Believe it or not, email is still a sure bet when it comes to nonprofit marketing. According to the American Marketing Association, email marketing has the highest ROI among all marketing tools used by nonprofits.
Think about it: Email marketing provides a multitude of benefits, especially for nonprofits. For one thing, it’s fast. If your nonprofit needs to communicate a message or turn around a campaign last minute, email is quick and easy. With email marketing, you can grow your nonprofit’s constituent base, easily measure results and archive your messages in the back end. Oh yeah, it’s also green, which is becoming more and more important to audiences all over the world.
With 99% of all U.S. consumers checking email daily, email marketing should be a vital part of your nonprofit’s outreach efforts. But, before you hit send on your next campaign, consider these three big email marketing tips:
Segment your audience.
If your nonprofit wants to improve donor retention as well as donor engagement, it’s imperative that you deliver the right message to the right people. When you send one message to your entire list, there’s a good chance that most recipients will deposit your email into the trash bin. As Constant Contact explains, email marketing is one of the most effective channels for communicating with different audiences.
Instead of sending one broad message to everyone, email makes it possible to segment your audience into different lists and create campaigns that are relevant to each. Not sure how to carve up your list? Here are some ideas:
- Big donors
- Monthly recurring donors
- Social media power users
- Corporate sponsors
- Volunteers
Keep track of time.
Have you ever asked yourself, “When should I send this email?” If so, you’re already ahead of the game. Many professionals don’t realize that day and time can have a significant impact on readership and engagement. Make an effort to look at the analytics from past email marketing campaigns, and you’ll gain valuable insight into your audience’s behavior. Eventually, you’ll be able to determine what days and times receive the best open and click-through rates.
Have one call to action.
Before you send out a campaign, ask yourself, “What one thing do I want to accomplish with this message?” Then, make your call to action support that goal. You only have a few seconds to get people to act, so be clear about what you want them to do, whether it’s to register for an event, volunteer or make a donation.
Use these tips to get the most of your nonprofit email marketing. Done right, email marketing can help take your nonprofit to new heights. Need help? Firespring provides nonprofit marketing services. Just give us a call at 877.477.8941 or send an email to hello@firespring.com.
