted blog post is courtesy of Snov.io

The post How to Improve Email Deliverability appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

For example, some simple A/B tests that you might be inclined to run include:

• Red buttons VS Blue buttons
• Text-only subject lines VS Subject lines with emojis
• Image 1 VS Image 2

But these kinds of A/B tests don’t often deliver meaningful results. Even if you have a hypothesis as to why your subject line emoji might increase opens, it’s a low-value test that isn’t likely to make a meaningful impact on donations.

The reason I know this is because we’ve tested it at NextAfter. In fact, we’ve conducted nearly 3,000 online fundraising experiments—and 1300+ focus specifically on email fundraising. Over time, the results have shown a few essential areas that you should test in your emails first to see a major increase in performance.

Let’s look at 3 of these email fundraising a/b tests that are easy to set up and have a high likelihood of increasing your donations and revenue.

#1. Get rid of your nicely designed email template.

If you do a quick search for “email design best practices,” you probably won’t find any “experts” recommending that you abandon your design altogether. But just because a designed template is a “best practice” doesn’t mean it’s the best performing. Time and time again, we have found that getting rid of your nicely designed email template leads to more donations.

In the experiment below, you can see the results.

Both emails being sent have the same exact copy. They have the same call-to-action. They’re both trying raise funds to help hit a specific campaign goal.

Version A uses the typical “best practice” email appeal template. It utilizes imagery, logos, and colors to make it feel branded and official. In addition, it uses a progress bar to show how close they are to the goal.

Version B takes a fundamentally different approach. Even though the copy is entirely the same, version B feels more human. It stripped away the images, most of the HTML template design, the progress bar, etc.

Instead, version B looks like a real email from a friend. Better yet, it looks like an email you might write to an individual donor from your own inbox.

By getting rid of the design and communicating in a way that looks more authentic and personal, they saw a 29% increase in donations. This email fundraising a/b test is easy to setup.

Go to your email platform and start creating an A/B test for your next email campaign. Don’t worry about new designs or fancy coding. Just copy your text, paste it into the editor, and soon you’ll be testing how a more humanized email fundraising approach affects your donations.

Key Takeaway: Send emails that look and feel human and authentic. They’re easier to create and lead to more donations.

#2. Send your email from a real human being.

If you’re going to start sending email that looks more human, you might as well start sending them from a real person as well.

While it’s tempting to put your brand or organization name in your email sender line, the data says that this is not what’s most effective.

As fundraisers, we often err on the side of the familiarity, authority, and credibility that our brand name brings. But donors consistently show us that they respond and give to people—not to faceless organizations.

In this experiment below, you see that Version A was sent from an actual human: Kent Lassman. Version B was sent from Kent’s organization. When testing these two senders side by side, they saw that emailing donors as an actual human being led to a 28% increase in opens. Key Takeaway: Send your emails from a real person. People give to people, not to faceless organizations.

#3. Make your call-to-action abundantly clear.

There are a lot of things you can do in your email to try to increase clicks. Writing shorter emails, including more links, using a video thumbnail, or using vague calls-to-action all tend to get more people to click.

One of the most important learnings about email fundraising, however, is that more clicks does not always mean more donations. In fact, in many cases, the strategies that increase clicks reduce clarity and motivation—leading to fewer donations and less revenue.

The clearest example of this is your call-to-action.

Vague calls-to-action often increase clicks. However, they don’t provide any clarity around what you’re actually asking a donor to do. Some common fundraising calls-to-action include:

• Stand with us
• Give hope
• Learn more
• Make your voice heard
• Join the movement

While all of these calls-to-action may be familiar or common, they don’t all lead to more donations.

In the experiment below, you can see that clarifying the action you want your donor to take is essential. And being vague decreases giving.

Version A asks donors to “make your year-end gift today.” It’s clear that the donor is being asked to give.

