Getting Started with Email Fundraising, Cont'd

By Andrea Berry
  Fund-raising Consultant

Write Effective Emails

When composing emails, details are critical. Think of a subject line that will entice readers. They should be intriguing and motivating. A simple “Help support our organization” might not get the same response as a “Help us raise $10,000 by midnight tonight!”

List the name of both an individual and the name of the non-profit organization as the sender in order to encourage the most people to open the email. Choose a strong advocate for your cause. Just as you would highlight an important supporter as an event attendee, or leadership in a campaign, use name recognition to help drive your email’s success.

In the body of your email, tell your story succinctly. One compelling example can be more effective than a lot of facts and figures. Make it as personal as possible. Use the recipients’ names when you can, and sign the email as humanly as possible – with a name, and a scanned signature if possible.

Avoid stilted language in favor of a personal tone. The email should read like you wrote it to a friend. Remember, good emails are generally shorter, more personal and informal than standard direct mail letters, so recycling direct mail won’t work without revisions.

Finally, remember to make your ask! Include 3 different types of asks in an email – one in the body of the email, one as a closing P.S., and with a “Donate” button. Make the click obvious and easy. Remove any doubt with a large “Donate Now” button or callout with no links to other pages. Use bold text to highlight action steps and pertinent information, but avoid underline or colored fonts for emphasis, as your reader may confuse them for additional (broken) links.

Choose a Broadcast Email Tool

A number of useful and affordable broadcast email packages can make it relatively easy to email hundreds, thousands or even millions of people at once. These tools help you format attractive emails, including graphical formats or images, and manage your list of email addresses. They also let recipients subscribe and unsubscribe by themselves, and help get your mail into inboxes rather than spam filters. These tools will also provide reports on how many people opened and clicked through on each email, so you can measure effectiveness.

If you’re emailing more than a dozen or so people at a time, use software designed specifically for mass email like Vertical Response or Network for Good’s Email Now. Both offer feature-rich, affordable options. A number of donor management and online integrated systems provide useful broadcast email functionality, as well. For more on broadcast email tools, see Idealware’s “Few Good Broadcast Email Tools” article.

Choose a Donation Tool

Many donors who receive fund-raising requests by email expect to be able to donate online. Luckily, a number of tools make accepting online payments easy. Most online donation tools work the same way. A “donate” button on your website links to a donation form where donors enter contact and credit card information. The tool verifies the credit card, charges it securely and ensures that the donor’s money reaches your organization. Online reporting tools let you see what’s been donated and export the information to another database.

A number of packages, including Network for Good’s Basic Donate Now, charge no fees except for a percentage of each donation. Organizations who expect lots of donations should consider tools like Click & Pledge, AuctionPay, GiftTool or Network for Good’s Custom Donate Now. Online integrated tools that allow you to take donations, send emails and manage constituent data all in one place can also be excellent options.

Measure Your Success

You’ve begun your first email fund-raising campaign. How’s it going? Donation results and email metrics provided through your broadcast email tool help you understand the progress of your campaign and how to improve it. Open rates, which measure how many recipients “opened” your email, track how effectively your subject line and other header information encouraged people to open your email. A standard open rate is 15 to 25 percent. If you want to boost your numbers, try making your subject line more evocative, consider your email volume, and look at the time and day of the week your emails are being sent.

Click-through rates show how effectively your email copy inspired people to donate. On average, between 1 percent and 10 percent of recipients will click through a link. To raise this rate, try making your subject line clearer. Perhaps people were expecting one thing from your subject line but found a different letter in the email body. Make sure your “Donate Now” link is obvious. Finally, re-read your copy asking for support. Is it clear, concise and compelling?

Keep an eye on your unsubscribe rate to determine if you’re sending out too many emails. Expect an unsubscribe rate of 0.3 percent to 1 percent for each email. To decrease your unsubscribe rate, try providing more value in your emails, email on a predictable schedule and reduce your overall volume.

Perhaps most important of all, your conversion rate helps you track how many people actually donated. A rate between .5 percent and 2 percent for a fund-raising appeal, and 3 percent to 15 percent for action appeals, means your emails performed to average. To increase your conversion rate, provide a compelling reason for readers to act, and optimize your landing page so readers who click through can easily donate or follow the next steps.

Evaluating your emails and adjusting them as necessary can help you fine tune your campaigns. Find out what’s working, and do more of it. Remember to be bold, adventurous and passionate about your cause, keep it compelling and personal, and people will respond.

Wrapping it Up

Congratulations! You’ve got all the knowledge and tools you need to mount your first email fund-raising campaign. The 2008 election showed email campaigns have the potential to bring in large numbers of supporters, many of whom were not reached by other, more traditional efforts. By applying a little forethought and adopting the same techniques, your organization can do the same.

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