Non-profit organizations often face issues regarding lack of time and team. This is where email marketing can come in handy and help non-profit organizations to stay on the top of their workload while staying connected with their benefactors.
From developing a loyal donor base and expanding their reach to driving more donations, email marketing can help non-profit organizations do it all.
Besides, as a non-profit organization, you can show your donors the positive impact they are making and the gratitude you have for them.
What are the advantages of email marketing for non-profit organizations?
Do you know almost half of the people prefer to hear from non-profits through email? And if that’s not enough, 21% of respondents say, as per a research, that non-profit emails inspire them to donate.
This makes it quite clear that email marketing is the best marketing method to drive more donations.
That’s the reason email-based marketing and promotional campaigns generate 28% of all online non-profit revenue.
What are the best practices for non-profit email marketing?
Email marketing is one of the most crucial customer touch points in some of the top sectors. So, it must be used wisely.
Here’s a list of best practices and strategies that you must incorporate in your non-profit email marketing campaign.
It will help you be on the top of your email marketing game.
- Work on your email sending frequency
It is important to know about the frequency of emails that a non-profit should send. You can do so by testing and find out the exact number of emails that would work for your company.
Additionally, you can opt for surveys and find out how often the donors want to receive your emails. Also, you can study the sending pattern of other non-profits and compare and contrast them with your company.
- Make way for personalization and segmentation
According to a study by Accenture, 44% of donors contribute 10% more if they receive a personalized experience from a non-profit organization.
So, if you wish to stand out and drive more donations, working on personalization and segmentation is the key. You can do so by gathering valuable data from your subscriber base.
Here are a few handy tips to help you do the needful.
- Ask your subscribers the reason for joining your mailing list.
- Make use of surveys to understand the kind of content your subscribers are looking forward to.
- Keep a track of the links they click to learn about their interests.
As far as segmentation is concerned, you can segment your email list on the basis of their demography and interests.
For instance, if you are hosting an event in the US, it makes sense to invite your subscribers from this region to your event.
Let’s take a look at a few other criteria for segmenting your email list.
- Use of opt-ins
If your subscriber used a lead magnet or filled a subscription form, you can customize your content to the lead magnet they used to join your list or the information you got through the subscription form.
- Consistent volunteers and donors
You can segment your email list on the basis of the consistency of your donors. If you have donors who attend your events and give donations on a regular basis, you can make a different segment for them.
- Amount of contribution
Make a note of the amount your subscribers contribute and segment them accordingly. For instance, from $10 to $1,000, from $1,001 to $5,000, and from $5,000 to $10,000.
- Don’t make donations the sole focus of your marketing campaign
Sure, non-profit email marketing is all about raising donations. However, don’t make it the sole focus of your campaign.
While it is okay to request your subscribers to donate, bombarding them with donation requests all the time is wrong.
Moreover, make it a point to never ask for donations in the first email itself. Instead, begin with a friendly welcome email and thank your subscribers for joining your mailing list.
Further, you should go ahead and garner their trust by creating relevant content that makes them look forward to your future emails. Here are a few cues to help you get through it.
- Give your subscribers an insight into the projects you are working on.
- Be transparent with your transaction reports. You can do so by emailing them monthly donation reports while giving them a clear idea on how you are using the funds.
- Share case studies and send them thank you notes.
- Give your donors coupons or gifts to redeem.
- Maintain your email list hygiene
Instead of having a huge list of inactive donors, it is better to have a concise list of active donors.
After all, having inactive or invalid email addresses on your email list can reduce your deliverability, open rate, and sender reputation. So, it becomes imperative to clean your email list on a regular basis.
You can do so by tracking the number of subscribers who haven’t engaged with you in the last 6 months.
Try re-engaging them. Ask them if they still want to receive your emails or not. If they don’t reply, send them another email inquiring if they want to opt-out of your email list.
Let them know that you will remove them from the list if they don’t take any action. Finally, remove the subscribers who didn’t show any engagement with your re-engagement emails.
Different kind of non-profit emails that help in conversions
Do you know emails from non-profit organizations have open rates much higher than other marketing emails?
So, non-profit email marketing if done right, can help you reach the right person at the right time.
Here’s a look at different types of non-profit emails that can help you make the most out of your non-profit email marketing campaign.
- Welcome emails
According to a study by Experian, welcome emails have four times higher open rates and 5 times higher click-through rates than traditional emails. Hence, as a non-profit organization, it becomes imperative for you to leverage welcome emails.
It wouldn’t only help you put your best foot forward but also enhance your chances of getting a donation. See how Save the Children makes use of a welcome email template like a pro. From setting a positive tone for their subscribers and highlighting the values of their organization to giving subscribers an idea about what to expect from them in the future, Save the Children has nailed their welcome email.
- Storytelling emails
Stories have the ability to draw people in emotionally. So, make storytelling an integral part of your non-profit email marketing strategy.
This will help your subscribers get psychologically inclined to go ahead with the donation.
This email template design from Red Cross is an impeccable example of using a good storytelling technique combined with visuals.
Their email copy also described how they are driving change and making progress towards their cause. It is a great way of building trust among the subscribers.
- Update emails
If you wish to improve your donor retention, start sending update emails. It will keep your subscribers engaged with your organizations and motivate them to donate again.
See how charity:water has come up with a good update email.
They have given precise details about where the donations are going, how many projects they have funded, and how close the project is towards being completed.
- Figures and statistic-based emails
Incorporating statistics and numbers in your email copy can help you grab your subscribers attention instantly.
This type of emails uses statistics and numbers to drive the attention of the donors while explaining the intensity and urgency of a situation.
Wrap up
Non-profit marketing is a challenging task. From striving to raise donations to going all the way to thank the donors, there is a lot of work that goes with non-profit marketing.
However, with non-profit email marketing in the scene, you can reduce your workload while growing your donor base seamlessly.
All in all, once you start leveraging non-profit email marketing to the core, you will be able to create personalized content that resonates with the donors, thereby enticing the subscribers to happily volunteer and increase the donation amount.
Take some cues from the above-mentioned points and you will be good to go.
Author Bio
Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest growing custom email design and coding companies that specializes in professional email template creation and PSD to HTML email conversion; they are Salesforce Marketing Cloud specialists. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes, jazz and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.