Version B asks donors to “stand with us today.” But your donor may be left wondering:

• Do you want me to give?
• Am I supposed to sign a petition?
• Do you want me to subscribe to something?
• Are you asking me to volunteer?

The vague call-to-action increased clicks by 91%. But it decreased donations by 50%. Key takeaway: Write a clear call-to-action so that donors know exactly what you’re asking them to do.

Making sure you run a meaningful A/B test

The only way to know exactly what works to increase giving is to A/B test. But testing can get complicated fast—and many A/B testing experts make it seem like a scary science that requires a trained data scientist.

That’s why we try to make A/B testing as accessible as possible to you—everyday nonprofit fundraisers and marketers. If you want to dive deeper, you can check out this A/B Testing Guide for Nonprofits that walks you through 8 steps to running an effective A/B test.

You’ll have all the tools you need to get started running your first email fundraising a/b test and learning exactly what works to increase your email donations.

*This spotlighted blog post is courtesy of NextAfter

The post 3 A/B Tests to Dramatically Improve Your Nonprofit Email Fundraising appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

As a nonprofit organization, email marketing should be one of your top priorities.

To help you understand this, let’s look at Campaign Monitor’s research which states, that ‘donors prefer email.’ Around 42% of donors prefer to hear from nonprofits via emails. That means it’s time to work on your email marketing strategy. 

However, it can take a lot to make your email marketing strategy work. That’s why we bring you a list of mistakes that you should avoid in your next fundraising campaign.

1. Overlooking mobile users

Gone are the days when people were restricted to their laptops for checking out emails. Now, mobile phones are used to check emails. OptinMonster states that 58% of individuals check their emails the first thing in the morning with a sip of a coffee.  

So you must optimize email templates for mobile users to ensure higher open-rates and click-through rates.

Instead…

• Use templates that are optimized for mobile devices
• Avoid subject lines over 30 characters.
• Ensure the header text is compelling and no more than 40-50 characters.
• Make the image size and text compatible with each other.
• Have an appealing CTA button 
• Link to a mobile-friendly landing page

2. Poor segmentation

For a nonprofit organization, the primary goal for sending an email is to grab donors’ attention, and if that’s true for you, too, segmenting should be the first thing you should work upon. An eye-opening report authored by Brett Schenker states, 

“Nonprofits lose about $15,000 per year of donations due to wrong targeting and missing out spam filters, which blocks the emails from prospects.”

So, to ensure that your emails reach out to potential donors, segmenting must be taken seriously.

Instead…

• Make sure your users have opted-in to your email list
• Get as much information from users as possible during the signup process to strengthen demographic segmenting.
• Use an effective email tool for precise segmentation, with different messages for volunteers and donors.
• Segment audience based on their area of interest and draft personalized content
• Use a unique message strategy for donors depending upon their contribution.
• Target an audience that actually/ frequently reads your emails
• Try using different templates and messages for users that are not engaging with your current emails.

3. Buying mailing lists

When it comes to email marketing, most nonprofits rely on buying mailing lists, and it has its own pros and cons. At the first glance, having thousands of email addresses seems like a great opportunity. 

However, the long term effects of using a third-party collected email database could be daunting. One of the main downsides could be a poor response rate or spamming of your emails.   

Instead…

• Follow a personalized approach. Remember you’re talking to real humans.
• Buy only from a reputed vendor. 
•  If buying, ensure that the list matches your target audience and geographic region 
• Avoid using any spam buzzwords in the subject line. 
• Work on optimizing signup forms
• Host webinars to reach out to a new audience
• Use digital marketing as a channel and collect email addresses via social media marketing.
• Insert social media sharing buttons on emails

4. Sending too many emails 

A nonprofit’s objective is to do something good for society, and that must be the vision even while sending emails. When sending too many emails, the chances are high that your potential donors will block your email as spam. 

Platforms like Gmail consider an email unproductive for the receiver when the open-rate or click-through rate is low. And if such platforms find repeated emails, they will, by default, move it to the spam folder. This will damage your organization’s name and strain your digital marketing budgets due to lower ROI from such emails. 

