Gi Summer Symposium 2009 Short

Is Technology a Bother to
Fundraising or is it
Essential?

Jay B. Love CEO eTapestry Division of Blackbaud
July 2009

Is Technology a Bother to Fundraising or is it Essential?

A Quick Survey
What do you check first after lunch?
How many have:
c. cell phone b. email account c. Facebook/LinkIn/My Space
account d. Twitter account e. Your own blog or podcast

What is your Home Page on the Internet?
a. Search engine b. “my page” on a search engine c. Facebook
d. NPO/Corp page e. Giving Institute f . Other application

Do any of your clients want to tap into the Web?

Giving Institute Summer Symposium — San Juan 2009 | Jay B. Love | Page #2


The Rules
Still Apply
(It’s all about relationships…
not technology)



Use All Your
Tools Together

In
E-Mail Your Web Site
Person
Meetings Events
An Integrated Strategy
Other Tools Phone Print
Blogs
Text Messaging
Social Networking Sites



A Quick Survey

What % of your names have email addresses

How many collect them on Web Site? Where?

How often do you communicate via mass email?

Do you have a written email strategy?



Key Facts and Figures
 15% to 20% of all corporate email is marked as spam
 19% is the average open-rate for nonprofit emails
 4% is the average conversion rate for nonprofit emails
 40% of email clickthroughs are lost at the landing page
 50% of people will open an email in the first 9 hours
 75% of all email is spam

Sources: MarketingSherpa, Nonprofit Times, ClickZ, Wired, Blackbaud



Why Has Email Become So Important?

 People are busy…they want to
communicate/interact on their
own time
 Email is inexpensive…or at least it
seems that way
 Email provides virtually instant access
to friends and supporters
 Email is a great equalizer
 Email is measurable



Today’s Supporter

 Reads email before snail mail
 More comfortable online
 Busy, satisfies interests on own schedule
 Expects information to be personalized
 Expects immediate feedback
 Demands information on progress/
stewardship
 Wants a way to share
experiences with others online



The Market is Noisy

o You must be relevant!

o You must be meaningful!

o You must be personal!



No Email List? No Problem…

 Whether you have some contacts or are starting from
scratch, anyone can grow a strong email list

 The three most important factors in effective email list-
building are:
– Where and how you acquire the addresses
– How you welcome each new subscriber
– How you manage the relationship after the opt-in

Source: EmailLabs


Grow Your List Online

 Direct staff and other close
supporters (board, volunteers, etc.)
to include subscription
links in email signatures
 Use Search Engine Optimization/
Marketing to increase traffic and
subscriptions
 Investigate alliances or partnerships with similar or
complementary organizations to reach common supporters
 Advertise your newsletter/services/cause through a 3rd party
list



Grow Your List Offline

 Ask for email addresses at
every touch point
 Instruct staff to capture email
addresses over phone when
appropriate
 Include your website address
on all printed materials
 Offer an incentive to register (contest, raffle) to
collect emails



Now that I have permission…
 Hook them early, and keep them
engaged over time

 Optimize the welcome message

 Send follow up message within a
week (or less)

 After a few months of active email, survey lists to see if you
are meeting expectations



Why Segmentation is Important

 Segmentation breaks your
audience into manageable parts

 If the goal is building relationships,
it helps to know who you are talking to

 Segmenting your list will lead to more targeted messages

 If you don’t segment, you are treating every one of your
recipients like they are the exact same type of person



How to be a Good Sender

 In your messages, always include:
– The purpose; why you are sending it to the
reader
– A clear way to unsubscribe.
– Consider offering alternative ways to receive
emails, such as:
• Receiving newsletters monthly vs. weekly
• Change of address (home vs. business email)
• Sign up via RSS
– Link to your homepage
– Privacy policy
– Physical/street address of your organization

 Don’t get caught in spamtraps



How Important is that Header?
 80% of respondents decide whether
to click on the "Report Spam" or
"Junk" button without opening the
actual message
 73% based that decision on the "From" name
 69% percent based the decision on the subject line

Source: 2007 Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC) study



Use Landing Pages to Increase Conversions

 So I got them to click…now what?
 Landing pages are a natural extension of email,
regardless of message
 The goal of most landing pages is to persuade a
visitor to complete a transaction
 Landing page effectiveness is measured by
conversion rate
 You should test landing page elements like you
would test email or direct mail



