Timing is Everything -- Reach Your Audiences When They're Likely to Read and Act on It

Mea culpa! I made one of the most common (and most avoidable) nonprofit marketing mistakes yesterday -- sending out my bi-monthly e-news during vacation week for at least 50% of school districts nationwide.

It wasn't a crisis. After all, people are always out of the office, and I get about auto-responders to that effect every time I publish the e-news. Usually those represent about 1/2% of my mailing list. But yesterday, I got auto-responders (which I have my assistant read to ensure we capture key info from the recipient, such as a new email address, she's moved on, she's out that day or two) in the 1% range, most telling me that the recipient is out of the office this week.

1/2% is no crisis. I'm not gnashing my teeth. But if you can reach that extra 1/2%, why not?

Obviously, you can't avoid vacation weeks like that if you have a daily or weekly e-news, advocacy alert or other very frequent campaign. But whenever possible, make sure you reach your audiences when they are working and ready to read or act.

Here are some basic guidelines on what to avoid when scheduling an e-mail or mail alert:

• School breaks of a week or more; check your district's calendar and those of a few other districts
• Federal holidays
• Extended holiday periods (Xmas week, 4th of July week, etc.)
• Core conferences in the fields your audiences represent (for professional audiences, and only if you segment out audiences by trade); for example, don't try to reach foundation CEOs or program officers during the annual Council on Foundation conferences, or fundraisers during the AFP annual meeting.

Anything else to avoid? Please add in the Comments link below.

Timing is everything. Here's how to do it better time-of-day wise: Best Time to Send Out Your E-News--An Aha Moment.

Missing out on the Getting Attention e-newsletter? Subscribe now for in-depth articles and case studies on nonprofit marketing.

Easy, Free, Useful Tool for Effective Online Writing

Last week I trained 25 nonprofit marketers on Writing for the Web, one of my favorite training topics. Nothing is more important in writing for the Web (or email or blogs) than writing succinct, focused, easy-to-digest copy, so I drilled down on how to do so. Try it. It's harder than you think.

How serendipitous to discover this free (for Word users) tool this morning, which assesses how pithy and powerful your online writing really is. Word's Readability Analysis Tool tracks:

• How succinct and simple your writing really is (these qualities are crucial for online readability) -- counting sentences per paragraph; words per sentence; and characters per word.

• Other key "readability" markers:
  • Passive sentences (active tense a must)
  • Flesch Reading Ease Score which rates copy on a 100-point scale; higher scores indicate easy of understanding.  Aim for 60-70 at a minimum.
  • Flesch - Kincaid Grade Level scores copy according to school grade levels. A score of 7 means that a seventh grader will understand your writing. Aim for 7 or 8 to ensure a broad range of readers.

Here's how to get the Tool on your Word 2003 toolbar:

• On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.
• Select the Check grammar with spelling check box.
• Select the Show readability statistics check box, and then click OK.
• On the Standard toolbar (the bars with buttons and options that you use to carry out commands, at top of screen. To display a toolbar, press ALT and then SHIFT+F10), click Spelling and Grammar to pop up your readability report.

Missing out on the Getting Attention e-newsletter? Subscribe now for in-depth articles and case studies on nonprofit marketing.

Email Subject Lines Have to Be Tight and Complete -- Get an Outside Reader's Take Before Releasing

Yes, you've heard it before but I got a ringing reminder of this today via an email from a local performing arts venue, the Community Theatre in Morristown, NJ. Here's how the subject line read:

Garrison Keillor Added to Schedule; Tickets on Sale Oct. 3

Thanks a lot, Community Theatre. You tell me that a favorite performer is coming your way and when I can buy tickets, but you make it really hard for me to find out when he's scheduled. Even worse, when I did take the effort to click through to the theatre's Web site, the same headline (without the critical  performance date info) was featured on the home page. NOTE: The home page has now since been  corrected. Keillor's performing on May 21, 2008 should you be interested.

Nothing's more important than making it easy for your audiences to take the actions you're communicating about. That can be hard to ensure unless you get outside eyes to review all marketing outputs, including emails. Perspective is everything.

Learn more about crafting effective email subject lines here:

• How to Create E-mail Messages that Get Attention
• More Tips on Great Email Subject Lines

Missing out on the Getting Attention e-newsletter? Subscribe now for in-depth articles and case studies on nonprofit marketing.

Take 12 Minutes to Learn How to Grow Your Nonprofit's Email List

Having a robust email list of folks willing to receive hear from your organization on a regular basis is a critical component in your marketing success. But it can be very challenging to build your list beyond what you've developed via the standard channels (online donations, other donors, volunteers, etc.).

If your email list growth is stalled, try these easy-to-implement strategies recommended by online copywriter Nick Usborne in his free audio tutorial (it's 12:18 long to be exact):

• Give something valuable in return for an email address (the something has to be of greater perceived value than what you're asking for). Options include an e-newsletter (that helps the audiences, rather than being just about you). white paper, free Webinar participation, preview access to an important report on the field.
• Feature your e-mail sign-up form on every page of your site, so readers can get more once they've digested related content (a case study, a report on your field, etc.) that they like. Remember that Web readers may come directly to any page in your site; they don't necessarily enter through your home page. Make sure they don't come to your site pages
• Put co-registration to work. That's when readers sign up for a related e-newsletter -- not head-to-head competitors but related non-competing organizations (let's say a nonprofit in a related issue area think animal rights/environmental preservation), and are given the option to subscribe to your organization's e-news as well. Once you've made the deal with partner orgs, CoReg Complete is an easy tool for managing the mechanics.
• When you're using offline media to build your list -- use a very clear URL that can't be misspelled (within reason). Time and time again I've been unable to get to URLs I've glanced on signage while I'm driving by, or heard briefly at the tail end of a radio PSA.

Gotta fly to build the Getting Attention e-news list. Join below!

Missing out on the Getting Attention e-newsletter? Subscribe now for in-depth articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

I Love Receiving the Newark Museum's E-News

I do. I really, really  do. And that's not my usual response to yet another email.