Instead…

• Decide upon the right frequency of sending emails depending upon statistics of essential metrics like open rates, unsubscribe rate, CTR, and conversation rates.
• Pay attention to the week’s time and day – Sundays have the highest open rates; Mondays have the lowest bounce rate, Wednesdays have the lowest email available rates and highest bounce rates.

5. Using bad subject lines

It’s said that a clear subject line must always be creative and reader-centric, and if you want to catch the attention of your donors, you should refrain from using the same subject lines over and over.

Though some words like “Giving Tuesday” & “Gift,” and “Give” almost always work, merely restricting them might not be helpful in the long run. 

Instead…

• Draft subject lines based on the occasion.
• Pose a question.
• Use the power of emphasizing.
• Create a sense of urgency
• Remember to thank your donors

The Parting Note:

As all say, email marketing is here to stay, so plan your digital marketing campaigns and email marketing strategies accordingly and maximize the ROI from your fundraising campaigns without committing any of the above-listed errors and mistakes. 

All the best for all future email marketing endeavors!

If you would like more information on email marketing check out our blog post on Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing During a Crisis.

Author Bio:

Ankit Thakor is a strategic thinker and visionary who can see the big picture and focus on key issues to accomplish established goals. He is a Saas Marketing Specialist at SoftwareWorld – Software Technology Review and Rating Platform.

The post 5 Nonprofit Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

But here’s the problem, how do you know which ones are right for you when they all seem to be offering similar services? Good news, I have some of the answers. Let’s look at eight amazing tools designed to help your nonprofit be a success.

1. Make it easy for your donors with donation software

Complicated check-out processes lead to cart abandonment and 67.91% of shoppers bounce at this point due to frustration; donors are no different!

Avoid this by using software that provides a simple and secure donation process — enabling you to raise funds from anywhere while collecting your donor’s information and increasing your online presence.

Donorbox can help you. It’s fast to set up and easy to use.

Some helpful features are:

• Plugins – Serving platforms like Wix, WordPress, Weebly, and Squarespace.
• Optional integrations – MailChimp, Salesforce, Zapier, and Employer Gift Matching.
• Payment options – Google and Apple Pay and in numerous currencies.
• Attractive and clean donation forms.
• Donor management systems.
• Recurring donation optimization.

2. Designing web and social graphics? Canva can help you

We relate to images far more than written content; it’s why Instagram’s so successful, and if you’re going to succeed online, you must use high-quality visual content in all your marketing campaigns.

The good news is you don’t have to be a designer to do it; you just need Canva.

And as a nonprofit, you’re eligible for a free upgrade!

Giving you access to:

• Millions of free icons and images
• Templates for creating social media graphics, blog header images, posters, and letterheads.
• Automatic resizing to suit multiple platforms
• Brand creation kits, increasing audience awareness.
• A built-in color picker

3. Want to be recognized by your target audience?

Great, your email and social media marketing’s in the bag, but what about brand awareness?  How will your audience know who’s contacting them?

By creating an eye-catching, industry-related, professional logo, of course!

You can design one with the Tailor Brands AI logo making tool, it’s free to use, and you only pay when you’re happy with your design.

Some features are:

• Versatile logos – (Great for avatars, email subject lines, business profiles listings, and website headers)
• Available in multiple file formats
• Instantly downloadable

Brand awareness creates trust, and you can gain your audiences by using your logo on everything you do.

4. Stay in touch with email software tools

Have you heard that email marketing no longer works?

Don’t believe it, emails are as powerful as ever, and you’re going to need them to build brand awareness, acquire leads, retain customers, and convert prospects.

One tool that can help you do this is MailChimp.

It offers the following services:

• Customizable and branded emails
• Free templates
• Fully automated – emails, donation follow-ups, Q&A’s, etc.
• Informative analytics

With MailChimp, you can also carry out A/B testing, target donors, create versatile landing pages, and integrate with numerous apps.

