Empower Your NPO with Lead Qualification Marketing for NPOs

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Today we are going to be talking about email  marketing for nonprofits and how it is a   fundamental part of your digital  marketing strategy and to do that   we are bringing in wendy bohem carter of  donation world and she's going to talk   to us about email marketing strategies best  practices fundraising everything your charity   needs to know about email marketing so  with that let's welcome wendy [Music] well welcome wendy i am very excited to meet  you in person we have been connecting over   instagram and i'm going to i'm actually going  to link your instagram in the card so that   people can follow you as well but why don't  you give us a brief introduction to yourself   sure thanks joanne it's great to be here thanks  for having me um so i've been working with   non-profits for more than 10 years now i actually  started my role in nonprofits as a volunteer   working you know doing a volunteer role  alongside my nine to five for a small local   community project and that kind of set about my  interest in working in the charity sector and for   the last six years i've been supporting various  different non-profits in a more in a freelance   role and then 18 months ago i launched my profit  for purpose organization which is called donation   we are an affordable philanthropic marketing  consultancy uh we specialize in the google   ad grant web development social media  digital strategy and email marketing   and so quite sort of well-rounded from that aspect  but having worked for non-profits you know i   learned first-hand and i saw first-hand how often  the budgets that organizations have to work with   are really limited um usually the people working  within those organizations are wearing so many   proverbial hats and quite honestly when you're  wearing that many hats there just simply aren't   enough hours in the day and that's really what led  me to create donation i wanted to create a truly   accessible set of resources and services that  were both affordable and in some cases even free   because in my opinion there were too many  underfunded grassroot organizations out   there that could be doing so much incredible work  and so my passion is really helping them louden   their voice and put the digital infrastructure  in place to support and achieve their goals   yeah and i know as a marketer as well that  you it's a different language you write with   a different language for non-profits than you do  for a business we use a lot of the same business   strategies but but the nuances are different  absolutely yeah well i'm going to include all your   contact information below in case anyone wants to  get a hold of you and email marketing that we're   going to start by talking about the benefits of  it because again that's one of those areas where   you know we can learn a lot from business but  we do it a little bit different because we're   non-profits yeah absolutely and i think you know  it it constantly amazes me the studies that are   coming out around email marketing whether it be  for you know for-profit businesses or non-profits   one of the similarities there is just how everyone  all of the studies show that it really does   provide the highest return on investment of any  outreach activity and so you know that's for me   it's quite incredible and you know if you look at  any of the statistics and there's there's so many   reports that you can go through and so many  statistics that we could pull out from today   but i won't won't bother viewers with that detail  but there's a couple that really stuck in my mind   and one is that you can raise on average a  non-profit raises 78 for every 1 000 emails   sent so that's not sending a thousand individual  emails that sending one email to a thousand people   could get you a return of a donation of 78 so when  when you actually do the math there that's quite   incredible you know assuming you had an email list  of 20 000 subscribers and 20 of them donated 78   each you know that's that's a big amount of money  so um it really can't afford you can't afford   to ignore email marketing it's become such a  crucial part of the way that we communicate online   and i think a lot of the studies that we we  look at or that are out there do tend to lean   towards you know the implication on donations  but aside from that it's such an incredible tool   for advocacy campaigns for volunteer  recruitment for donor retention and   really so much more and so there's some incredible  benefits uh for you know implementing a good uh   email marketing strategy within the organization  and for me one of the things that really   excites me about email marketing is it allows you  to cut through the noise of social media you know   we know that social media organic reach is pretty  much an all-time low i think it's still around   about five percent of your followers will actually  see the content that you put out there and so it's   you know giving you that direct touch point into  you know with your perspective donors and your   existing donors and really helps to cut through  all of that noise of those paid advertising all   of the other people that they're following um so  it's incredibly um effective from that standpoint   i think one of the other key benefits is you know  we talk about the donor marketing funnel and like   you mentioned there's a lot of similarities you  know sometimes between regular marketing and   nonprofit marketing and it's similar when it comes  to the donor marketing funnel you know it's still   going to