Let me tell you why this e-news to Museum members stands out:

==> The subject line is short and simple -- The Newark Museum August 2007 E-News -- so I can absorb it (and note I want to read it, when I can) in a second. The complete line shows up on my Blackberry (a max of 30-40 characters show up on email subject lines on a handheld).

==> I get frequent mail communications from The Newark Museum. The look and feel of those brochures and letter packages is absolutely consistent with that of the e-news, so at a glance I know just who the email is from.

==> The e-news is clean and clear -- lots of white space, color and type sizes used effectively to differentiate headlines. I can easily scan it, and see what I want to read more about.

==> It features activities and news relevant to me, to my husband (we have different art interests) and to Charlotte -- our four-year-old daughter. Even better, I can click through to read more or register for a special event. But all the info about what's happening at the Museum this month is there in one place. They're making it easy for me, and I love that.

Take a cue from The Newark Museum in crafting your nonprofit's e-news. Make sure you feature content relevant to the full range of your target audiences, and make it easy for them to find out more.

Learn how to:

• Select the Best E-newsletter Service
• Ensure Your E-news Gets through Spam Filters

Missing out on the Getting Attention e-newsletter? Subscribe now for in-depth articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

How to Nurture Strong Relationships with E-news and Blog Readers -- More Depth, Less Often, Advises Jakob Nielsen

More depth, less often (if necessary due to time constrictions), is the way to go with blogging (or your e-newsletter), asserts online communications expert Jakob Nielsen. 

Nielsen, who's been researching and advising on the way we tend to use the Web and other online communications channels since 1995, advises bloggers to "avoid commodity status." Translation -- prove your value to readers with insightful, pithy commentary rather than superficial patter limited to links to others' insights or comments on other posts. In doing so, says Nielsen, your nonprofit will succeed in building strong relationships with loyal readers, rather fleeting flirtations with "blog dilettantes" who skim 200+ blogs daily.

I think he's got something. How can anyone relate to so much information, especially when a lot of it can be found elsewhere online?  And if your nonprofit just reiterates what your readers can get elsewhere, where's the value?

Where I disagree is Nielsen's insistence that blogs don't have value as a channel. He's a contrarian, so I take his claim with many grains of salt. I hold that blogs and e-newsletters have value: What's critical is that each one is used strategically in the way that fits best.

Let me share my experience... You may have noticed that my posts tend to be longer than those of many other bloggers. That's because rather than having something to say about everything that crosses my lens, I find it more useful (as do my readers, they tell me) to dig into what's really significant, frequently relating communications campaigns I come across in my "regular life" to nonprofit communications, analyzing a nonprofit marketing launch, or a news item that suggests some useful approach marketing wise.

On the other hand, I sometimes write two-sentence posts pointing you to a valuable article or some eye-opening stats. That's it, and that's enough, and results in a good mix of blog posts.

Again,I do believe in the value of parallel communications channels. A blog and e-newsletter are  complementary. Nielsen is right, however, in insisting that the only way to differentiate yourself in this world of TMI (too much information) is to craft content that's valued by your target audiences.

Your nonprofit's in-depth content just can't be recreated by 99.5% of the other nonprofits out there. As he puts it, "A thousand monkeys writing for 1,000 hours doesn't add up to Shakespeare. They'll actually create a thousand low-to-medium-quality postings that aren't integrated and that don't give readers a comprehensive understanding of the topic -- even if those readers suffer through all 1,000 blogs."

Or, as my husband says, "blog posts are like popcorn, dissolving the moment they're in your mouth, but in-depth news articles are like an ear of corn...something to really hold on to."

So when time and budget are short, as they always are, I'd go with a modified Nielsen approach. In-depth articles, published less frequently if necessary, conveyed via blog or e-news (why not both, readers have their own preferences in terms of getting info), are more memorable and more engaging. Use your blog as a complementary tool for short updates and calls to action, or to highlight nuances or insights that you get during your workday, and of course a link. That's the best of both worlds.

Most important to remember -- content (perspectives, news, guidance) is the most powerful means you have of showcasing your nonprofit's expertise and value.

P.S. One issue Nielsen fails to address is how to get your longer articles -- delivered most typically via email -- through email spam filters. My recommendation is to publish articles via e-newsletter, add those articles to your Web site (here's the Getting Attention e-news article archive), and post a brief article summary on your blog linking to the full article. It works. Promise.

Get the Getting Attention e-news? Subscribe now for key articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

More Bang for Your Nonprofit's Marketing Buck -- Bring Your Print Ads to E-News Readers

I was thrilled to receive an email yesterday from Environmental Defense (ED), urging me to take a look at the print ad they're running in Roll Call (the D.C.-based daily paper on congressional news) today.  When I clicked on the link provided, I got to a page that engaged me (I'm a donor) and made me feel that the organization is doing great work.  Now I'm ready to give more.

Here's how ED succeeds in engaging two critical audiences (legislators and citizen supporters/advocates), for the price of a single ad. They:

1. Place the ad for a specific audience (congressional representatives, senators and their staff members) -- telling them that 50,000 ED supporters (most of whom receive their email) have signed the New Patriotism Declaration urging Congress to cap and cut global warming pollution.
2. Piggyback on the ad campaign via outreach to Declaration signers and other supporters (demonstrating follow through, and competency) -- showcasing the ad and explaining ED's strategy.
3. Continue the conversation with these supporters, who may not have been involved with ED since signing the Declaration, thanking them for their support and nurturing them as a loyal community rather than a group of individuals.
4. Update this community on encouraging committee work and pending legislation on Capitol Hill,  paving the way for future requests for support -- donation- and advocacy-wise.

Strong double play, Environmental Defense.

Get the Getting Attention e-news? Subscribe now for key articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

A Few Recommendations on E-Newsletter Tools

Thanks (once again) to Idealware for providing valuable ratings of e-news tools. I can't tell you how frequently clients and Getting Attention workshop attendees and readers ask for recommendations.

