Net Wits Web Seminar Fundraising Event Email

Designing an Event Email Marketing Strategy

December 16, 2009

Rebecca Nevin – Interaction Designer, Blackbaud Internet Solutions

Read our blog:www.netwitsthinktank.com

Rebecca Nevin | Page #2 © 2009 Blackbaud


Agenda

Email Overview Anatomy of an Effective Email Event Email Strategy



Overview

Email is a promotion catalyzes for peer-to-peer fundraising success

Email is a training tool you can use to coach your event participants

Email is a way to stay in touch year round with your event donors & participants so their affinity for your organization stays strong and they continue to support your organization year after year



Participants are Becoming Multi-channel Fundraisers



Average Gift Expectations



Connection Between Social Media & Email



Participants find social networking tools from emails



Anatomy of an effective email message



“From” Address Lines

The "From" line should reflect an identifiable organizational figure Don’t use a random name that people are not familiar with. Don’t assume everyone knows your Executive Director’s name. Play it safe and use the organization’s name.

Avoid numbers or symbols in the “From” line — they may trigger spam filters

Use consistent “From” name and “Reply-To” addresses to build your sender reputation

If readers don’t recognize you, they are likely to flag your message as spam



Subject Line The Top 10 List

One of the most consistently successful approaches (and it almost always gets opened).

Readers are curious and know they won’t have to sift through paragraphs of copy.• Top 10 Reasons

• Top Five Priorities

• Top Four Concerns

The Research Subject Line Feature a compelling statistic in the subject line and make it relevant to the reader. A research headline is less promotional, promises valuable information, and

enhances your credibility as a knowledge resource.• Example: “56% of Those Living in Poverty are Women. Help Them Beat the Odds”

The Quiz One of the fastest and easiest ways to engage your audience. Include one intriguing question in the subject line, followed by the answer in the

body of the email.• Example “1 in how many men will get prostate cancer?”



Subject Line: Descriptive and Inviting (Honest)

Keep subject lines clear and simple – NOT promotional Limit subject lines to 50-60 characters maximum (Mobile

devices only display the first 15-25 characters) Avoid using $, ! or ALL CAPS in the subject – could

trigger spam filters Look inside your own junk mail folder – and don’t do

what they do



Content - Think About the Audience

Use dynamic content The more specific the message the greater the impact Provide content that is appropriate for the participant type you

are speaking to• For donors show them how their donation makes a direct impact,

get them to engage outside the event, sign up for newsletters.

• Target different content to company leaders, team leaders, individuals, and families

• Go beyond and segment your list to target content event more specifically (Custom fields, age, sex, etc)

It helps reduce unsubscribes



Content Use stories to engage readers

Share stories and encourage participants to share stories to engage readers

Use statistics, testimonials, case studies, and expert opinions to support a point

Demonstrate a clear purpose and a clear call to action Each email should have one main point, with a clear call to

action Give readers a compelling reason to act now

Content should be related to the Event Fundraising phases you are in

Make sure you promote your event’s social media



Compelling Call to Action

The call-to-action should compel readers to do something

Give participants a sense of excitement and urgency Use specific action-oriented language User verbs to keep it active – write sparingly and make

those few words count Instead of “You should sign up soon” try “Sign up by

Friday and get a free armband”



Compelling Call to Action

o Give participants a “To Do List”• Update their picture and story• Create YouTube video• Email• Facebook• Tweet• Offline

o Have weekly/monthly contest or raffles• Give away gift cards• Sponsor a YouTube video contest



Best Practices for Email Design Design for the preview pane of email applications

Only the top 2-4 inches (or 500-600 pixels) of your email will be viewable in the preview pane

Recipients will rarely open an email to view your full message (so you must respect the preview)

One giant image is not good idea It may look pretty, but if the image is blocked by the browser, you no longer have a

message Never put important information (or the call to action) in an image

Again, if the image is blocked, the message will be lost If you are going to do this, always recap the information within the email text

Avoid large blocks of text — use headlines for increased “scannability” Try to limit total length to around 300 words Amount of content “allowed” depends on your audience and past relationship

Remind recipients to add organization to their address book/safe sender list Test HTML email in multiple email clients before sending