take somebody on average five to 12 touch  points with your brand with your organization's   marketing messaging before they potentially make  a donation to your organization now if you're   relying on social media for those touch points  and you're only getting five percent reach that's   a lot of posts that you've got to put out to gain  those touch points with those perspective donors   but if you can funnel those people into your  ma into your email marketing then you've got   them they're they're a captive audience right  in front of you and you've got direct access to   actually communicate with them directly through  their inbox which they're far more likely to see   yeah i think another thing is you know just  the cost effectiveness of it you know it's   really not an expensive way of marketing and and  like we mentioned it's got a really high return   on investment from there but also in terms of if  there is something going on you know if there is   something that your organization is um responding  to and you need to communicate that quickly and   effectively you know you're not going to be able  to have that same quick delivery with any other   source of communication really other than email if  you're looking to you know post something out to   out to donors that's going to take a lot longer so  if it's something that needs a rapid response you   know email delivery is by far the most effective  way to be communicating with your audience kovid   was a great example of that i i was working with  a senior serving organization and when covet hit   we had we needed an urgent immediate response  and email was was how we were able to do that   yeah and i think people are really open to emails  at the moment you know and i know that in some   respect there is noise within the inbox and  there's there's ways and strategies that we can   kind of get around that but just to be in front of  people that easily um you know it's non-comparable   it's not comparable to anything else but i think  with the technology that's continuing to evolve   in email marketing with the development in the  software's that coming out and the capabilities   you know it now has become really intuitive and  personalized on a level that we've never seen   before um and that makes it really exciting from  being able to talk to and segment your audience   you know and being able to put that right message  in front of that right person at that right time   and i don't think that we've ever had the  ability to do that as much as we do right now and   especially with you know with software continuing  to develop and the personalization that we can get   from there it's just making that uh activity  so much more profitable for any organization   okay i'm gonna ask you about technology a little  bit later on but what i wanna what i wanted to   uh say is that i did a bunch of research for a  video that i did on generational marketing and   email is the go-to platform these days as opposed  to direct mail it's still really only that silver   generation that likes direct mail to receive their  requests so do you think direct mail is dead now   with email marketing that's a great question but  realistically it it depends on the organization   and it depends on what's working for you or not  you know like like you've mentioned there is   a generation that would prefer direct mail over  email if you cut direct mail and that's working   for you you you're going to risk losing that  support and potentially that audience because   that's how they like to be contacted um but  definitely you know it's definitely about testing   and understanding you know does an email work  better than your direct mail or is how do you   segment your current audience and understand out  of that audience who really wants that direct mail   versus who can you send an email to so i don't  i don't think that it's that direct mail is dead   by any stretch of the imagination but i think for  a lot of organizations especially those that are   focusing on younger generations of bringing in  new donors email marketing is definitely the main   preference yeah yeah i promote email marketing  on everything we do and and make sure that it all   links together the social media the website that  everything's working in sync absolutely absolutely   and i firmly believe that email marketing should  act as the cornerstone of a good digital marketing   strategy you know so with your socials your blog  your website if you're doing podcasts you know   and in particular my favorite google ad grants and  any other paid paid efforts pretty much anything   that you're doing online and digitally can and  should feed into your email marketing strategy   and some of those activities should also help  to develop your email marketing content so it's   a you know looking at it reverse engineering it  and understanding what what social posts are you   putting out that are really resonating with your  audience right now and how can you incorporate   maybe some of that or more of that into your email  content and you know it's it really a cohesive   marketing strategy for non-profits the email  marketing should really be a key focus of that   i often say do what i say not what i do because my  own email marketing is i it's i haven't i mean the   youtube but the podcasts all the social media the  website is just and i'm not building my email list   yeah but but i think it's it's it's really  interesting because if you think about how   often so you've got probably a different audience  you know if you're maybe you're running two or   three different platforms on socials you know  