Example Landing Page



Designing for Mobile Devices Designing the email (html)

 Mobile readers are more likely to
scan your email rather than reading
 Include compelling call to action in
the first 15-25 characters of your
subject line
 Avoid “top heavy” images in the
design
 Use “alt-tags” on images
 In addition to testing email browsers,
test messages in handheld devices



The Final Step is to Test

 Determine which elements you want to test
 Determine which segments you want to test
 Determine how large your sample size will be
 Determine how you will keep track of results
 Determine method of testing you want to use



The Metrics that Matter
(# Sent – Bounced)
 Deliverability = # Sent

# Unique Opens
 Open Rate =
(Sent – Bounced)

 Clickthrough Rate = # Unique Clicks
(Sent – Bounced)

 Unsubscribe Rate = # Unsubscribes
(Sent – Bounced)

 Conversion Rate = # Actions Completed
or # Actions Completed
(Sent – Bounced) Unique Responders (Clicks)
Source: Email Marketing by the NUM8ERS



A Few Email Design & Usage Tips

 Keep truly important items above the fold
 Use testimonials on all sign-up pages
 Ask subscribers to add your from address to their address book
 Host images on your web site rather than embedding them
 Links to resources and to special landing pages on your web site
are powerful (Especially “tell a friend” functions)
 Develop your own writing style that readers will learn to
love (people adore stories, so tell many . . . )



10 Tactics for Avoiding Spam Filters

 Use a commercial email service (database tie in is best)
 Don’t use bright or crazy fonts
 Do not yell with ALL CAPS or NUMEROUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!
 Avoid words like “free”, “mortgage”, “enlarge”, “act now”, etc
 Make sure your WYSIWYG editor creates CLEAN HTML code
 Keep graphics to a safe level, equal amount of text or more
 Spell words properly
 Always use the same “From”
 ALWAYS include an “opt out” option
 Communicate regularly (Monthly at worst, weekly is best)



Professional Email is Economical
5,000 emails $99 .02
25,000 emails $400 .016
50,000 emails $650 .013
100,000 emails $1000 .01
250,000 emails $2000 .008
500,000 emails $2500 .005
Plus 3 - 20 times the success in delivery!



Use All Your
Tools Together

In
Person
Meetings Events
Blogs
Text Messaging



“There’s no better, faster,
easier and cheaper place
to gather folks of like
minds than a Web site.”

Carrie Johnson, Senior Analyst
Forrester Internet Research



They’re at your website, now
what do they do?

• Can they engage?

• Can they add content?

• Is there a reason to return?

Your goal – to get something from them!



Keys to Building a Successful Web
Site
1. Learn from your content
(Start with Google Analytics to see how many unique visitors you have, how they found you,
what they viewed, where they stayed the longest, and what content produced actions.)

2. Make your content easy to consume
(Always offer RSS feeds in addition to various subscribe options. Make sure they are easy
to find and use.)

3. Make your content ever changing
(Be brave enough to blog, show responses, share viewpoints, and utilize forums. New
information needs to be added daily or weekly by you and your community. Why do
you think millions go to Facebook or Twitter by the minute.)

4. Make your site easy to find
(Every NPO and those serving NPO’s should have a social web presence. Facebook,
MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr are your outposts linking back to the
web site hub!)



Email Strategy at Work!



How about a $2,500 Web Site!



Question:

Should a Non Profit host
it’s own web site?



Keeping it simple

Prospect Website

Use Email
Gather Information

Database
Database


Tips on Improving On-Line Donations/Sign-ups

 Use large and colorful donate/sign-up buttons
 Do not take them away from your site
 Have SSL in place!
 Ruthlessly streamline forms
 Give visitors only ONE action to take
 Avoid distractions (no other links or navigation)
 Always mention the NPO’s mission
 Be conservative with suggested gift values

Landing on Gold - Optimizing Your Donation Landing Pages to Increase Giving
Donordigital April 2009



April 2009 Data comScore Video Metrix Service

 78.6% of total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
 Average video viewer watched 385 minutes of video, or 6.4
hours
 107.1 million viewers watched 6.8 billion videos on
YouTube.com (63.5 videos per viewer)
 49 million viewers watched 387 million videos on
MySpace.com (7.9 videos per viewer)
 The duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes



Video is a
Magnet for
Your
Web Site!

