Chicago Arch 2009

Is Technology a Bother to

Fundraising or is it Essential?

September 2009

Jay B. Love CEO eTapestry Division of Blackbaud

Is Technology a Bother to Fundraising or is it Essential?

— Chicago 2009 | Jay B. Love | Page #2

Archdiocesan Development Council

A Quick Survey

What do you check first after lunch?

How many have:a. cell phone b. email account c. Facebook/LinkIn/My Space

account d. Twitter account e. Your own blog or podcast

What is your Home Page on the Internet?a. Search engine b. “my page” on a search engine c. Facebook

d. NPO/Corp page e. Arch of Chicago f . Other application

Do any of your clients want to tap into the Web?




Know the Difference

How To Succeed OnlineHow To Succeed Online




The Rules Still Apply

(It’s all about relationships…not technology)




Use All Your Tools Together

E-Mail

PrintOther Tools

An Integrated Strategy

In In Person Person

MeetingsMeetings

Phone

Events

Blogs

Text Messaging

Social Networking Sites

Your Web Site




A Quick Survey

What % of your names have email addresses

How many collect them on Web Site? Where?

How often do you communicate via mass email?

Do you have a written email strategy?




15% to 20% of all corporate email is marked as spam

19% is the average open-rate for nonprofit emails

4% is the average conversion rate for nonprofit emails

40% of email clickthroughs are lost at the landing page

50% of people will open an email in the first 9 hours

75% of all email is spam

Sources: MarketingSherpa, Nonprofit Times, ClickZ, Wired, Blackbaud

Key Facts and Figures




Why Has Email Become So Important?

People are busy…they want to communicate/interact on their own time

Email is inexpensive…or at least it seems that way

Email provides virtually instant access to friends and supporters

Email is a great equalizer Email is measurable




Reads email before snail mail

More comfortable online

Busy, satisfies interests on own schedule

Expects information to be personalized

Expects immediate feedback

Demands information on progress/stewardship

Wants a way to share experiences with others online

Today’s Supporter




o You must be relevant!

o You must be meaningful!

o You must be personal!

The Market is Noisy




No Email List? No Problem…

Whether you have some contacts or are starting from scratch, anyone can grow a strong email list

The three most important factors in effective email list-building are:– Where and how you acquire the addresses– How you welcome each new subscriber – How you manage the relationship after the opt-in

Source: EmailLabs




Grow Your List Online

Direct staff and other close supporters (board, volunteers, etc.) to include subscription links in email signatures

Use Search Engine Optimization/Marketing to increase traffic and subscriptions

Investigate alliances or partnerships with similar or complementary organizations to reach common supporters

Advertise your newsletter/services/cause through a 3rd party list




Grow Your List Offline

Ask for email addresses at every touch point

Instruct staff to capture email addresses over phone when appropriate

Include your website address on all printed materials

Offer an incentive to register (contest, raffle) to collect emails




Now that I have permission…

Hook them early, and keep them engaged over time

Optimize the welcome message

Send follow up message within a week (or less)

After a few months of active email, survey lists to see if you are meeting expectations




Why Segmentation is Important

Segmentation breaks your audience into manageable parts

If the goal is building relationships, it helps to know who you are talking to

Segmenting your list will lead to more targeted messages

If you don’t segment, you are treating every one of your recipients like they are the exact same type of person




How Important is that Header?

80% of respondents decide whether to click on the "Report Spam" or "Junk" button without opening the actual message

73% based that decision on the "From" name

69% percent based the decision on the subject line

Source: 2007 Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC) study




Use Landing Pages to Increase Conversions

So I got them to click…now what? Landing pages are a natural extension of email,

regardless of message The goal of most landing pages is to persuade a

visitor to complete a transaction Landing page effectiveness is measured by

conversion rate You should test landing page elements like you

would test email or direct mail




Example Landing Page




Designing for Mobile Devices

Mobile readers are more likely to scan your email rather than reading

Include compelling call to action in the first 15-25 characters of your subject line

Avoid “top heavy” images in the design

Use “alt-tags” on images In addition to testing email browsers,

test messages in handheld devices

Designing the email (html)