it's maybe running instagram and twitter or   you know a few of them but think about how often  those audiences are likely to be engaged you   know and especially if you're if you're driving  traffic to your website say for example you're   using the google ad grant and you drive somebody  to your website that's never heard of you before   um what's the chance that they're going to  come across your website and then actively   go back you know they've got a there's got to be  some really big draw for them to go you know i'm   going to go and look for that organization again  and i'm going to go back and i'm going to donate   you know um or and it's the same with social media  um so it's putting your email marketing as the   forefront of things like your google strategy is a  great way to utilize and get the most from both of   those efforts you know if you have a what we would  term a lead magnet in place you know something   where you can provide something to somebody in  exchange for their contact information and their   email address and it's their first visit to your  website you know they're going to want to sign up   for that and instantly then you've hooked them  into your email marketing and list and you can   then communicate with them if you're if you don't  hook them in and you don't have a way to hook them   in on those first touch points you're going to  struggle to get them back to the site on their own   yeah we have a client that we're working for where  we're doing downloads so we're putting together   packages that our users are very interested  in tips tricks checklists all of that and then   putting it on the website directing everyone in  the website download oh by the way give us your   email yeah exactly exactly and but it's you know  it's a tried and tested way of of building your   email list and a really effective one you know  we do the same but we've actually put together   a really fantastic uh guide on how to create the  best lead magnet for your non-profit and so this   has got a ton of ideas in some great examples and  what i would encourage people to do as well is   look at what other non-profits in your space are  doing when it comes to building their email lists   um you know because i think you can get really  creative with this stuff depending on what your   your industry is but you know just i'll chuck a  couple of examples out for for good measure you   know if you're if you're an animal shelter and  you've got um you know animals up for adoption   or you are fostering a great lead magnet it's put  together would be um you know maybe it's an ebook   of you know excess dog training exercises or  ways that you can look after animals in that   in that respect because the people that are coming  to your site obviously have a vested interest in   it you know in looking after animals so that would  really speak to them um you know if you had a   homeless charity or something like that you know  people that are visiting that website are probably   if they themselves or someone close to them is  looking for resources and guidance as to how to   prevent somebody from from becoming homeless then  something around that creating a resource guide   with local numbers and local organizations and  local support groups to contact would be another   great way to feed those people into your email  marketing and what that does is it's really built   up the trust you know you've demonstrated that as  an organization you're experienced in what you do   but you've also given something of value  to the audience and so instantly they're   more engaged with you and they're going  to want to hear from you because you're   demonstrating both your expertise and value  great tips anything else for building your   email list before we moved on to some of the  best practices oh yeah sure so i think um i think   you know there's somebody actually that i i will  recommend who is um not focused on non-profits but   she is the top of her game amy porterfield has  some fantastic resources around list building   and she really drums into people that you  have to have in your organization and this   building mentality and one of the things  that she said that really stuck in my mind   was think about this from another perspective  what if you logged on to social media tomorrow   and you didn't have access to your account  you'd spent the last three years building   up those followers you know you've maybe got a  couple of thousand or you know 20 000 followers   and overnight that access has gone and this is  by no means a scare tactic but i have seen this   happen firsthand then you think of the work that  goes into having to rebuild that audience and you   know i know it's i understand it's quite a scary  prospect so as i say it's not a scare tactic but   if you think about that it it is a scary prospect  but if you've got an email list there's no one   that can take that from you you know you've  got an engaged audience that are going to be   very responsive to anything you send out and  so i think for from that aspect you really   have to get into this list building mentality  of how can i continually build my email list   so where can i put these calls to action on my  website um obviously somewhere on your home page   but statistically your about us page is the second  most viewed page on any website so making sure   you've got something on your about us page which  allows people to subscribe making sure that you've   got a sign up link in your social media bios you  know there's a number of different places and   we've actually got an article on the site which  is five key