Design for Mobile Devices

Increasingly, participants will be reading email via Blackberry or iPhone

Design emails for mobile reading Mobile readers are more likely to scan, not read Include compelling call to action in your subject line Avoid “top heavy” images in the design Use “ALT” tags on images Test messages on handheld devices



Email Editing Do’s and Don’ts Never copy and paste text or images directly from

Microsoft Word or another word processing program Use the “Paste from word” icon in the HTML editor,

“Clean” the code before pasting, or try pasting into Notepad and then copy/paste into the email

Pasting directly from Word tends to transfer some of the underling code which will distort your message



More Email Editing Do’s and Don’ts Always resize and compress images before inserting into

your message Sphere allows you to easily insert images into messages but it isn’t a

robust image editing tool It’s best to use a 3rd party graphic software to prepare the image before

uploading

Always include important content within body content – not just in images Many email services block images by default and your reader may not

decide to display the images To ensure your most important message are viewable include them in the

first part of the message (top of content)



More Email Editing Do’s and Don’ts

Be careful when selecting text to edit/replace If you select more than jus the text you are trying to edit (like a

blank space) you may inadvertently delete the underlying code and distort the formatting

Use only Web-safe fonts The most common are Arial, Verdana, Georgia, and Times New

Roman If they aren’t web safe they may not work in some email service

providers If you have a font that’s not web safe and you must use it, it is

safest to use it as an image.



Example



Test, Track, Review and Adjust

Always send a test email to several email service providers (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook)

Review the Spam report Sphere sends and make adjustments



Event Email Strategy



Site Launch Phase

Should happen at least 6 months before the event date. Ideally, in a 12 month cycle the next year’s site would launch 1-2 months

after the previous year’s event 1 email on launch day and consider another 2 weeks later (only for those

who still have not registered Make sure you remind returning participants to use the same username

and password they used the previous year Will allow then to review reports of their donor history Reduces duplicates and keeps your date more accurate

Focus on recruiting your past Team Leaders and Company Leaders Once you get your leaders they can do the recruiting work for you

Make sure you have opt-in options on your Registration and Donation forms



Acknowledgement Emails Take advantage of your registration and donation

acknowledgements Use the advanced confirmation option and create an email

using all the best practices discussed in this presentation



Recruitment Phase

1 - 4 months after site launch If you’re on a 12 month cycle the recruitment phase can be longer ! 1 email every 2-3 weeks (per audience type)

Turn top fundraising individual into Team Leaders Continue focusing on recruiting your past Team Leaders and Company

Leaders – aim for 80% or more retention Content should focus on helping team leaders recruit team members

Provide recruiting email templates Encourage leaders to create personal emails and give them tips on how to

create an effective email. Give recruitment incentives for motivation Show how recruitment pays off for team fundraising success



Fundraising Phase

1 month after launch – Event Week If you’re on a 12 month cycle the fundraising phase can be longer! 1 email every 2-3 weeks (per audience type)

Content should focus on helping team leaders support their teams and participants to raise money Provide training on how to personalize the fundraising page/use tools Tips how to use social networking to raise more money Provide fundraising email templates Encourage participants to create personal emails and give them tips on how

to create an effective email. Give fundraising incentives for motivation, weekly raffles, YouTube video

creation contest, etc Give participants specific facts they can use to show the value of a donation

to their potential donors



Event Phase

Event Week Email as often as needed

Content should focus on last minute fundraising and event logistics No better time for the “Compelling Call to Action” Provide tips for last minute fundraising Remind participants that it’s okay to send a second email to their

friends and family who haven’t yet donated Give participants information on event details, parking, how to turn in

offline money Encourage participants to send Tweets, or Facebook updates and

images during the event (don’t forget the hash tags)



Stewardship & Planning Phase

Event Week – Site launch If you don’t launch your site until 6 months before the event this could be

your longest phase ! 1 email every 3-4 weeks (per audience type)

Reach out to donors Content should focus event success, wrap up, impact and building long

term loyalty Keep the fundraising going for at least 1 more month Remind your participants to thank their donors Publically praise high achievers, inspiring stories, and unique achievements Provide the final event stats Collect feedback on everything

Plan for next year Get your site launched sooner



Questions? Answers?

[email protected]@tweetrebecca

www.netwitsthinktank.com

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Net Wits Web Seminar Fundraising Event Email

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