More Than Just a Donate Button: The Anatomy of Successful Email Fundraising Campaigns

Holly Wagg, CFRE
Philanthropic Counsel
@hollywagg
blog.goodworksco.ca
More than just a
donate button:
The anatomy of successful
email fundraising campaigns

www.goodworksco.ca | @hollywagg | holly@goodworksco.ca
Holly Wagg

If I can just add a
button I’m
confident that donations
will pour in!

1. Back end and front end of how to set up and
manage an email fundraising campaign
2. Anatomy of an email
3. Analytics and success benchmarks
4. Emails in action
LEarn

EmAil Matters
10-25% annual revenue online
65% of people made an online gift in 2012
33% online gifts sourced to email

Single Touchpoint

Integrate
Response rate
Average gift
Long-term/
life-time value of donors
flickr@rob_fuel

Integrate
1% total file
up to 50%
segment
Direct mail $40
Online $60-$93
?
response rate
average gift
value

ESP to CRM
Net Community
Luminate
Send bulk email Email fully integrated with donor data

Lists
1. Build your own list
2. Acquire online names
3. Cross promotion

Front End
Social sharing icons
Banner
Template (columns)
Donate button

Front End
Hyperlinks
Other social media
Footer
Unsubscribe

Dashboard

Benchmarks
14% -> 13%
1.7% -> 0.42%
*benchmarks from 2013 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from M+R and NTEN
0.21%

Metrics That Matter
* benchmarks from 2013 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from M+R and NTEN
1. List size
2. Growth rate
3. List churn
4. Response/conversion rate
5. Amount raised per email/annually
6. ROI
15%
16%
0.07% – 0.16%

Future Metrics That Will Matter
1. Inbox placement rate
2. Open by device
3. Read rate

Analytics

Our goal
Behaviour =
motivation + ability + trigger
BJ Fogg’s Behaviour Model

Who is this Email From?

When Should I send my email?
Tues – Wed - Thurs
*Old school, but sorta safe, if
most of your list uses a desktop

When Should I send my email?
*http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225266
*http://visual.ly/best-and-worst-time-send-emails
A slightly more
modern perspective,
but really, you should
test this

How Often
On average, charities send roughly 4 emails
per month
* Image from 2013 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from M+R and NTEN

Open My email, pretty please!
Best subject lines -
• No longer than 50 characters
• No spammy words
• Describe what your email is about

4 ‘U’ of Subject Lines
* Brian Clark, Copyblogger
1. Be USEFUL to the reader
2. Provide a sense of URGENCY
3. Convey the idea that the main benefit is
somehow UNIQUE
4. Do all of the above in an ULTRA-SPECIFIC
way

Subject Line Examples
*35 Email Subject Lines…, Philanthropy for All
• What an ipad means for Autism
• How to end poverty
• What the future holds for U of T grads
• How can save a platypus today
• What dogs and sunshine have in common

Design Matters
fold
banner 600px wide
font
body copy
11pt+ sans serif
Header copy
12pt+ sans serif
or serif

Design Crimes
• Don’t underline unless it’s a hyperlink
• Too many different fonts
• Too many colours
• CAPS, italics, Bold, Reverse out

Tip! Alt Tags are Awesome
Tip courtesy of Marc Pitman, Fundraising Coach.com

Copy Writing
Donor is hero
= you
One to one
conversation
More on storytelling at
blog.goodworksco.ca

Copy Writing
1. The more you type, the less people read
2. Keep it conversational
3. One email = one message/action
4. Call to action above the fold and standalone

Copy Writing

Before you hit Send
1. Do all your links work?
2. Do you have a plain text version (and is it the
same as your html version)?
3. Do you have alt tags on images?
4. Do your pictures have links and are they going
to the right place?
5. If your email is personalized, have you
checked your merge fields?
6. Have you tested in multiple inbox clients?

Testing fail!
Can you spot
the squishy
copy?

A/b Testing
50/50 split or 10/10/80
Design elements
Page layout
Multi-step forms
Video
CTA positioning
Images
Offer elements
Price points
Ask string
Default ask
Premiums
Call to action
Communications strategies
Timing
Frequency
Content
Cross-channel
Persuasion assets
Achievements
Subject lines
Copy
Testimonials
Benefits
Hugh Dwyer, Jacob Colie and Tom Williamson, A/B Testing – can you afford not to? #13NTCab

Mobile
• Mobile template or
decrease width 500px
• Shorten subject line
• Use preheader copy
• Shorten copy and split
paragraphs

Mobile
• Increase text size
• Give links room to
breathe
• Include better photos
• Keep emails under
102KB
Mike Snusz, NPengage.com

Welcome Series

Email and Direct Mail

Newsletter

StewardShip

Year-End Campaign
Network for Good, 2012 Digital Giving Index

Year-End Emails

Campaigns

Monthly Giving

Matching Gifts

Special Events

Cross promotion

CampaignsAdvanced Segmentation

Thank you

More Than Just a Donate Button: The Anatomy of Successful Email Fundraising Campaigns

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More Than Just a Donate Button: The Anatomy of Successful Email Fundraising Campaigns