placements for your lead magnet so   i'll share that link with you so that the viewers  can go in and check that out um but yeah it's just   about keeping that at the forefront of your mind  when you're developing your social media content   are you talking about something that relates to a  way to bring people into your email list and that   can even come it doesn't necessarily always need  to be from a lead magnet perspective it could be   from a storytelling perspective you know if you're  putting some really great storytelling content   out onto your social profiles talking about the  work that you're doing and demonstrating some of   the people and the lives that you're you're  helping or you're enriching with your work   then that may be enough of a call to action for  people to want to actually sign up to your email   list and learn more so don't be afraid to use that  as a call to action in some of your your social   content posts as well well now we've built our  email list what are some of your suggestions for   distributing information to that list yeah so i  think that there's there's a lot of things that   kind of make up a a good email marketing strategy  there's definitely certain campa certain campaigns   that can be considered so if we talk about the  sort of campaigns that you could consider sending   out you know the obvious one is a newsletter and  it's nice it's well-rounded it kind of gives um   a nice overview of what your organization has done  over the last you know if you're going to send out   monthly over the last 30 days um and that could  be a great way of engaging existing donors um will   prospective donors necessarily be engaged in that  in the same way maybe not so you want to think   about not just sending a newsletter that can be  that sort of nice one that you kind of bring the   team together to and collaborate from different  departments on to to send out um but it shouldn't   be the only thing that you're sending out you  know think about things like specific fundraising   campaigns and appeals obviously you can tell those  stories you can really dig into where that money   is going you know the impact that that particular  campaign is creating but we don't want to   overload the audience with a lot of requests for  donations because they'll get pretty bored of   that soon and they'll probably unsubscribe  so it's also about finding a nice balance   a great one is just a really simple one a  thank you message to donors when they donate   um and a welcome letter or a welcome series when  somebody first subscribes and that one for me is   really important because that's really the first  touch point you've got with them on your email   marketing list and it's an opportunity for you  to make an impact there and so i i love that one   but also like an onboarding series is it somebody  that's just come across your organization   can you actually set up like a sequence which just  feeds them drip feed some information about who   your organization is the work that you do and  the impact that you've created and demonstrate   that you know from a storytelling perspective  um or demonstrate that from a data perspective   and that can also be a really powerful one because  again like we said with those touch points you're   being very intentional about the information  that you're giving each of those each of those   subscribers and you've obviously you know most  organizations will have some kind of fundraising   events come you know on the schedule for the  year so you can set up an an event email sequence   so that you make sure that you know once if you've  got ticket sales or register when registrations   open people are alerted but then also they're  getting reminders along that sort of timeline   until the point where registration closes for  an event and again that's a great way to save   time if you can set up sort of a template that  goes out for that you can just customize it for   each particular event but it's you know it's  good to go and you know it's going to flow   through that particular time period and hit  those people at those particular intervals   and that's going to maximize your chances for  actually getting people signed up for an event   and also like things like a re-engagement sequence  so i know that i've been guilty of it i'm sure you   have too joanne but sometimes we sign up for an  email list and actually we don't read the emails   so you know um you know you can't be  surprised when you you will get some   people that sign up and just actually don't engage  so considering sending a re-engagement sequence   to re-engage or try and re-engage that  audience you know they signed up for a reason   trying to get to understand or re-engage  them into the work that you're doing   and then obviously understanding at the at  the end of that sequence if they're still not   engaged to actually remove them from your list  and clean that list up gray mail yeah exactly   okay well what about uh budgets and  resources because i know that's a big   big issue for non-profits is how much is it going  to cost and how much time is it going to take   yeah and i think it really depends it really  depends on the budget of the organization and   the human resources available in the organization  you know if you if you run um an email marketing   campaign effectively and you've planned it  properly you could probably manage that email   marketing strategy in less than 10 hours a month  some of that could probably be done by volunteers   and you know unless you've got a volunteer  that's particularly you know well-versed in   email marketing who might be