5. Automate your social media management and scheduling

If your nonprofit isn’t on social media, you’ll find it hard to get it off the ground.

But managing social media is a full-time job. Do you have the time?

Probably not, right!

Buffer is a tool that can help you with all your social media needs, and as you’re a nonprofit, they offer a 50% discount on their upgrade.

Here’s what you can do with it:

• Run it on multiple social media accounts.
• Schedule hundreds of posts in advance
• Set the date and time of your posts for when your audience is most active
• Access detailed analytical data, so you know what’s working.
• Browser extensions, enabling you to add content as you browse

All of this helps you connect with your audience, donors, and volunteers with minimal time and effort; happy days!

6. Know your traffic and gain an advantage

Want to be sure your marketing strategies are working, and you’re not wasting time and money?

Then track your web traffic using Google Analytics.

Here’s just some of the data it provides:

• Precise audience demographics
• Live traffic overviews
• Up to date information on referral traffic
• Website page popularity data

Google Analytics provides data on almost everything you need to know for fine-tuning your marketing strategies and getting the highest ROI.

7. Stay in control with Trello

As your nonprofit grows, so will the tasks at hand. One way of staying in control is to use task and project management tools.

I’m choosing Trello due to its ease of use and because they offer a 75% discount to certain nonprofits on their premium package.

Trello interface enables you to manage content and plan events, using a board, list, and card system, making it ideal for multiple team project management.

Some other features are:

• It’s versatile; you can use it on any device.
• Individual team boards so you can separate projects and assign project members.
• Add related files and due dates, so nothing is missed.

 8. CRM your way to success

Hubspot’s CRM (customer relationship management) tool enables you to manage your contacts, donors, and volunteers, all of which help you stay in touch and increase those essential donations. What’s more, it’s free!

Here’s what their CRM can do for you:

• Valuable contact identification – Know who’s donating the most.
• Personalized communications – So you can connect with donors.
• Interaction tracking – Enabling you to manage interactions with team members, volunteers, and donors.
• Social media and blogging monitoring – Providing helpful analytics regarding your website and other platforms.

All the tools you need for getting your nonprofit off the ground are out there, some are free, and others offer substantial discounts.

Start by checking out the eight I’ve suggested; they’re all highly rated and proven to help people just like you.

The post 8 Essential Nonprofit Tools to Get You off the Ground appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

We’re making history and living through a crisis. Right now, your email subscribers are being flooded with COVID-19 updates, and they’re probably sick of hearing about “unprecedented times.” So, if your organization is one of those trying to balance your email marketing, make it a point to keep your content relevant and valid.

Keep in mind that screen fatigue is a real issue. If you don’t want to get ignored in the overcrowded inbox of your subscribers — or even worse, get backlash from your subscribers for sounding inappropriate and profiteering — you should take a look at various do’s and don’ts of email marketing to consider during a crisis. 

Do’s of email marketing during a crisis

Focus on updating your base on changes you’ve had to make to your organization.

Most businesses reach out to their customers during a crisis to reassure them with the measures they are taking to keep them safe. They also send emails if there is a change in the way business works. 

Either way, it is important to give specifics. From the kind of measures you are taking to how you are helping to combat the situation, you need to tell them all. 

In addition, make sure the language you use is clear, precise, and easy to scan with clear formatting. In this context, you can try using bullet points and headers to highlight the key information. Make it easy to read by using large titles and clearly spaced bulleted points.

Inform your customers about online options or alternatives.

During the time of a crisis or a pandemic like COVID-19, most people go out as little as possible. So, if you provide them with online options or alternatives, it helps both you and your supporters. For instance, if you are into the fitness industry, you can upload online videos that people can watch or streamline your fitness exercises online for people to follow. 

Tailor your copy tone to be in sync with the situation.

