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Holiday Hooks & Interactivity

betsyh — Thu, 11 May 2006 22:45:00 +0000

Unless you live in a cave, you probably know that Sunday is Mother’s Day. The commercial world really knows how to use the holiday as a hook to drive purchases. I’ve received e-mail from Nordstrom, Red Envelope, 1-800 Flowers, Harry and David, and on and on reminding me to buy a gift for my mom.

Nonprofits have found ways to hook into the holiday too and I think it’s a smart thing to do. Finding a holiday related hook can help you increase donations, encourage visits to your website, and provide fun interactive (and even educational) opportunities. You can make a donation to a number of causes and send an e-card to your mom. Care2 has a number of e-cards to choose from. At PBS Kids you can create your own card. In fact there is a contest to create a wacky card – fun – http://pbskids.org/mayaandmiguel/english/games/mothersday/index_flash.html

Some organizations will send flowers to your mom if you make a donation. This can be a very effective way to raise money – especially from donors who don’t respond to traditional asks – but be careful as costs can be high and if you work with a flower vendor who doesn’t deliver, you can do some damage with your donors.

One of the most innovative ways I’ve seen an organization tap into Mother’s Day this week is a campaign that Ploughshares Fund is doing. The theme is “Take Back Mother’s Day for Peace.” You can view their fundraising appeal here:
http://ga3.org/ploughshares_fund/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=3508819

There is an element of urgency because through Mother’s Day all gifts are matched. Plus, there is an element of creativity and fun as they ask donors to suggest ways to take back Mother’s Day for peace via an online survey. Suggestions include treat your mom to a yoga class or buy her a sheet of peace stamps. Check it out here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=520532091219

What is your organization doing to tap into Mother’s Day?

Be Relevant Or Else

betsyh — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 01:43:00 +0000

Just thought I’d share a quick story I heard recently about an arts organization that kept sending the same e-blast about tickets over and over again. A few subscribers felt so strongly that the content wasn’t relevant to them and that the multiple e-blasts were annoying that they marked the e-mail as spam. The arts org was then blacklisted by AOL and had trouble communicating with a whole bunch of their patrons. The lesson is – Be relevant or else… Send people what they want when they want it. If your opt out rates start to increase, you’ve got a problem. If you aren’t relevant, people will opt out and then you can’t communicate with them at all or worse yet they’ll report you as a spammer. This is one subject I’ll be talking more about at CADM’s DM Days in Chicago next week. You can find more details here:
http://www.cadm.org/DmDays/

Images in E-Mail

betsyh — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 22:38:00 +0000

I have received several e-mail messages from nonprofit organizations recently where the entire HTML e-mail was nothing but one big jpg image so I thought I’d quickly share a few thoughts/cautions here. These messages happened to look fine with the e-mail client I use to view my e-mail — Outlook 2002. But, if I were using G-Mail or Outlook 2003 I might just get a big red X because the image was blocked. Most people don’t realize how tricky sending e-mail can be. Plus, these messages weren’t very effective because they didn’t contain various text links to areas on the website to take action or learn more.

This article from ClickZ.com is helpful in explaining how images are handled in various e-mail clients and gives some food for thought about how to use images in e-mail. Consider – how would it look without the images?

http://www.clickz.com/experts/em_mkt/opt/article.php/3512571

Be sure to view your e-mail messages with various e-mail clients and browsers before sending them. This is also an area where working with an e-mail vendor can be helpful because they can advise you on what might work in most e-mail programs.

E-Mail Appending

betsyh — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:01:00 +0000

Thought I’d steer you toward an excellent article I received today from Jeanne Jennings at Clickz.com. She covers the topic of e-mail appending. Her article explains what it is and how vendors charge for the service. You can read her full article here:

http://www.clickz.com/experts/em_mkt/em_mkt/article.php/3527071

A few nonprofit organizations I know of have used e-mail append vendors to gain e-mail addresses from members and donors.

I agree with Jeanne on the following points regarding e-mail append:

1.) If you are going to do it, be sure that your vendor uses an “opt in” process.
2.) E-mail append is not the most cost effective way to build your list. Consider using other means first.

Have you sent a direct mail piece with a tear of response card to your full member list? Is the sign up form on your website as prominent as it can be and does it tell visitors why they should sign up for your e-newsletter and ensure them that their privacy will be respected? Do you have a line asking for e-mail on every direct mail piece you send out? Is building your e-mail list a priority at your organization?

I’d love to chat with you about building your e-mail list.

If you have used e-mail append, please share how well if worked for you. Please share what else is working well for you to help you grow your list.

The Email Manifesto

betsyh — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 14:10:00 +0000

Michael Stein, an Internet Strategiest recently spoke with Michael Gilbert, an internationally known consultant, about The E-Mail Manifesto, a document that Gilbert wrote in 2001 and Stein describes as “one of the most important thought pieces to have influenced nonprofit use of the internet.”

The E-Mail Manifesto was one of the key documents that spurred public broadcasters to band together to develop e-mail marketing and online fundraising best practices in the CPB-Funded New Basics Project. I served as Project Manager for the New Basics Project and had the opportunity to work with Michael Gilbert on some research and testing. I agree strongly that the E-Mail Manifesto is an important document that every nonprofit should be familiar with.

In their discussion, Gilbert talks about the importance of communication planning and having a solid relationship building strategy. This is something I talk to my clients about on a regular basis. It’s key to have your end goals in mind and then use e-mail in concert with your traditional communications tools to build one-to-one relationships with donors and prospects.

Read this excellent discussion between Gilbert and Stein about the reasons why the rules of the E-Mail Manifesto still apply today. You’ll also find a link to the Manifesto itself.
http://www.getactive.com/wordofnet/gilbert080805.html