able to take it on  in in its entirety but again it just depends on   what human resources sources are available to  you the great thing about email marketing for   non-profits is i'd say about 50 of all of the  service providers out there offer a substantial   non-profit discount and generally speaking the  cost depends on the size of your list so this is   really where uh quality over quantity plays a big  part you know so it's about cl when i mentioned   about cleaning those lists that can often affect  how much you're paying so it's another reason a   good um a good excuse to stay on top of that as  well but you know you've got even got free um   some free platforms you know mailchimp offers a  free service granted it's not necessarily the best   but if you're a very small organization  with no budget to you know no real marketing   budget to work with it's a great option um and  there's a few others to offer sort of free of   free offers and most of them also offer uh 30-day  trials so that you can actually get in there and   get testing with it before you make a real  financial commitment to anything yeah yeah i   know quite often you do get what you pay for uh i  had a client that just couldn't afford it but they   had two websites and the mailchimp wouldn't allow  for segmenting and segmenting is so important and   it just yeah you do get what you pay for a lot of  times absolutely absolutely but you know there's   there's also i think it's also important to look  at whatever's if you're using a crm within your   organization which i know most most non-profits  are and some of those incorporate email marketing   as a service into into their product offer so  it's always worth having a look there first   and you know quite often if you can combine two  things together you get an even bigger discount   so it's always worth exploring that too yeah  yeah it is quite nice to have something that is   combines everything that has your donor  management software email capabilities   tax responding like all of it in one place  absolutely it does make life a little bit easier okay well any other tips on creating your  email marketing strategy sure so um i think   there's kind of like a few key things that really  make a strong email marketing strategy and the   first one is definitely without doubt content so  making sure that whatever content you're sending   is engaging you know and is also varied um you  know i like to follow the one to four rule so for   every four emails that are sent only one of those  would be a direct ask for a donation or a direct   ask for somebody to buy something and the rest of  the time you'd be sort of demonstrating knowledge   from value-led content or you'd be telling the  stories of the impacts that you're creating   and you know or maybe it's a you  know from a volunteer's perspective   if you want to run sort of you know volunteer  recruitment program but it is about making sure   that the content that you say sending out  is varied the other thing is consistency   so it's really important to kind of be  consistent with when you're sending emails out   so if you decide that you want to um only send  an email once a month pick a day in the month   and stick to it but if you want to send it once  a week pick a day in the week and stick to it um   but i think one of the questions that i get asked  a lot is you know what's the magic number how many   emails should i send you know and and that's a  million dollar question and i don't think anyone   can answer that there's not a blanket answer  there um but what it's about it's about it's about   testing you know as with anything in marketing  it's about testing and understanding what works   and there is definitely a fine line between  getting it right and people feeling like they're   being spammed you know i think within a non-profit  organization you know one one to four times per   month i wouldn't be sending anything more than  four times a month but again it it really depends   with what you're going on what you've got going  on if you're responding to a humanitarian crisis   and there's urgent appeals going on you might  want to send you know more than one email a week   um but anything outside of that i  wouldn't be sending more than one a week   um like say just the upkeep of your lists making  sure that they're being regularly cleaned that   you're paying attention to the people that aren't  engaging trying to re-engage those but then   understanding that if they're not re-engaging get  them off your list because you know they're going   they're really costing probably costing you money  having them there and if they're not engaging then   it's falling on deaf ears anyway and but also  making sure that you're using personalization   and this is again you touched on it just then  the audience segmenting is really important   and it allows you to get really granular with how  you're speaking to people what messages you're   sending to what people you know are these donors  that donated two years ago but haven't donated   since or did they donate last month you know  there's probably very different appeals or ways   that you want to talk to both of those sets of  people or are they still prospective donors again   that messaging between those those three groups  is probably going to change the frequency in which   you email those three groups may also change you  know so it allows you to get very personalized   with who what messaging you're sending to whom um  you know and i think as with anything in marketing   testing an analysis and just having a proper plan  in place is really creating a solid