It is important to focus on your tone and language while drafting crisis email copy. Simply put, avoid irreverent jokes and edgy humor — no matter how relevant it is with your brand. Remember, your subscribers might be worried and anxious. While some might have lost a loved one to the crisis, others might be suffering from a job loss or financial issues. 

So, keep a check on your language. Use an empathetic tone that resonates with people and makes them feel that you genuinely care. 

Review your automated emails.

It is critical to review your automated emails during a situation of crisis. The newsletter that might have made sense earlier, might come as offensive during a pandemic, and it might affect your brand reputation. Make sure you avoid embarrassing marketing errors and analyze your automated emails beforehand. 

Don’ts of email marketing during a crisis

Don’t consider it a re-engagement opportunity.

A situation of crisis should never be seen as an opportunity to re-engage or entice your previous subscribers to come back to your brand. Simply put, a business contacting a subscriber out of the blue might make them uncomfortable, especially in times of crisis. In a worst-case scenario, they might completely get turned off by your brand and tell their friends about the experience.

So to avoid this situation, make sure you send crisis-related emails to your current and active subscribers only. These are the people who might be waiting for an update from you and will welcome it in their inbox. 

Avoid sending crisis emails just for the sake of it.

Don’t send crisis emails because every brand is doing so. Make sure to have a valid point and reason to contact your customers at such a critical time. If you don’t have anything important to say, it’s better to stay away from your subscriber’s inbox. 

Don’t capitalize on fear and anxiety.

Avoid sending emails that try to profit out of the crisis. The last thing people want right now is to receive an email that is trying to capitalize on their fear and anxiety. Keep your emails simple while avoiding any kind of crisis-related sales or packages. 

For instance, in a pandemic, if you happen to be in the business of essential commodities such as hand sanitizers, masks, do not raise the product prices unnecessarily. It will make your brand appear as opportunistic and inhumane, damaging your brand reputation. In short, be empathetic, kind, and humane in your approach while dealing with your subscribers. 

With anxiety running high and people worried for their lives, the least you can do as an email marketer is to give the right information to your subscriber base. You need to convey the appropriate sentiment while being helpful and supportive during these tough times. 

Having access to the right resources to guide you with your email marketing through these uncertain times is imperative. Hope the above-mentioned tips help you in bringing a breath of fresh air to your subscribers right now.

The post Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing During a Crisis appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

They’re easy to set up, easy to build, and your bank account will like them too. For every $1 spent on email marketing, you can expect to make at least $42 back. 

With emails come useful email lists. They are the lists that separate your audience members or, in this case, your well-wishers and donors into individual segments based on their activity on your website. This gives you the ability to reach out individually to them while they can receive emails that are more in line with the services they would like to know more about or donate. 

Multitasking every aspect of your business can be challenging, and we suggest you choose a good email service provider that can come in handy for your marketing game. Do your research, look to the experts in your field, and choose the platform that suits your needs the best.

Why Are Email Lists So Important?

In email marketing, email lists are one of the most crucial components because they structure your campaigns effectively. They give you the clarity to understand which members are worth chasing after and which ones can be targeted slowly. This way, you’re not just aiming in the dark, but effectively using smart information to your advantage.

Email marketing is not a simple task, as many audience members won’t like being asked to donate regularly. Sometimes, they just want to know how your nonprofit is doing ― and that’s where newsletters come in. 

There’s an advantage to email marketing: 73% of customers prefer their communications from a business or any organization to come via email. Use that to help you frame your content ― treat them like friends that you’re updating on your life. 

How to Nurture Your Email Lists

It’s crucial that you don’t take the shortcut of purchasing email lists and create your own set. Buying an email list is definitely not the best way to develop a loving, dedicated base. If a customer finds out you’ve attained their email ID via another source, they are well within their rights to sue you. It could lead to a wrong impression on your non-profit as well. 

When you build your own email list, you can properly nurture it. Think of a donor or audience member as a baby plant that you’re watering, sheltering and growing. You’ll need to keep an eye on it to know when to make changes according to how they’re responding and interacting with your organization. Once you’ve developed one, it makes it easier to adjust and create new ones.