The Final Step is to Test

Determine which elements you want to test Determine which segments you want to test Determine how large your sample size will be Determine how you will keep track of results Determine method of testing you want to use




Deliverability =

Open Rate =

Clickthrough Rate =

Unsubscribe Rate =

Conversion Rate = or

# Unsubscribes

(Sent – Bounced)

# Unique Clicks

(Sent – Bounced)

# Unique Opens

(Sent – Bounced)

(# Sent – Bounced)

# Sent

# Actions Completed

(Sent – Bounced)

# Actions Completed

Unique Responders (Clicks)

Source: Email Marketing by the NUM8ERS

The Metrics that Matter




A Few Email Design & Usage Tips

1. Keep truly important items above the fold

2. Use testimonials on all sign-up pages

3. Ask subscribers to add your from address to their address book

4. Host images on your web site rather than embedding them

5. Links to resources and to special landing pages on your web site are powerful (Especially “tell a friend” functions)

6. Develop your own writing style that readers will learn to love (people adore stories, so tell many . . . )




10 Tactics for Avoiding Spam Filters

1. Use a commercial email service (database tie in is best)

2. Don’t use bright or crazy fonts3. Do not yell with ALL CAPS or NUMEROUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. Avoid words like “free”, “mortgage”, “enlarge”, “act now”, etc

5. Make sure your WYSIWYG editor creates CLEAN HTML code

6. Keep graphics to a safe level, equal amount of text or more

7. Spell words properly

8. Always use the same “From”

9. ALWAYS include an “opt out” option

10. Communicate regularly (Monthly at worst, weekly is best)




Professional Email is Economical5,000 emails $99 .02

25,000 emails $400 .016

50,000 emails $650 .013

100,000 emails $1000 .01

250,000 emails $2000 .008

500,000 emails $2500 .005

Plus 3 - 20 times the success in delivery!





E-Mail

PrintOther Tools


In In Person Person

MeetingsMeetings

Phone

Events

Blogs

Text Messaging


Your Web Site




“There’s no better, faster, easier and cheaper place to gather folks of like minds than a Web site.”

Carrie Johnson, Senior Analyst

Forrester Internet Research




You’ve built a website…

…will they come?




They’re at your website, now what do they do?

1. Can they engage?

2.2. Can they add content?Can they add content?

3. Is there a reason to return?

Your goal – to get something from them!




1. Learn from your content(Start with Google Analytics to see how many unique visitors you have, how they found you, what they viewed,

where they stayed the longest, and what content produced actions.)

2. Make your content easy to consume(Always offer RSS feeds in addition to various subscribe options. Make sure they are easy to find and use.)

3. Make your content ever changing

(Be brave enough to blog, show responses, share viewpoints, and utilize forums. New information needs to be added daily or weekly by you and your community. Why do you think millions go to Facebook or Twitter by the minute.)

4. Make your site easy to find(Every NPO and those serving NPO’s should have a social web presence. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn,

YouTube, Twitter and Flickr are your outposts linking back to the web site hub!)

Keys to Building a Successful Web Site




Email Strategy at Work!




How about a $2,500 Web Site!




Question:

Should a Non Profit host it’s own web site?




Keeping it simple

Prospect Website

Gather Information

Use Email

DatabaseDatabase




Tips on Improving On-Line Donations/Sign-ups

Use large and colorful donate/sign-up buttons Do not take them away from your site Have SSL in place! Ruthlessly streamline forms Give visitors only ONE action to take Avoid distractions (no other links or navigation) Always mention the NPO’s mission Be conservative with suggested gift values

Landing on Gold - Optimizing Your Donation Landing Pages to Increase Giving Donordigital April 2009




April 2009 Data comScore Video Metrix Service

78.6% of total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video. Average video viewer watched 385 minutes of video, or 6.4

hours 107.1 million viewers watched 6.8 billion videos on

YouTube.com (63.5 videos per viewer) 49 million viewers watched 387 million videos on

MySpace.com (7.9 videos per viewer) The duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes




Video is a Magnet forYour Web Site!

