Digital Fundraising Mini-Workshop, Part I: Email Fundraising Ben Chambers Development Officer St. Louis Public Radio Josh VanDavier CRM Manager KQED Kelly Wilkinson Membership Manager Louisville Public Media Moderator: Julie Lacouture Consultant New Donor Strategies
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Donors want to give online Source: 2016 Donor Loyalty Study from Abila
Email: where donors are motivated to give
Greater Public s Online Revenue Detector
Some benchmarks Email list growth: 8-15% last year About 30% of email lists are inactive Click-through rates for fundraising emails are between.48% -.7% Online giving grew 8% - 14% last year.
What our panelist are working on: Building off of pledge drives Segmenting and targeting Frequency of emails Channels all speak with one voice The mission of journalism Engagement, engagement, engagement NPR One Donor-centric fundraising Experimenting, testing, and trying
Number of emails: 17,000 for members, 39,000 non-members Engagement emails per year: 370 Membership emails: 60 (with most emails heavily segmented) Software: Emma
A Segmentation Experiment Find the right time to test and don t be afraid of a bad result! Hypothesis: messaging based on specific renewal effort is out of touch with the donor. Test: send all renewing donors urgency-based message about expiring membership Result: 75% fewer responses than previous month Takeaway: Renewals should be more tailored to where the donor is in the renewal cycle
Rethinking Testing Beyond the A/B test: what resonates with donors? Keeping donor centricity front of mind Overhauling pledge drive messaging Old format: Only 12 hours to go! New format: What we ll do with your help Impact: 22.9% increase in fall drive email revenue, 3.5% in spring
Number of emails: 15,000 for members, 20,000 non-members Engagement emails per year: 72 plus a daily news emails Fundraising emails: 18 Software: MailChimp
A New Member Survey
A New Member Survey
Top 10 emails by open rate Open Rate Subject 72.60% WFPK enews - MemberPerks 63.46% 91.9 WFPK Forecastle Ticket Giveaway Contest 61.57% Welcome to Public Radio 60.98% Jason Isbell & Josh Ritter Front Row Contest 59.46% Welcome to Public Radio 55.32% Welcome to Public Radio 54.34% 91.9 WFPK Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL Grand Prize Contest 54.29% Thanks for Volunteering 49.40% Welcome to Public Radio 47.00% Welcome to Public Radio Top 10 list for unique opens (# people) Unique Opens Subject 6339 Louisville Public Media Announces New President 5830 Public Radio Tech Survey MemberPerk: Rickie Lee Jones 5567 Ira Glass Tickets and New Relics Shirts on our Final Day of the Spring Drive 4933 Matching Gift Opportunity - Spring Drive is On Air Now 4876 Bob Mould Discount & Give Local Louisville... Help Earn Bonus Dollars for Public Radio Today 4857 Special Matching Grant Opportunity Today Only! 4841 Pledge now and your donation is doubled 4790 Raise Your Voice for Public Media 4739 Dollar-for-Dollar Match Today from our Board of Directors 4643 Final Day, Spring Membership Campaign
Number of emails: 242,000 member; 308,000 nonmembers Engagement emails per year: 6,000 Fundraising emails: 200 Software: SalesForce Marketing Cloud
Increasing Giving Tuesday by 10x $15,000 in 2015 $150,000 in 2016 Leading with a message about journalism 803,000 delivered emails
What s next? Automation Moving away from pledge drive fundraising Remarketing and retargeting Various tests: Sender name Contacts versus leads
Speaker Information Ben Chambers Development Officer St. Louis Public Radio Josh VanDavier CRM Manager KQED Kelly Wilkinson Membership Manager Louisville Public Media Moderator: Julie Lacouture Consultant New Donor Strategies
Special thanks to our Platinum Sponsors!
Value of an email address Source: Network for Good 2009
The 12 Questions YOUR OVERALL EMAIL LIST GROWTH YOUR ACTIVE EMAIL LIST YOUR MEMBERS EMAIL ADDRESSES YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA GROWTH YOUR GIVING FORMS MOBILE RESPONSIVENESS YOUR FUNDRAISING EMAIL EFFECTIVENESS GROWTH IN YOUR OVERALL ONLINE GIVING GIVING BY YOUR WEBSITE VISITORS RESPONSE TO YOUR FUNDRAISING EMAILS EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR ONLINE GIVING FORMS YOUR ONLINE SUSTAINER GIVING YOUR MEASURABLE ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES
A closer look at Question #1
No: Analysis of your response Tips for getting there
Yes: Analysis of your response Next steps Metrics and calculations
Don t Know: Analysis of your response Why it s important and how to get started Metrics and calculations