But rather than duplicate a great effort, let me add a few comments:

• Forget about sending bulk emails or e-news via Outlook or Mailman, even though you may already have these tools on hand (and they seem cheap). This shouldn't even be listed as an option, since the cost of getting your organization's emails tagged as spam is in the billions. Forget about it.
• Don't use the free e-news tools -- like Topica or Yahoo or Google Groups, if you want to preserve your nonprofit's brand. The ads that fund these "free" services will dilute your message.
• Add IntelliContact to the list of hosted e-news tools to consider. I've used this service for a few years now for the GettingAttention e-news and find it flexible, reliable and well-priced.
• Remember that the tool you select is just one factor in the very large equation that equals e-news impact. Learn how to get there via these e-news tips.

Get the Getting Attention e-news? Subscribe now for key articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

Best Email Campaigns of Recent Months -- Online for Your Review

Lots to learn (and swipe) from MarketingSherpa's Email Award Winner Gallery 2007. Most of these  highly successful email campaigns and example are great models for your nonprofit marketing. Winners include B-to-B campaigns, best email newsletters, best retail promotions and even best podcasts from Nickelodeon, Dell, AAA, Doubleday and The Motley Fool.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

• Olympus Cameras for Best E-News for Marketing Purposes (designed to build brand, create loyalty, increase customers/members/donors)
• Value-filled e-news on digital photography
• Well-chunked, with each chunk fully visible in the preview panel (many readers use the panel to read, rather than fully opening emails)
• Over 50% of content is from readers.
• Intevation Report for Best Welcome Letter for New Subscribers
• This inspirational welcome letter goes way beyond the basics, linking to best-of articles and white papers
• I've posted more guidelines on welcome letters here.

Dive in and steal as many ideas as you can today! Or swipe, as they say in the marketing world.

Get the Getting Attention e-news? Subscribe now for key articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

More Tips on Great Email Subject Lines

Not to beat a dead horse, but there's no more important content in your organization's email and e-newsletters than the subject line.

I've thought and written a lot about this topic, but was struck by these imaginative suggestions from Gail Goodman, CEO of e-newsletter service provider Constant Contact:

• Ask a question
  • Obviously, the question has to be relevant to your audiences
• Be a tease
  • You're not going to believe this...
• Tell it like it is
  • The just the facts approach works best when you have a specific audience and know their interests
• Get up close and personal
  • Use "you" in the subject line -- Your gift can change this family's life.

Lots of great ideas here for you to put to use. I urge you to experiment, but wait to complete the body of the email before you write the subject line. Review the email to identify the most compelling element; then feature that in the subject line.

Do you have other email subject line strategies to share? Please comment below.

Get the Getting Attention e-news? Subscribe now for key articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

NYC Public Radio Station E-News Increases Fan Listening, Loyalty and Giving

WNYC, the New York City-based radio station at 94.3 FM and 820 AM, is the most-listened-to public radio station in the U.S. The station is always ahead of the curve in its innovative programming and audience outreach,  striving to extend its audiences through XM satellite radio broadcasting and its menu of ways to listen through making podcasts available as early as 2005. But the station has not been as effective in delivering the program-related content its audiences crave via other channels.

As an NYC local, I can tell you that WNYC has the most loyal fans ever. Listeners are dedicated to listening to (and supporting) programs from Mad about Music, where Gilbert Kaplan explores the emotional power of music on the lives of celebrities through interviews and hand-picked recordings, to my husband's favorite, the quirky Jonathan Schwartz weekend shows featuring favorites from Sinatra to Tuvan throat singers. Us loyal listeners feel a part of WNYC, and support it generously.

But loyal listeners haven't been nourished with enough ongoing communication on program, host and station news and features.  I've been a big WNYC listener for years and was always baffled about why they didn't ever do a weekly email newsletter. Considering their position in public radio programming world, and their location in New York as one of the oldest public radio stations in existence, it always seemed like a slam dunk that they'd get out a free, weekly e-news. Audiences really need that program-related content to maintain their giving interest.

Now, with the recent introduction of its weekly e-news, WNYC This Week, WNYC is finally making us fans very happy. Here's an easy way that we can get info on upcoming programs, and dig into some in-depth features on our beloved programs and personalities. Through last week's e-news, I learned  about Brian Lehrer's pre-election day coverage of 30 Issues in 30 Days (great idea) and can download audio files of issue coverage I already missed. I don't regularly listen to the Brian Lehrer show but am going to start listening now.

My response to this week's WNYC This Week is a marketer's dream. The e-news sparks my interest in shows beyond those I listen to as a rule, and clearly communicates special coverage on shows I sometimes tune in to. When I listen to Brian Lehrer's 30 Issues coverage in days to come, I know I'll become more enthused than ever about WNYC programming, and more likely to up my financial support of the station.

Keep this success story in mind as you hone your nonprofit's e-newsletter. We've become very oriented towards customizing content to our audiences' specific interests. However, there is frequently value in exposing audiences to related content that is likely to further engage them in your organization's mission and programs. WNYC does a great job of this with WNYC This Week, showcasing special content related to selected (usually no more than four) radio personalities, and special programs.  WYNC, I love you more than ever.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

Tips on Nonprofit Newsletters

The nonprofit carnival strikes again, with this stellar edition on nonprofit newsletters. And yours truly is included.

Love what Marc Sirkin discovered on his subway ride last week, and The Agitator's tips on powerful headlines -- you have to tailor your headline to whether your news is delivered via print or email. Here's a titillating excerpt, "print editors lean toward brief, provocative often non-literal headlines to catch our eye, which their online versions must transform into longer, more literal headlines if they wish to catch the attention of search engines."

Get the Getting Attention e-news? Subscribe now for key articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

Get to Know Your Audience Via Your E-News Welcome Email

Subject Line: A Quick Question
"Thanks for joining the blogging tips newsletter and grabbing an excerpt of Blogwild.
I was wondering what is your biggest question about blogs?
Let me know.."
Andy Wibbels
___________________________________________

This is the welcome email I received today after confirming my subscription to Andy's blogging tips e-news. More importantly, this is a great model for nonprofit and foundation e-news welcome emails. 