Most of the email marketing software allows you to segregate your lists, and while Mailchimp is one of the most popular, you can look at other alternatives to choose from as well. 

Building an Email List – What are the Best Techniques?

Building an email list requires smart usage of the best techniques and tactics, so your subscribers stay engaged and interact with your organization. Here are some of the best ones you can use.

• The easiest sign-up 

One of the best ways to get a person to sign up is to get them to enter their details quickly. Many nonprofits ask their members to fill out lengthy forms, with some even asking them for their bank details, and this can be off-putting for them. To sign someone up, you should just ask them for their most essential information ― or even better, ask them permission to auto-populate the form. This way, within a matter of seconds, they’ve provided their details, and you’re good to go!

• Offer something great 

When you’re getting new subscribers, you need to let your target group know what your organization can provide them in return; is it something they can find useful and relevant? A nice little free newsletter subscription for a week or an invitation of a free tour into your organization for a sneak peek into the community can do the trick, so don’t hesitate to try these out.  

• Allow them to opt-in and out 

Customers must always feel like they have the upper hand when it comes to email transactions, and one way you can do that is by giving them the option to opt-in and out of your email subscription. By doing so, you’re able to tell them they’re the boss and this will increase their respect for you and your organization.

• Keep updating content 

Your readers will only stick with you if your content is still relevant and marketable. Make sure you’re upgrading your content with the necessary information for them to subscribe to. If they’re really in love with your blog, for example, you can give them a special upgrade to access specially written, customized blogs that cater to their interest.

With these techniques, you’ll be well on your way to creating an email list that is not just rewarding monetarily, but also useful for both parties involved. When you give the audience something they like, it automatically allows them to remain interested and donate or interact with your nonprofit.

It’s important that you’re able to tell a good story with your blogs and emails, so keep updating and coming up with innovative content. Soon, you’ll see the number of volunteers increase, and your nonprofit soar to new heights!

The post How to Create the Perfect Email List appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

The post Marketing Automation: Your Key to Boost Donor Development appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

When you work as an email marketer, you need to expect a certain amount of email unsubscribes each year. But if your list gets smaller and smaller all the time, you need to stop and rethink what you’re doing. Unsubscribes are no fun because it leaves you wondering if you’re doing something wrong and if you could have retained those people. 

The good news is there are some actions you can take to reduce the rate of email unsubscribes. Take a look and see if you can adopt some of these methods to improve your email marketing strategy.

1. List Segmentation

It’s important to segment your list of subscribers because it helps you send content to certain people that are more relevant and customized to them. The more specific you’re able to get with your segments, the better you can prepare and write content that will speak to your readers directly and address their interests. Your customers will value your content more if they can connect with it.

2. Map Content

Due to your lead nurturing strategy and segmentation, you should know a lot more about your subscribers. This information can help you map out the content to match with their behaviors. You can easily do this by creating an Excel document or Google doc to organize your content and identify what will go to which segment of your audience, and at what time.

According to Jonathan Greene, a marketing blogger at Brit Student and Write My X, “Mapping content with your segmented list helps you make sure you’re sending subscribers the right content for the stage of the sales funnel. Content mapping also helps you pinpoint the holes and gaps in your content strategy if you find that you don’t have much content for certain segments or certain parts of the buying cycle.” 

3. Email Frequency

You should be allowing your subscribers to not only select the types of emails they want to receive, but also the frequency that they want to receive emails from you. Let them know that it’s up to them to choose the frequency that works for them, with options from many times a day to once a month. 

It’s important that you don’t bombard their mailbox as much as not communicating often enough so they forget about you. You should include this option not only in the editable email preferences at the end of each email but also on the unsubscribe page that you link to. This will give your subscribers time to think about whether they actually want to unsubscribe, or just receive fewer messages.

