Building an Effective Email List

By Jay Leslie
Idealware

An email list is one of the sharpest arrows in any nonprofit’s quiver. An effective list can maximize your reach, help foster closer relationships with constituents and improve fundraising. But what makes a list effective?

For one thing, critical mass—the more people you can reach who are genuinely interested in your organization, the better. Research shows that an email appeal sent to 5,000 people will be opened by fewer than 1,500 of them, and no more than 100 are likely to actually make a donation. While the quality of the emails you send has an impact as well, simply having a larger list of interested constituents will help spread your message further, and help you raise more money.

But you can’t just buy an email list as easily as you can buy one for direct mail. So how do you expand your list sufficiently to meet your goals?

There are a number of ways within reach of any organization; choose the methods that best meet your audience and needs.

Sign Up Existing Supporters

One potential source for new subscribers is the people already familiar to you. Anyone who receives your printed newsletters and other mailings has already shown interest in your organization and might be inclined to receive emails from you. But first you need to get their email addresses, which may not be included in the contact information you already have.

Start With Your Direct Mail List

The most obvious way to encourage people on your direct mail list to subscribe to your e-newsletter is to send them a piece of direct mail—for example, a postcard or letter—promoting your email resources and asking them to subscribe.

It’s also worth including a prominent website link with every newsletter and other mailing you send out. Entice readers to subscribe by promising compelling information that’s relevant to them, such as upcoming events for kids, or online follow-ups to newsletter articles. Make the link simple enough to be easily typed, and make sure it leads directly to the content you promised, but also include a prominent request for readers to submit their email addresses to be notified of similar news and stories about your organization and its work.

Another option is to use an email appending vendor like FreshAddress to find email addresses for contacts already on your direct mailing list. Expect to find a match for about 10-20 percent of the names, and to pay $0.25 to $0.50 for each match—often with a minimum purchase of $1,000 or more. Tread with care when using email addresses acquired through an append. Some constituents might prefer not to get email from you, so make sure it’s easy for them to opt out.

Social Media Is More Than "Liking" You

Is your organization on Facebook? Twitter? Chances are that a good number of the people who follow you on social media are not on your email list—at least, not yet.

Don’t just encourage people to “like” your Facebook page or follow your Twitter feed: give them an easy way and a compelling reason to sign up. Make sure the email information you offer is of some relevance to what you post on social media, since that’s what appealed to these visitors in the first place.

Prominent Sign-up Links On Your Website

And don’t forget your website. Anyone who visits your site should find it simple to find and join your email list. Sign-up forms should be easy to find, and uncomplicated.

Remember that, while you want to collect as much information as possible, the initial registration should be a matter of filling in a name and email address; people are more likely to complete a short form than a long one. You can ask for more information later in the context of providing better-focused correspondence.

Collaborate and Network

While your Internet presence can be a great source of subscribers, don’t ignore the world beyond your computer. Every phone call and cocktail party conversation is an opportunity to increase awareness of your organization and expand its email list. You can close many work-related phone calls by asking the other person if they’re interested in receiving email from your organization, and encourage them to visit your website and register.

Consider enrolling new subscribers a goal of your organizational “elevator speech” at networking events, and close contacts by exchanging business cards. Your card should include your organization’s website, or even a QR code that leads directly to a subscription link when scanned with a smartphone. “Tabling”—setting up a table with information about your nonprofit—is also a good way to meet people face-to-face and ask them to sign up. You might even consider using a tablet computer, like an iPad, or a laptop opened to an email registration page that lets people subscribe themselves on the spot.

Or, if your organization serves a small area, you could go door-to-door and canvas your constituency. It’s more difficult for people to ignore a smiling face than an email solicitation.

But don’t just consider strangers for your list—remember your friends, too. If you have partner organizations, or nonprofits with constituencies similar to your own, collaborate by agreeing to promote their email lists in exchange for them promoting yours.

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