Research tells us that your audiences are highly engaged just after they subscribe to your e-news. After all, they are opting to receive email from your organization on a regular basis, which shows a significant level of interest. And, at the moment of subscription, your organization is top of mind.

Andy capitalizes on that short-lived attention focus to ask his subscribers what is they're most pressing question on his core expertise. Here are a few audience research strategies your nonprofit can put to use in its e-news welcome email:

• Discover what your audience is most interested in learning about in your e-news or RSS feed, like Andy does
• Develop a better profile of your readers, by asking them to complete a brief reader survey
• Ask your readers' opinion on a current conflict or topic in the issue area in which you work.

One tip -- and a way Andy can increase his responses: Ask for an immediate response and include an email or form link. Make it easy for your readers, and catch 'em while they're paying attention.

BTW, don't forget the other key element in your e-news welcome email: Ask your readers to 'whitelist' or protect the email address used to send the e-news. otherwise, they'll never get it and you'll have lost one interested prospect.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

How to Create E-mail Messages that Get Attention

Help. It's getting worse and worse. I was innundated over the weekend. So this morning, when I opened my email, I had to download over 300 email messages.

Like a lot of people, I'm impatient to get to those messages that are important. I know that sometimes I delete something I should be reading, just because the subject line doesn't tell me that.

Here are a few ways to ensure your nonprofit's email messages get attention.

• Do I recognize the sender and is he/she important?

It’s no secret that readers are most likely to open an e-mail from someone they know well, either real world or virtually. The mistake we make as communicators is assuming that your colleagues and e-news readers know the names of all staff members in your organization. The reality is that most readers don't even know your executive director, must less staff members.

Solution--For an individual-to-individual email, if your recipient doesn't know you,  make your subject line very clear. For a mass email (such as an e-newsletter), introduce the sender in the welcome email, and reinforce it in every issue.

• Does the subject line demonstrate the value of opening the message to the reader?

Your subject line needs to grab readers’ attention to persuade them to invest time in reading your message. Use your e-mail subject line to summarize, not describe the content of your message:

• Not effective: Aspen Philanthropy Letter
• Effective: [Aspen Philanthropy Letter] Buffett Gift to Gates Foundation Likely to Increase Scrutiny of Nonprofit Sector

Remember to keep the core part of the subject line under 50 characters to ensure that key messages display in readers' inboxes. A recent study done by email monitoring company Return Path showed that, "subject lines with 49 or fewer characters had open rates 12.5 percent higher than for those with 50 or more," and that, "click-through rates for subject lines with 49 or fewer characters were 75 percent higher than for those with 50 or more."

• Do the first five to ten lines make it clear how this information pertains to your readers?

Make your opening paragraph count. State the purpose of your message, and any action steps,right from the start. Keep in mind that many email recipients use the "preview pane" (a one to two-inch window) to evaluate email before opening. So the more quickly you state your purpose, the more likely you'll capture your reader's attention.

• Is the rest of the message easy to read?

Nothing loses readers’ attention faster than an e-mail novella. Help readers get through your message as quickly as possible by keeping it short (no more than two pages scrolled) and succinct (one topic with no more than one to two main points is
ideal for message absorption).

More ways to ensure your email messages get attention:

• Email & E-News Musts Outlined at Marketing Sherpa Summitt
• Don't Forget Your Email Etiquette
• Email Emotional Intelligence

Inspired by Davis & Company

Getting the Getting Attention e-newsletter? Subscribe now for insightful, useful articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

Do You Do Great Email Marketing? -- Apply for these Awards -- No Risk, Just Great PR and Recognition

MarketingSherpa is seeking nominations for its second annual Email Marketing Awards.

Ten entry categories include:

• best email newsletter
• best email solo blast promotion
• best triggered campaign
• best opt-in (list growth) campaign
• best automated campaign (via autoresponders).

Judges will be evaluating the following, with most important listed first:

   1. Results data and what measurements your team deemed to be most important to track.
   2. Copy/content — is it tailored and relevant to your audience?
   3. Landing page (if applicable) — is it clearly allied with the email campaign?
   4. Layout and graphics (if applicable).
   5. Use of best email practices regarding permission, relevancy, whitelisting/avoiding filters.
   6. Creativity.

If your nonprofit works hard on email marketing, take a few minutes to look at your strengths and successes, and to enter.

Deadline for entries is Friday, Feb. 16. Here's more info and entry forms.

Entry is $150. Definitely but it's worth the investment if you're good at this. And to tell you the truth, even if your not email kings and queens right now, striving to improve your email marketing for entry in next year's award competition is a great motivation for you and your colleagues.

Are you Getting Attention?  Subscribe to my free e-newsletter today.

Are You the 1 Person in 4 Who Reads Beyond the Ineffective Headline?

I'm not. Are you?

When this email from Mequoda Daily showed up in my in-box, it grabbed me immediately. Because I want my readers (be it blog readers, client campaign readers or what) to digest what I'm saying, motivating, etc. Here are some stats that show how critical it is to have a strong headline.

• Experts tell us that in print ads, 75-80 percent of all buying decisions are made by reading the headline alone.
• Now let me state it another way: If you're communicating, via a print OR online channel, a full three-quarters of your impact (emails to legislators, donations, program registrations) results from an effective headline.
• If the headline isn't engaging and persuasive, the contest is over. Only 25 percent of your audience will read any further.
• If you're online, your audiences will click away. They're done. And you're finished, too!
• If the words in the headline don't speak to the unconscious mind, it doesn't matter what you say in the body copy. It's too late.

Here are some tips on generating the headline that'll capture attention. Start by spending some time working on your headlines. As soon as I have a clear idea of my target audience, I scribble out a list of possible headlines—as varied and as fast as I can get 'em out. Gradually, I find three or four headlines that I like. Eventually there evolves a familiar pattern of one main headline and two or three sub headlines.