foundation for   kind of setting up that really cohesive marketing  strategy um but i think you know like we've   touched upon there's plenty of service providers  out there is making sure that you select one that   meets your objectives and your budget we've got  great article on our blog we've done a rundown of   the best email service providers for non-profits  in 2022 so if you're considering moving or setting   up with somebody i encourage you to go and check  that out we've done all the research and our   criteria is very much it's based around the needs  of non-profit including non-profit discounts   and so head over and check that out if you are  looking to either set up with a new provider   or change your current provider and but planning  your content and integrating that with your social   media integrating it with your events calendar  and your fundraising appeals you know it makes   life so much easier and it makes your whole  strategy more cohesive you know if you know   that you've got events coming up on the calendar  you can prepare those emails months in advance   you know so you can get if you've got volunteers  working at that time and you've got surplus of   human resources put them to work on that you know  you know it's got to go out later in the year   you know you can come back and do a quick check  of you know what what's then is everything still   relevant nearest time but you can get that  work done really early and in no time at all   and i think you know pretty standard things like  creating branded templates so making sure that   when you do send an email out you know they  all follow a similar flow or similar branding   and i do advise people images are great but  there's a big caveat when it comes to images in   in email marketing and this is why i tell people  not to rely on them is there are certain email   providers you know outlook is uh is one of  the the biggest email service providers that   people use to access their email and a lot of  the time you can't view images in those emails   so don't necessarily rely on images but you know  do include them where you can um but i've just   seen you know i've seen a number of non-profits  actually put together newsletters which have gone   out as just one image sort of created in a pdf as  a newsletter and put into an email you know and 50   of the recipients can't even read what's what's  there because it's all in an image so just be   aware of that um and obviously making sure that  you're optimizing it for mobile we know that   i think it's something incredible like 60 of  all emails are read on mobile devices now 68   is the stat i last heard yeah yeah there you go  yes 68 of all emails are read on mobile devices   so it you know um well i keep sort of banging on  about it when it comes to web development but it's   equally as important when it comes to your email  marketing as well you know if that's how people   are accessing that information it needs to be  optimized for the device that they're they're   accessing it on for sure well it's probably not  the best way to end but any risks associated with   email marketing uh to be honest i i do not see a  downside in email marketing i think the only thing   you need to obviously organizations need to be  aware of is if you are going to be spending budget   on it you know make sure that you do your research  first and you know if possible get a a free trial   with something before you commit to a you know  to a full sign up especially if you sign up for   12 months usually if you pay annually for these  things you can't get out of the the 12 you know   you can't get out of it for 12 months so even  if you do a free trial and you're on the fence   start off with the monthly package it might be a  little bit more expensive but once you're really   comfortable with it you can then take advantage  of that annual you know the annual discount and   upgrade your your subscription to an annual one  but be sure that you're happy with the email   service provider before you sort of sign up for  12 months um but no i i think there's there's no   risks other than the fact of you know with certain  email providers mailchimp is one that's known for   it the delivery rates are not great in terms of  email finding their way into spam and junk folders   and so that is something to be aware of but no  it's it's a fantastic tool for communication   we're only continuing to see the use of email rise  um and the effectiveness for non-profits increase   as well so i encourage everybody you know even if  this is sort of not your not what you had in mind   i really do encourage you to to test it out  and see what what impact you can create with   email marketing was there anything that we missed  yeah and i think the the only thing is yeah like   i say i've mentioned throughout that there's  a whole bunch of resources on on my website   free resources a really extensive blog  um and a bunch of downloads for people so   hopefully you know we just actually put together  our 2022 email marketing for non-profits guide   and so yeah so there's a bunch of stuff on  there ready for at their disposal perfect   well as i mentioned i'm going to put all of  your contact information in the description   so that people can find your blog and your website  and your and contact you if needed fabulous   thank you i really appreciate it like it's  it was wonderful to meet you in person and   it's always wonderful to connect with you know  with other like-minded people that are delivering   education in an impactful way to the non-profit  sector so thank you very much for having me [Music] you