4. Testing

The reality is that not every subscriber will let you know how often they want to receive emails from you, so you’ll want to be proactive and run some email frequency tests to find what’s the sweet spot for email communication frequencies. If you haven’t run a test yet, you should do so now, and make sure to set up a different frequency for each individual segment of your mailing list.

5. Various Methods

If you have email recipients on the verge of unsubscribing, you can offer other communication methods. It’s possible the simple reason is that they receive too many emails in their inbox. Instead, offer to communicate with them another way, like RSS, SMS, social media, a blog, or any other platforms you use to communicate with your supporters. 

6. Sending Schedule

Set up a regular schedule for emailing so that your recipients know exactly what to expect from you. Make sure that your email communications always go out the same day and at the same time of day. 

Frank Tyne, a business writer at Australia 2 Write and Next Coursework, said, “When your subscribers know that your email is coming in, they’re less likely to be annoyed at receiving it. From the first moment a customer opts into your emails, you should clarify their expectations, and be sure to follow the schedule strictly.” 

7. Optimize

Your emails must be optimized. If they load too slowly, your email campaigns won’t be a success. Run different tests to find out how quickly your emails load for different people and on different devices. If you have large images that take too long to load or designs that aren’t mobile-friendly, you’ll be creating a bad experience and setting yourself up to fail.

Keep in mind that keeping your email subscribers engaged is as much about what you don’t do as what you do. Read on to investigate 5 Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid!

Author Bio:

Christopher T. Cooper, an entrepreneur and a writer for PhD Kingdom and Academic Brits, helps people and companies work on their sales techniques and email marketing campaigns. He enjoys learning about different industries and all types of technologies to diversify his portfolio. Chris also works for Origin Writings.

The post How to Keep Your Email Subscribers Engaged appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Your pop-up matters

A newsletter popup is one of the first things your audience should see when visiting your website. Its design and copy need to be captivating or else people will ignore it. Be honest—how often do you click “X” as fast as you possibly can whenever you see the word “Subscribe!” pop up on a website? It takes a lot to keep us interested, so make sure your ad is extraordinarily compelling..

Although it may only be a sentence or two, the growth of your newsletter largely depends on the copy of your popup. Be strategic about your word choice and tone. You want to call the audience to action without commanding them to action, so shape your message to sound like it’s coming from a very persuasive friend. You should also be sure that your copy emphasizes the specific ways your readers will benefit from subscribing.

Here are some phrases to get you started:

“Be the first to hear about…”

“Sign up and get…”

“Want [xyz] sent straight to your inbox every week?”

“Receive weekly tips on…”

“Never miss another update on…”

Keep in mind, however, that popup headlines are best when they’re clever and specific to your organization. Make it your own.

When it comes to design, keep it clean, engaging and on-brand. Stand-out copy, eye-catching colors and and a simple graphic will do the trick.

Offer perks for joining your list

If you feel like your newsletter’s content alone won’t be enough to convince people to subscribe, propose a special deal or bonus along with it. You can offer premium downloads, articles or resources; or, if your organization provides a product or service, offer discounts on them. Whichever perk you choose, your subscribers should know it’s “exclusive” to only them.

Promote on other outlets

Once you’ve perfected your landing page popup, you can’t stop there. You should also be promoting your newsletter on all possible channels.

That means…

-Tweets and Facebook posts

-Promos in your other emails (in the form of the copy itself, a banner ad at the bottom, etc.)

-Ads in your print publication, if you have one

-Other website ads

And if there’s any other media outlets you can think of, utilize them.

Offline connections

You can also step away from the computer to find new subscribers. If you send direct mail, include a place for people to opt in to your emails on the page. When you host events or fundraisers, place a newsletter signup  beside your check-in sheet.

Once you rally up new subscribers, regardless of how you’ve acquired them, be sure to send out a welcome email to remind them that they opted in.

Pack your newsletters with awesome, engaging content so that once a user subscribes, they stay subscribed.

The post How to Get More Subscribers for Your Digital Newsletter appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.