“Most viral video

of all time!”

Could her storybe told in any other manneras strongly?




Blog

MySpace

Facebook

YouTube

Twitter

eNews




“NY Times Web Site Story”




“Web Site Story Continued”

Gift for Promotion

charity: water

* 11 Employees

* 875,000 Followers

on Twitter

* 500 Donors Cover

all Admin Costs

* Donors can Locate

Their Well on Web

via Google Earth




“Web Site Story Continued”

charity: water

* Raised $250,000

via Twitterfest

* Raised $965,000

via Sept. Birthdays

* Tons of Video

* Easy to Engage

* Giving is Joyous

* Infectious with

Youth/Boomers!




charity: water

1. Was the $250,000 raised via Twitter the key fact?

2. Was the $975,000 raised from Sept. birthdays the key fact?

3. Is the way they have harnessed web/video technology the key?

4. How about how they show impact via Google Earth?

Communicating daily w/ 875,000+ followers!





E-Mail

PrintOther Tools


In In Person Person

MeetingsMeetings

Phone

Events

Blogs

Text Messaging


Your Web Site




Podcasts




Some Thoughts to Ponder on Social Networks

“My own "ah ha!" moment came recently on my birthday. In my personal email account, I found 33 notifications from Facebook that friends had left birthday greetings on my Facebook page, but only two regular emails with birthday greetings.” (54 yr old male)

“Most interactions now come from my social networks. Not only do my birthday greetings come via Facebook and Twitter, but almost all of them were made where other people could see them. Those public greetings prompted several others to add their own.” (52 yr old female)

“Email messaging — the main tool of most nonprofits for "push" marketing — will need to meet a higher and higher bar in terms of relevance, or it will be increasingly ignored.” (61 yr old male)




More Thoughts on Social Networks . . .“When I was in sixth grade, I was crazy about the girl who sat next to me, but I didn't think she could possibly have the same feelings about me. When Mrs. Green changed everyone's seats, the girl sent me a note through an intermediary, Sherry, who was now sitting next to me. The note said, "Do you like me?" I turned around and saw her sheepishly smiling. After recovering from a brief but intense panic attack, I sent back a note that told her I did. Ah, first love!”

“Last week I got another note from her. This time the intermediary was not Sherry, though. It was Facebook.”

“Facebook is affecting my life in ways I wouldn't have imagined just a few short months ago. In addition to the innocent hello from my first flame, I have had a dialogue with a cousin I haven't seen in 25 years.”

“When you think about the metrics that matter most to people -- audience reach, composition and engagement -- you realize that there is no site in the world that will be able to compete with Facebook in delivering results!”

Kevin Mannion, On-Line Publishing, February , 2009




Facebook Is Aging Fast!The over 35 group doubled in the last 60 days . . .

Women over 55 are the fastest

growing segment . . .

(Sharing is vital to them)

Facebook has new landing pages

for creating private groups . . .

Communication opportunities?




2009 Facebook Demographic and Statistics Report The most troubling statistics we’ve seen are that there are 16.5% less high school users, and 21.7%

less college users. There have been rumors that these younger user groups are being alienated by their parents joining the service, and this data seems to prove it.




Which of the following types of social media does your charity currently use?

33%34%32%

41%

26% 25%

13%

79%

57%

30%

36%

79%

16%

11%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Video Blogging

SocialNetworking

Blogging Podcasting Message/BulletinBoards

Wikis Do Not UseAny

2007

2008




Do you monitor social media for buzz, posts, conversations and news about your organization?

1%

33%

66%75%

0%

25%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Yes No No Response

2007

2008




Social Networks Hints for Success

It is not FREE, resources are required Being present is not enough, engage Be authentic, otherwise you will be exposed fast Integrate, don’t imitate other mediums Endorsements matter, think forwarded emails! Measure Have something to say, must be regular or it dies fast

Stephanie Miller, Email Insider, 2009




Questions?Questions?




Thank you!

Jay B. Love

CEO eTapestry Division

Blackbaud

[email protected]

Chicago Arch 2009

Education

Transcript of Chicago Arch 2009