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How Often Should I Send an E-Mail?
In this relatively new medium of email fundraising, it’s surprising how many people are willing to put forward an opinion on this issue. Even though few people have experience with regular emails to a donor database, and fewer still have tested variations in frequency, many people, some far removed from your fundraising department, won’t hesitate to tell you how often you should send an email. Our suggestion is that, instead of listening to them, you listen to your donors. First, of course, you must understand that sending an email is not important. Getting a response is important. Every email should ask its reader to do something – tell a friend, sign a petition, read an article online, make a contribution – and that’s the first question you need to answer: What do we want, or need, our donors to do right now? (See the article “Ten Actions to Ask of Your Email” at http://www.npadvisors.com/NewContent/100263.asp). If you don’t need them to do anything, then you don’t need to send them an email. Second, consider the response curve of an email. For most emails, 75% or more of responses take place within 36 hours of the time the e-mail is sent out. A great ‘viral’ email will last for weeks, but there are few of them. Therefore, when you see your responses dwindling, it’s time to consider the next email. Third, consider your donor’s memory. If 5% of them responded to your email, then 95% of them have probably forgotten about your email within minutes of seeing it in their inbox. They’re certainly not going to feel hounded by you with another email a week later. The 5% may be eager to hear from you, and given all the other emails they probably receive, and the other pressures on their time and attention, they’ve probably forgotten about that last email as well. Fourth, look at the ‘negative’ responses from your email. If an increasing number of readers are unsubscribing, that’s an indicator that your emails are not relevant to them, or perhaps are arriving too frequently. Read carefully their comment messages and pay some attention to complaints. Don’t pay too much attention, though. If 5% of your donors responded to an email, and one-half of one percent complained, don’t alter your email strategy for the few. Fifth, offer your subscribers a choice of frequency and perhaps content. If a subscriber wants information on topic A immediately and information on topic B once a month, then a little bit of database programming should be able to accommodate that request. You should be in the business of posting articles to your website, and your content manager/database should be matching each new article up with subscriber preferences, sending emails as needed. Customized, relevant emails that honor the subscribers request are never spam. They are the pinnacle of personalized and relevant content. August 2004 | |
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