The Mequoda folks recommend using multiple headlines and subheads "above the fold" (e.g. on the first screen) in email fundraising or advocacy letters. That's because, unlike a print sales letter that the reader can easily scan from top to bottom (if he reads beyond the headline), an online letter only reveals a few inches of copy on a single computer screen. So group headlines at the top of the page. Of course, when writing the headline of an email newsletter, remember to limit yourself to about 55 characters. That's typically about the maximum length that can be easily displayed in the subject window of most email software your readers will be using.

I also like to drop draft headlines into conversations (even across the dinner table), just to test the reaction. And, when you send out your drafts to the copy editor, provide two versions, each with a different headline, asking for input. Sometimes folks who have more objectivity can give you the best input.

Are you Getting Attention?  Subscribe to my free e-newsletter today.

Nonprofit Marketing Resources Worth Your Attention -- October 2006

Email Marketing Metrics Report Summarizes Trends in Your Audience's Habits and Preferences

E-news service provider Mailer-Mailer tracked all messages sent through its system in the first half of 2006 to generate these key findings:

• Open and Click-Through Rates - Overall open rates remained relatively steady compared to the last half of 2005.
• Take away: Don't give up on email. It remains an important marketing channel for your nonprofit organization, but you have to do it smarter.
• Best Days to Send - Mondays, Tuesdays, and the weekends earned higher open and click rates.
• Take away: Reconsider when you launch your e-newsletter, and even all-organization or all-customer/client emails. Despite these findings,
  I'm not a fan of Monday e-blasts, as I feel audiences aren't as receptive as they are later in the week.
• Subject Lines - Emails with shorter subject lines outperformed emails with longer subject lines.
• Take away: Less than 10 words is best. If you go longer, make sure that the key message is captured in the part of the subject line that's visible to recipients without opening your email. Read more about email subject lines here.
• Personalization - Emails that used personalization received higher click and open rates.
• Take away: Remember to capture nonprofit e-news subscriber names (first and last, in separate fields) so that you can personalize. You'll already have names for clients and members.
• In addition, capture subject interests (via a clickable form) so you can customize content, in addition to addressing each reader by name.

Fast Company's 2006 Masters of Design

Here's Fast Company's annual design round up, one of my favorites as far as design trends. You'll find sage advice on what design can (and can't) do for your nonprofit -- and get an eyeful of some amazing examples of the craft. The To Read the Consumer's Mind article, on the importance of in-depth audience research, is just one of the many highlights here.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

Looking for Real-Life Meth Stories -- Engage Your Readers and Colleagues with Short and Compelling Email Subject Lines Like This One

Looking for Real-Life Meth Stories. That's the hands-down winner in my "best email subject line in my inbox contest."

My inbox -- much like yours, I'm sure -- is inundated by emails fighting to be read. If the sender isn't someone I know, or an e-news or blog feed I subscribed to and read, most emails don't have a chance. This one, from the Partnership for a Drugfree America, made the cut.

Not to say that you should strive for shock value in your email subject lines. But short and to the point is a must, for daily email correspondence as well as blog post and e-news headlines that double as subject lines.

Here are a few other dos and don'ts (and whys) from my in box:

Dos

• Blogging the Radical Right
• People for the American Way launched its new blog, Right Wing Watch, its new blog, with this short and compelling email subject line

• Ann Finnegan of National Development Council meet Nancy Schwartz
• A colleague introduced me to a prospective client via this email. The subject line makes it very easy for me -- I already know exactly what the email will cover.

Don'ts

• Bad: PR draws massive international media attention to forgotten environmental problems with 50-ton lime "doser"; Newsletter 09.12.2006
• Winning PR Campaigns' subject line is way too long to be be scanned in full without opening the email, and the e-news name (should read Winning PR Campaigns, not the generic newsletter) should be the first element in the subject line)
• Better: [Winning PR Campaigns] Why a Recent Environmental Org's PR Campaign Was Massively Effective
• More benefit oriented. as readers can learn how to make their PR campaigns more effective.
• More specific as to source and focus.

• Bad: What are you doing Thursday night?
• Eek. I have an email stalker. I'm surprised my spam filter didn't catch this email from Democracy in America, but even after I see who it's from, the headline gives makes me squirm.
• Better: Register Now for Democracy for America's Get America to the Polls Training -- First Conference Call Session Thursday, Sept. 21, 8PM EST
• Frames the invite.
• Provides key data (time, date, training format).
• Doesn't scare me off.

Email me your examples of email subject line Dos and Dont's and I'll share them with Getting Attention Readers. Thanks.

Get more tips to email success here.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

Continental Airlines Launches Email Advocacy Campaign -- How to Maximize Email Campaigns as Request Volume Mounts

Believe me, I'm used to frequent advocacy requests from the nonprofit organizations I support via participation and/or contributions. But yesterday's email from Continental, asking me to email the U.S. Department of Transportation to request approval for Continental's Shanghai flight proposal, was the first request from a corporate entity.

Don't get me wrong. I was actually sort of tickled pink that Continental had strategized so effectively, asking those who had flown their Beijing routes to campaign for route extension in China. Our trip to China two years ago was life-changing -- we picked up and adopted our wonderful daughter, Charlotte. So maybe that strong emotional connection makes me a little different from the folks flying to China for business on a regular basis.

Nonetheless, I do want more convenient flight access to other areas of China, and I did as Continental asked. I guess they've made me a loyal Continental flyer to China, whether I realized it or not.

But I do wonder what corporate advocacy (frequently requested to shareholders) means for issue advocacy? If I was the Asia management at Continental, I'd do the exact same thing. What happens though, in my email box this morning, was that I choose to advocate on this request. If I had ten requests for advocacy in my email box this morning (as I sometimes do), I'd be likely to pass over one of the issue advocacy campaigns.

What this suggests is that we, as nonprofit communicators, need to get more strategic about when, and on what, we launch email advocacy campaigns. Probably a good idea to profile registered advocates on specific issue interests, and focus advocacy emails around those selects, just to reduce your emails to those most likely to generate a response. Any other ideas?

