6 Email Marketing Tips for Successful Non-Profits and NGO's

1. 6 Email Marketing Tips for Successful Non-Profits and NGO's The importance of email marketing in creating a successful brand is no less for non-profits than their for-profit counterparts. In fact, strategically thinking and creative non-profit organizations have seen incredible success over the years just by leveraging email marketing tool.

2. Wondering how? Nonprofits who utilize email marketing to their advantage not only witness a spike in donations but also an enhanced level of engagement with key supporters and volunteers. Using a professional email marketing service is an excellent way to establish an initial touchpoint with new contacts and build relationships so that you can – Make donation requests easily Send regular invites to various events Gather feedback using surveys Thank supporters, donors, and volunteers Send regular updates and newsletters How can you make it even better- 6 email marketing tips When you plan or make changes to your existing email marketing strategy, these 6 tips can make a world of difference in keeping your subscribers engaged and remain invested in your cause. 1. Personalize the content On a day to day basis, your subscribers receive countless numbers of promotional emails in their inbox. If you do not bother to customize the template of your email copy, it will be of no use as hardly anyone will open it. Email personalization allows your nonprofit to target an email campaign to a specific subscriber by leveraging the information and data you have about them. Using personalization tactics on direct mail pieces is an excellent tool for building stronger donor relationships, by showing them how much you care and value the connection forged over the course of the relationship.

3. Statistics also suggest that personalized emails are 40 times more effective at acquiring new subscribers than Facebook or Twitter and also has an ROI of a whopping 3800%. These numbers highlight the importance of making your email content personal and treating email recipients as individuals instead of bulk emailing. Sending such personalized emails addressing the recipient directly make your supporters feel appreciated, engaged, and connected with your cause. 2. Make your content and presentation compelling Emails have the power of generating an emotional response in the reader. Use this to your advantage by drafting emails with great content as well as presentation giving due importance to format, fonts and layout. Make your emails reflective of your non-profit brand by keeping in line with your values and principles along with maintaining consistency in tone and voice throughout to create a sense of familiarity among readers. Some of the strategies to do this flawlessly include- Keep the email templates consistent with the design and logo of your nonprofit Include a lot of visuals, such as infographics and images in emails and newsletters giving details of your work to evoke an emotional response in readers Ensure to keep the structure of your email simple with bullet points, short paragraphs, and easy to process information Include a clear, concise and visible CTA in your email. This could either be a link to your website or a simple donation button Use catchy & relevant subject line that entices recipients into opening the email. You can use various themes while coming up with subject lines such as questioning the reader, linking it to the outcome of the cause etc.

4. 3. Make your emails objective-driven and segment- oriented Your nonprofit email campaign will see success only when you set measurable objectives beforehand. The simple reason for this is the fact that your objectives as a nonprofit would vary based on who you're emailing such as donors, volunteers or supporters. Segment-wise planning your outreach allow you to maintain both relevance as well as neutrality of purpose. For example, your objective for one-time donors would be mainly to get them to donate again, whereas, in case of loyal donors and supporters, the objective would be to maintain a long-lasting relationship with them. 4. Allow quick and easy sign-ups For nonprofits, growing the email list with generous donors and hardworking volunteers is extremely valuable. It is, therefore, essential to design your landing page, social media pages and website in a strategic way catering to people interested in signing up for your email updates and e-newsletters. Make sure to keep the process of signing up extremely simple and quick. Do not ask for unnecessary information as all you need is their name and email address to start sending them your updates and newsletters. Remember, the less cumbersome and time-consuming the sign-up process is, the higher are the chances of donors completing the process. 5. Testing and retesting One of the essentials of email marketing is to keep testing your initiatives. Your subject lines, CTAs and body text should, therefore, be tested regularly. Surveys are another great way to get ideas about the preferences of your subscribers. Surveys also show your stakeholders that you do care about sharing useful information with them. Additionally, take out dedicated time to study analytics once the campaign has gone out to gain insight, which, in turn, helps you provide value to your subscribers/donors.

5. 6. Do not forget to thank your supporters As a non-profit, most of your subscribers are likely to be existing or future donors, supporters & volunteers, and other similar stakeholders. To make sure that they remain invested in your cause, thank them regularly for subscribing as well as reading your news updates. Some of the excellent strategies to do this include Show your gratitude and appreciation by creative content such as team video thanking supporters and donors Regularly send a thank-you email along with latest updates to all your volunteers, and other email list subscribers. Make sure to highlight your supporters in monthly newsletters. Having a non-profit does not mean that each of your outgoing emails should be about fundraising only. Making your donors and supporters feel appreciated by thanking them regularly is an excellent way to show that you truly care about their support. Additional Tips for Successful Email Marketing Ensure You Are Collecting Right Information The best email marketing tip is to collect relevant and accurate data from every source. For this, consider collecting data from every tool in one place. This is because NGOs use multiple tools for registrations, donations, gifts, etc. So, it is extremely necessary to collect all this data in one place. How you can work on this email marketing tip? Find an email provider that allows integrating with all the systems including your donor management system, database, and CRM. When all these systems are in synchronization, you can access updated information anytime. Why this is the most effective email marketing tip? This is because all these platforms collect data from your donors and users, which helps you know your users better and communicate with them in an effective manner. By understanding this collated data, you can engage with your users in unique ways and increase the purchase intent of the user.

6. Automate Your Workflow If you are looking for the best email marketing tips and techniques, then you have found one. Automate your email campaigns to reach out to your audience at the right time with the right strategy. When you are juggling between multiple tasks, automation can help you boost engagement and improve open rates drastically. How? When your users reach out to you or make a purchase, they expect you to revert and communicate. So, when you automated thank you and welcome emails, your users stay engaged and you don't have to spend extra time on these emailers. Automating emails is also one of the amazing cold email marketing tips. You can set up cold emails for an email list. The follow-up emails would be automated for the first interaction made by the user with your brand. Just by automating a welcome email, you can amplify your engagement to a great extent. Parting thoughts Well- crafted emails are a great way to help your nonprofit systematically build a loyal supporter base and long-lasting relationships with all the important stakeholders crucial to your cause. With these 6 email marketing best practices for the nonprofit, you can ensure to not only build a robust brand but also success in your campaign.