AO Community Conference Presentation v3

8/7/2019 AO Community Conference Presentation v3

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Increasing EmailResponse Rates

Andrea Grimm, Chief Development Officer,Alzheimer Society of Canada

Michael Johnston, President, hjc


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Despite what some say email is

still important

.


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But more often than not it is

unsolicited

More than 97% of all e-mails sentover the net are unwanted

2010 - (January) 183 billion SPAM

emails per day

Canadians are relatively low on thelist of worldwide SPAM recipientsbecause of lower public tolerance and

greater media scrutiny.


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So how do you make sure youre

breaking through the noise?

.

Send interesting relevant material, thinkingstrategically at all timesBe results drivenBe mindful of the lawDo everything in your power to make sureyour emails are getting through and are

formatted correctly


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How Canadians use and value different

communication types from non profits


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Email is reasonably popular across

generationsGen Y67% think email is anappropriate prospectingchannel

Gen X60% think email is anappropriate prospectingchannel

Boomers52% think email is anappropriate prospectingchannel

Civics40% think email is anappropriate prospecting

channel


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How do you get supporters on your

email list?

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Gothica quam nunc

putamus parum claramanteposuerit litterarumformas humanitatis perseacula quarta.

Iriure dolor in hendrerit in

vulputate velit essemolestie consequat, velillum dolore eu feugiat.


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Give a REASON why you want their

email address


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Collect relevant information during

sign up

Sign up is the ideal pointto find out the kind ofinformation that will allowyou to personalize your

content.


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To make sure youre emails are

getting throughfollow the rules

It is customary to follow in Canada to abide by the requirements of the US CAN-SPAM act.

No deceptive headers, misleading content & false return addresses.

Subject line which accurately reflects the content of the e-mail.

From with the name of the advertiser.

Clearly identify the message as an advertisement or solicitation.

Cannot use harvested or algorithm based e-mail addresses.

Valid return address or link to permit recipient to opt-out of future e-mail solicitations fromthat sender.

Comply with opt-out requests within 10 business days of receipt & the e-mail address orweb page must be functional for 30 days after the mailing.

Include senders physical postal address.

Do not use e-mail addresses harvested by automated mean


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Deliverability is key

Your email service provider needs to be reputable

You have to check your content for SPAM flagse.g. dont type in capslock, dont just sendimages,

You can try and get people to add yourorganization to their address books

Use HTML wisely and always send a plain textversion


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Make your content easy to

understand

Consider the very first thing auser sees in your email especially with images turned off.

Image URLon a

blackberry

Big whiteboxes and

no indicationof what theactualcontent is


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Anatomy of a good email appeal design

One linestating whatthe rest ofthe email isabout(previewpane)

Cleargraphic callto action

Calls to actionwithin the copy Real signature

looks more personal

Graphicshare links

Clear branding


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Testing: how you find out what is good email

design for your organization

One linestating whatthe rest ofthe email isabout(previewpane)

Cleargraphic callto action

Calls to actionwithin the copy Real signature

looks more personal

Graphicshare links

Clear branding


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Summary ofcontent linkingto webpage

Lots of imagery

Block of content toallow for easy reading

Clear call toaction

Anatomy of a good enews design


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Proprietary and Confidential 17


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Proprietary and Confidential 18

Testing helps you decide what is a good email for you

70 Women Appeal Summary

Test Email #1 vs. #2 Results

Number of emails sent 2000/2000

Number of responses 140/0

70 Women e-appeal Results

Number of emails sent 34960

Number of responses 1840

Percentage of emails opened

(Open Rate)

39%

Percentage of emails clicked

through

12%

Percentage of petitions

signed

5%


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Cross browser check to ensure

consistency

The sad fact is no matterhow good your html coderis email browsersdisplay emails differently.You HAVE to check your

email across browsers toensure consistency.

We use Litmus App

You can also rely onseveral email accounts


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Spot the odd one out


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Benchmarks

Source: http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/ (M+R)


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Every organization is different

Benchmarks can very widely based on theorganization and list.