Make the Most from Online Fundraising -- Report from Direct Marketing Association (DMA) 2006 NY Nonprofit Conference

Many of the conference presenters, particularly on the nonprofit side (lots and lots of vendors there too, who shared the broader perspective of working with many nonprofit clients) had great recommendations for boosting the impact of your online fundraising. Here are a few of the most useful take-aways:

• Be creative in your post-gift reports to donors
• UNICEF kept its tsunami-relief donors fully informed via a series of reports from the field, which included videocasts.
• Conference calls with relief staff in the field, your organization's executive director or a volunteer or major donor are also gaining popularity. You can re-purpose recorded calls as downloadable podcasts available via your Web site.

• Online gifts show a snapshot of your current relationship with a donor.Online interactions show giving potential
• Track both streams of activity carefully.
• Launch compelling elements such as online games to engage folks in your Web site. Engagement precedes giving.

• Keep online donors informed with frequent information-filled emails
• Limit promotional email.
• Put a cap on pitches too.

• Use text-to-give cell messaging for crisis fundraising campaigns
• The greatest text-to-give success was a post-tsunami effort in Greece. Donors donors gave more than six million Euros via text-messaging on their wireless phones. Most importantly, most gave multiple times.
• Text-to-give works great for crisis communications and fundraising.
• MobileAccord specializes in helping your nonprofit launch text-to-give campaigns.
• Usage demographics tell us that middle-aged women are heavy text messaging users in the U.S., making text  ideal for volunteer management.

• Email addresses gone bad are correctable -- advocacy organizations pay attention
• New email "change of address" services such as Fresh Address' NCOA for Email help nonprofits keep lists updated.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

New Study Shows Nonprofits Raised 40% More Money Online in 2005; E-Mail List Growth High, But E-Mail Turnover Rates Are Also High

A new study, released this spring, examines the increasing importance of the Internet to nonprofits revealed a surge of online donations along with marketing and advocacy benefits from building an Internet constituency (and, in many cases, strengthening your relationship with your existing constituency via the Internet). The report, by M+R Strategic Services and the Advocacy Institute, is based on analysis of the online activities of 15 top national nonprofits working on environmental, legal/civil rights and environmental issues, and those of three top providers of online communications tools for nonprofits.

Here are some of the key findings from the report:

• More Donations Online
  • Nonprofits raised 40% more money online in 2005 than the year before, likely driven in part by the surge in online giving after the cataclysmic Asian tsunami.
• Email Overload
• The rates at which online constituents open their emails declined from 30% in 2003-2004 to 26% in 2004-2005 as supporters became overwhelmed with email.
• Budgets Matter
• Nonprofits with larger online budgets had better online programs, building larger email lists, generating more online activism, and raising more money online.
• No surprise here. Did anyone ever think budgets didn't matter in terms of marketing impact?
• Email Lists Growing
• On average, the nonprofits studied more than doubled their existing email lists over a 12-month period.
• Lots of Bad Email Addresses
• For most nonprofits, over a quarter of email addresses on their list go bad each year, posing a challenge for organizations trying to grow email lists quickly.
• Activism More Popular Than Donations
• Not surprisingly, more email subscribers took online political action than made an online donation — 47% vs. 6%.

Readers, put these first-time industry benchmarks to work to gauge the success of your own online initiatives. 

Follow Cirque de Soleil's Marketing Footsteps for Big Top Success

Most of you probably know Cirque du Soleil, the renowned show and business blockbuster that turned the circus world on its ear. Well, Cirque du Soleil is a top performer in its email marketing agenda, as well as under the big top.

A recent article in Marketing Sherpa highlights Cirque's email marketing strategy to strengthen its  relationships with the 21 million folks who have seen Cirque over the years. 2,600 circus goers are at every performance, but despite the crowd, Cirque sees these relationships personal (the only way to keep them strong), and wanted to ensure the personalization of its periodic emails.

Take a look at Cirque's email marketing approach -- directly transferable to nonprofit organizations for fundraising, advocacy, membership or volunteer campaigns, or ongoing relationship development. Cirque:

1. Promoted the email list development as Join Our Fan Club, not Sign Up for Our Email List, and featuring that invite right on the home page.
• Becoming a member of a club is much more enticing than becoming an email subscriber.
2. Created a buzz for the Cirque fan club.
• Members were invited to participate in a drawing for upgraded seats.
• Those with upgrades entered via a highly-prominent Upgrade gate.
3. Offered lots of options, email wise, to members.
• Members were invited to specify what kind of email content they wanted to receive, from company news to performance updates.
• This kind of courtesy is always appreciated.New York City members, who don't tend to cross the river, didn't hear about performances in New Jersey.
4. Shaped some high-impact rules for each and every email. Every email:
• Comes from a named staff member, rather than from info@cirque or members@cirque.
• Is only 3-4 paragraphs long, sans graphics or photos, and in a personal voice.
• Uses an online version of the Cirque letterhead.
• Is personalized for each city or geographic area.

Cirque du Soleil's email campaign results are as breathtaking as its performances. Club members respond to emails at an unusually high rate, and the holiday ecards far exceed even Cirque's second-place response generators, the "we're coming to your city" emails. Take Cirque's cue and put smart, respectful email marketing to work for your nonprofit--building new relationships and strengthening those you already have.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

Could Your Nonprofit Be A 2006 ePhilanthropy Award Winner?

If your nonprofit has "demonstrated extraordinary talent, creativity, and insight in drawing the public's attention to the important use of the Internet for philanthropic purposes and/or have created services or strategies that support this effort," then the answer is yes.

So go ahead and enter the competition, assuming that your campaign was implemented sometime between May 2005 and May 2006, and falls into one of the categories below:

• Best Integrated Online and Offline ePhilanthropy Campaign
• Best Online Donations/Fundraising Campaign
• Best Special Event Registration and/or Membership Campaign
• Best Community Building/ Volunteerism and/or Activism Campaign

This new award program (2005 winners available online, and a great resource as you shape your application) is sponsored by various e-vendors serving the nonprofit sector, and is a great contribution to nonprofit communications.