“Most viral video
of all time!”

Could her story
be told in any
other manner
as strongly?



Blog

MySpace

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

eNews



“NY Times Web Site Story”



“Web Site Story Continued”
Gift for Promotion

charity: water
* 11 Employees
* 500,000 Followers
on Twitter
* 500 Donors Cover
all Admin Costs
* Donors can Locate
Their Well on Web
via Google Earth



“Web Site Story Continued”
charity: water

* Raised $250,000
via Twitterfest
* Raised $965,000
via Sept. Birthdays
* Tons of Video
* Easy to Engage
* Giving is Joyous
* Infectious with
Youth/Boomers!



charity: water
1. Was the $250,000 raised via Twitter the
key fact?
2. Was the $975,000 raised from Sept.
birthdays the key fact?
3. Is the way they have harnessed
web/video technology the key?
4. How about how they show impact via
Google Earth?
Communicating daily w/ 500,000+ followers!


Use All Your
Tools Together

In
Person
Meetings Events
Blogs
Text Messaging



Podcasts



Some Thoughts to Ponder on Social Networks

 “My own "ah ha!" moment came recently on my birthday. In my
personal email account, I found 33 notifications from Facebook that
friends had left birthday greetings on my Facebook page, but only two
regular emails with birthday greetings.” (54 yr old male)

 “Most interactions now come from my social networks. Not only do my
birthday greetings come via Facebook and Twitter, but almost all of
them were made where other people could see them. Those public
greetings prompted several others to add their own.” (52 yr old female)

 “Email messaging — the main tool of most nonprofits for "push"
marketing — will need to meet a higher and higher bar in terms of
relevance, or it will be increasingly ignored.” (61 yr old male)



More Thoughts on Social Networks . . .
“When I was in sixth grade, I was crazy about the girl who sat next to me,
but I didn't think she could possibly have the same feelings about me. When
Mrs. Green changed everyone's seats, the girl sent me a note through an
intermediary, Sherry, who was now sitting next to me. The note said, "Do
you like me?" I turned around and saw her sheepishly smiling. After
recovering from a brief but intense panic attack, I sent back a note that told
her I did. Ah, first love!”

“Last week I got another note from her. This time the intermediary was not
Sherry, though. It was Facebook.”
“Facebook is affecting my life in ways I wouldn't have imagined just a few
short months ago. In addition to the innocent hello from my first flame, I
have had a dialogue with a cousin I haven't seen in 25 years.”
“When you think about the metrics that matter most to people -- audience
reach, composition and engagement -- you realize that there is no site in the
world that will be able to compete with Facebook in delivering results!”
Kevin Mannion, On-Line Publishing, February , 2009



2009 Facebook Demographic and Statistics Report
 The most troubling statistics we’ve seen are that there are 16.5% less high school users, and 21.7%
less college users. There have been rumors that these younger user groups are being alienated by
their parents joining the service, and this data seems to prove it.



Which of the following types of social media does your charity
currently use?
2007
2008
100%
90%
79% 79%
80%
70%
57%
60%
50%
41% 36%
40% 34%
32% 33% 26% 30% 25%
30%
16%
20%
13% 11%
10%
0%
Video Social Blogging Podcasting Message/ Wikis Do Not Use
Blogging Networking Bulletin Any
Boards



Do you monitor social media for buzz, posts, conversations and
news about your organization?
2007
2008
100%
90%
80% 75%
66%
70%
60%
50%
40%
33%
30% 25%
20%
10%
1%
0%
0%
Yes No No Response



Social Networks Hints for Success
 It is not FREE, resources are required
 Being present is not enough, engage
 Be authentic, otherwise you will be exposed fast
 Integrate, don’t imitate other mediums
 Endorsements matter, think forwarded emails!
 Measure
 Have something to say, must be regular or it dies fast

Stephanie Miller, Email Insider, 2009



Thank you!
Jay B. Love
CEO eTapestry Division
Blackbaud

jay.love@blackbaud.com


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