You should try and compile your own history andestablish your own benchmarks for success

Open Rate Clickthrough rate Uns

u

bscriberate Forwardrate

Advocacyenews

35.56% 9.61% 0.59% 3.42%

Generalenews

17.18 3.81% 0.53% 1.28%

Fundraisingappeals

17.60% 1.66% 0.44% 0.35%

Alzheimer Society benchmarks


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ROI of email vs. other channels


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Multi-part emails tend to perform

well

Multi-part emails let you tell a longer story

You can coordinate with other marketing

efforts e.g

.pre or post DM

You can build a case for support over time


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Have a narrative through your

campaign

Multi-part emails can takethe user through anarrative so they followa campaign

10 by 20 is an ongoinginitiative to get thegovernment to adopt 10actions that will reducethe number of peoplesuffering from dementiaby 2020.

This email introduced thecampaign


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Each email builds on the last

Emails in the series focuson different aspects tohelp get the 10 by 20action plan in place inOntario

Emails have a local focusthat really speaks to thelist

The email has a sense ofurgency by saying when

the bill will be debated.


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Special content sent to previoussupporters

General content sent toremaining list

Segmentation of lists


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The user is made to be center of the

story

The reader is reminded ofthe previous email andtold what the outcomewas.

They are now very much

part of the 10 by 20 story they are following itsprogress.


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The narrative is woven into other

communications

The narrative is continuedin ongoing organizationcommunication forexample the enewsletter.


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Multi-part emails

Dont worry too much aboutover messaging if you aresending good content andfollowing a narrative people

dont mind too much.

Keep a consistent look and feelthrough a multi-part messageseries

Use multi part emails tointegrate with other marketingchannels e.g. pre and post DM.


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More is better

NY

PL holiday email series

2007 one appeal is sent

0.35% unsubscribe

2008 four appeals are sent

0.35% unsubscribe

2009 four appeals sent to alarger list.

0.35% unsubscribe $0

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

$12,000

$14,000

Holiday 07 Holiday 08 Holiday 09

Total revenue from email


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Segmentation and conditional

content

Segmentation should be a core part of your strategy how can you make emails most relevant and mostinteresting for audiences?

Recency Donor/nondonor

Channel Interests


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For a lapsed donor, who loves dogs

and gives through the mail

Dear Mr X ,

We havent heard form you for a while.I hopeyou received the package we sent recently.Itwas about the animals you can help this

year, like vulnerable street dogs in yourcommunity.

Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus errorsit voluptatem accusantium doloremquelaudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsaquae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasiarchitecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.


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For a lapsed donor, who loves cats

and gives online

Dear Mr X ,

Youre last gift meant so much to us.I hope youreceived the email we sent recently.It was allabout animals you can help this year, like

vulnerable cats.

Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus errorsit voluptatem accusantium doloremquelaudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsaquae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasiarchitecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.


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Personalization

36

Advanced

Segmentation Data Provides

Insight

Dog version

Neutral version

Subject: Sponsor a ShelterCat this Holiday

Subject: Sponsor a ShelterDog this Holiday

Subject: Sponsor a ShelterPet this Holiday


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Personalization

37

Personalized messaging to donor segments with cat/dogsegmentation data performed 300% better than neutral messaging todonor segments without segmentation data.

Personalized messaging to non donor segments with cat/dogsegmentation data performed 170% better than neutral messaging to

donor segments without segmentation data.

Open Rates among recipients with advanced segmentation data

were 140% to 220% higher than those without advancedpersonalization data.

Can you do the puppy and kitty gambit online to improve results?!


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Email bounce backs count

38

A k h i h i k d


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Ask the right questions, keep data

clean

To be able to segment effectively you need to askrelevant questions of your donors: Who are they?

What do they like?

What to do they want to hear from you?

You also need to keep your data in eactivist tidy and upto date.

Documents

AO Community Conference Presentation v3