Nothing better than competition to spur excitement, and excellence. The deadline is July 15, 2006. Let's see what you have to offer.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

Email & E-News Musts Outlined at Marketing Sherpa Summitt

Marketing Sherpa, as you already know, is one of my most-relied on sources for marketing insights, tips, research results and case studies. Although most of the content isn't nonprofit-specific, 99% of it is relevant to nonprofit organization and foundation communications.

I sent Getting Attention eyes and ears to the latest Marketing Sherpa conference and learned (or was reminded of) the following "musts" for mass emails, including advocacy alerts and e-newsletters:

• No more than 50-70 words for maximum impact.
• HTML motivates action better than text, even with issues around image blocking.
• Vary messages sent to repeat recipients to minimize annoyance factor.
• Don't use direct commands in subject line. A phrase like "Give Today" gives prospective donors with the immediate opportunity to delete that message. Get them into the email where they see more background, then make the ask (or the pitch to send an email to a legislator or to volunteer).
• Subject line should be 51 characters or less to be readable without opening the email.

Nothing's better than clear and concrete guidelines like these. And Marketing Sherpa content is reliable since it's based on extensive research.

Print this list out and tape it to your monitor. Let me know when you see improved results of your e-mailings.

How to Raise Thousands of Dollars With Email -- Book Review

Online fundraising expert Madeline Stanionis, president of Donordigital, puts her laser insight to work in this new guidebook. What's that mean for your nonprofit? Concrete how-tos, with case studies and samples, on putting email to use to raise (hundreds of or tens of) thousands of dollars for your nonprofit.

While most online fundraisers have a broad focus, covering e-commerce tactics such as shopping malls and auctions, Stanionis hones in on that most simple, most inexpensive, and most personal of tactics--email. You'll benefit from reading this book in these ways how to:

• Build the strongest email list for fundraising, without alienating those donors who will never give online
• Send the right message, to the right prospects, at the right time
• Design ongoing campaigns, which build and strengthen relationships, rather than counting on fundraising one-offs
• Interpret results and use them to up the impact of the next campaign contact.

Best of all, Stanionis delivers all nitty-gritty value in a pithy 108 pages.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

Email Emotional Intelligence

I just read a great overview on the emotions email can generate summarizing an article recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. You gotta read on. As much as we communicators think we know about our audiences, and their psyches, most of us are not psychologists.

Most importantly, researchers Justin Kruger, PhD, a professor at New York University, and Nicholas Epley at the University of Chicago, explain why email misunderstandings occur so frequently. They find that email correspondents overestimate both their ability to convey their intended tone when they email, as well as their ability to correctly interpret the tone of the emails they receive.

Here are a few of the key findings:

• Egocentricism is the cause, as people find it difficult to understand how others will interpret them
• As email becomes more prevalent over time, the probability of misunderstandings increases exponentially.

What to do?

• Read any email with even the slightest potential for misunderstanding out loud to yourself, to catch and revise any provocations.
• Pick up the phone instead of emailing if you feel even a smidgen of concern about the way your email may be interpreted.

Great tips on improving communication effectiveness. Put them to use today.
 

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today. 

Email Marketing Stronger than Ever -- Marketing Sherpa's Email Marketing

This hot-off-the-press free download touts the triumphal return of email marketing. After a period of battling email spam, email marketers have re-emerged more strongly than ever to benefit from the ongoing interest in email communication.

This Marketing Sherpa scoop outlines what makes today's email effective, including:      

• Simplicity and directness of copy.
• Avoidance of graphics that interfere with the text. Email design templates that work are simple, with many now built around a single column rather than two or three.
• The practice of "double opt-in" (when readers have to subscribe, then respond to a confirmation email to be added to the list) to build in-house email lists.

Read the report today and strengthen your nonprofit's emails today.      

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

America Online to Cover Fee for Nonprofits Emailing AOL Users

America Online intends to pick up the costs for nonprofit groups that wish to email AOL members via its new Enhanced Whitelist service. The announcement came in response to the protests of a nonprofit consortium that spoke out against the company's plan to charge for a new bulk email service.

AOL said that it will offer nonprofit organizations two new free email options providing many of the features, such as images and links, of the company's premium service designed for commercial mass email. On Monday, a consortium of nonprofit and public interest groups, including MoveOn.org Civic Action, the AFL-CIO, Gun Owners of America and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lashed out at the plan by AOL and Yahoo to charge a fee for guaranteed delivery of bulk emails.

Some opponents called the fee-based service an email tax, while others said it would effectively silence less affluent organizations that can't afford to pay AOL's fees. AOL had argued that the rise of phishing schemes and spam requires the company to create a certified email so customers can tell good email from bad.

AOL spokesperson Nicholas Graham clarified, "We want to make it crystal clear for not-for-profits as well as not-for-profit advocacy groups that they will have multiple avenues of having email delivered," Graham said. The first new free service, AOL's Enhanced Whitelist, is for nonprofit organizations that meet the company's anti-spam and email requirements. Messages will be handled and delivered in a way like that of AOL's new fee-based certified mail.

Unlike certified email, messages sent via the Enhanced Whitelist will not be marked as "certified" and will be delivered for free. AOL will charge commercial companies up to a penny per email for certified email. The Enhanced Whitelist service is scheduled to be available in June 2006.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

The Ryan Andrew Kaiser Memorial Foundation (RAKMF) Profiled in ClickZ

I was pleasantly surprised to run across a compelling case study featuring a nonprofit organization in ClickZ, the e-marketing industry rag which seldom covers the nonprofit sector. Anyway, this article covers the innovative use of email by the Ryan Andrew Kaiser Memorial Foundation (RAKMF).

RAKMF, dedicated to fighting pediatric heart disease, is a relatively small organization, has maximized its message and reach with the use of email and its website. The RAKMF staff has leveraged email as:

• A sponsorship tool. E-mail is used to initiate contact with potential sponsors, with a phone follow up. In other cases, e-mail is used throughout the information-gathering and support-validation process. It's also used as an effective means to distribute the official documents surrounding the sponsorships.
• A donor management tool. After each donation, Andy and Lauren Kaiser send a personal thank-you e-mail back to the donor, telling the donor how her thoughtfulness has touched their family and how the donation will help the RAKMF's cause. This personal e-mail  builds a relationship, which is critical to the organization's success, philosophically and financially, and is leveraged for future events and communications.
• An awareness vehicle, through urging stakeholders to "forward emails to a friend." The viral e-marketing strategy has worked well, with awareness spreading from the northeast, where RAKMF is located, throughout the nation.
• An event management tool. Email is used to advertise RAKMF's annual 5K fundraiser event, coordinate volunteers, build community support, and communicate with the runners.

As ClickZ reporter Jeanniey Mullen writes, "Parallel-path e-mail initiatives that converge at key points in a relationship will power the effectiveness of e-mail in 2006. Now is the time to make sure your efforts are aligned to take advantage of the future."

RAKMF is certainly ahead of its time, and a great example of how your nonprofit can put email to work.

Should you publish your nonprofit's newsletter in print or online?

This issue has been discussed as an either/or for the last several years, but I urge you to consider both. As a marketer with years in the industry before there was an online medium, I know and believe in print. Its qualities include tangibility, portability, feel (it has one). Then again the online medium enables you to be more timely, save postage and printing costs, and enable users to link immediately to actions such as advocacy or giving.

I've long concluded that each medium has each advantages and both should remain in your nonprofit's marketing portfolio. In most cases, I believe it makes sense to publish print and online newsletter editions, for different purposes and audiences. Print for periodic publication (2-4 times a year), for conservative and/or older audiences such as many major donors and board members, as a wrap-up of events and harbinger of what's to come. Online for timely (at least twice a month) outreach, to motivate action, to get attention on a regular basis from those who know and support your work.

Veteran fundraiser Kim Klein is also an advocate of these parallel newsletter publishing streams. Read her recent article on the topic for more of her perspective.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

E-News Provider Offers Free Accounts for Nonprofits That Support Children

Email marketing service Constant Contact recently launched its "Cares4Kids," designed to help children-focused organizations communicate and connect at a local level by enabling Constant Contact customers, partners and employees to sponsor a free Constant Contact account for those groups that meet the program requirements. The account gives these nonprofits the ability to reach out to their key audiences easily and effectively email communications, helping to build support and awareness of their mission in the communities that they serve.

In addition, as part of the program, sponsors will donate their time to assist the nonprofit organization they have chosen. Utilizing their own email marketing proficiency, sponsors will help the organization in setting up and using the Constant Contact service to communicate.

Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact comments, "Constant Contact's 'Cares4Kids' program helps address this critical need by giving them an effective web-based tool to help bridge the communications gap that exists for many nonprofits and the communities they serve."

It's great to see such an innovative approach to corporate giving. I'd like to see more of this kind of strategy, which really gets current clients and staff members involved in the giving, and motivates them to share their expertise as well. Way to go Constant Contact.

To apply or get more information, visit the Cares4Kids website.

Don't Forget Your Email Etiquette

Like many of you, I frequently contact my legislative reps to voice my opinion. In the last few years, I've done so mostly by email simply because it's quick and easy. The e-advocacy campaigns launched by the groups working on the issues I support are doing a great job of motivating me.

My complaint is this... I almost never hear back from my senators and US congressman. The senators never respond (to phone calls, emails or snail mail) at all.  So I'm happy to report that Donald Payne, my congressman, has started to respond to me via email. His last response was actually pretty good. I felt he addressed my concerns, outlining his strategy for moving forward and validating my opinion. Here goes:

"Thank you for your letter regarding the alleged leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name by Karl Rove and Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby. I appreciate your views on this issue.

Two years ago, the Bush Administration avowed that Rove and Libby had no involvement in disclosing the name of Valerie Plame whose husband was a sharp critic of the Administration's assertion that Iraq had sought to buy nuclear weapons-grade material in Niger, West Africa. Joseph C. Wilson IV, Plame's husband, first privately then publicly, expressed his reservations about this allegation based on his CIA-funded trip to Niger in February 2002.

Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald recently indicted Mr. Libby on five charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and false statements and extended the grand jury on Mr. Rove. I fully support this inquiry and would call for the President to fulfill his promise by requiring Mr. Rove to step down from his post, if he is also indicted.

Thank you again for your letter. I hope you will contact my office in the future, if you have any questions or concerns."

Like many of you, I frequently contact my legislative reps to voice my opinion. In the last few years, I've done so mostly by email simply because it's quick and easy. The e-advocacy campaigns launched by the groups working on the issues I support are doing a great job of motivating me.

My complaint is this... I almost never hear back from my senators and US congressman. The senators never respond (to phone calls, emails or snail mail) at all.  So I'm happy to report that Donald Payne, my congressman, has started to respond to me via email. His last response was actually pretty good. I felt he addressed my concerns, outlining his strategy for moving forward and validating my opinion. Here goes:

"Thank you for your letter regarding the alleged leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name by Karl Rove and Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby. I appreciate your views on this issue.

Two years ago, the Bush Administration avowed that Rove and Libby had no involvement in disclosing the name of Valerie Plame whose husband was a sharp critic of the Administration's assertion that Iraq had sought to buy nuclear weapons-grade material in Niger, West Africa. Joseph C. Wilson IV, Plame's husband, first privately then publicly, expressed his reservations about this allegation based on his CIA-funded trip to Niger in February 2002.

Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald recently indicted Mr. Libby on five charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and false statements and extended the grand jury on Mr. Rove. I fully support this inquiry and would call for the President to fulfill his promise by requiring Mr. Rove to step down from his post, if he is also indicted.

Thank you again for your letter. I hope you will contact my office in the future, if you have any questions or concerns."