4 Email Campaigns That Increase Donations

Email campaigns are a great way to maximize the amount of donations your organization receives. What are the best ones, and how can you optimize them for success?

Today we are providing you a quick guide to the topic packed with actionable advice. Let’s get started!

Why Email Campaigns Are Important For Increasing Donations

We have said it before, but it’s worth repeating in a post like this: email is not dead. Far from it. In fact, done right, email marketing can have upwards of a 36x return on investment.

This is massive and far outpaces any other platform you use. But what are the specific reasons email marketing is so effective in the nonprofit industry? And why are certain email campaigns so good at maximizing overall donations? 

Here are just some of the reasons:

1) People are guaranteed to receive your message.

This assumes, of course, that your deliverability is actually good. Plus, even if your emails do get delivered, that’s no guarantee that people are actually going to open them (or take action even if they do). Still, this is a much better starting point than most other platforms marked by short attention spans. If you are willing to put in the work and test things out, both open rates and click-through-rates are metrics that can be improved. 

2) People reading email are different from “scrollers.”

This is especially true if you improve your writing skills to the point that people get excited to read your emails. Once you are at that point, it’s only a matter of time before people become so attached to your and your cause that they donate. As for social media scrollers? Their attention is divided and you are fighting an uphill battle trying to communicate with them. 

3) You build trust with your audience overtime. 

Email is simply more intimate than social media platforms. It’s a chance for you to craft a meaningful message to your audience and talk to them one-on-one. These aren’t just empty platitudes: statistics repeatedly show that people take their email inbox more seriously than whatever pops on on other platforms. This means they are primed to build a relationship with you.

4) You can more easily automate email campaigns. 

While email automation can certainly be advanced, the automations that will get you better results are relatively easy to set up. Indeed, you don’t need to be an automation expert to get the many benefits that it brings. Check out just some of the most important email automations that we recommend.

If you want a deep dive into the topic, be sure to check out our ultimate guide to email marketing. In it you will learn everything you need to know about the topic. Now, let’s get into the most important email campaigns you can use to increase total donations.

4 Email Campaigns To Increase Donations

1) Basic fundraisers.

Out of all the email campaigns that increase donations, simple fundraisers are among the best. You can’t rely on your social media platforms, physical newsletter, or the donations that come in every year around the same time. You have to go out there and actually promote the fundraisers that you are running.

As we’ve discussed, email is a direct communication line to your audience. Even if they don’t open your email, it’s guaranteed to be delivered to their inbox (assuming your deliverability is good). Plus, the percentage of email subscribers that are willing to take action on links is much higher than your followers on social media. Might as well use that good will in alerting people directly about your fundraisers. 

2) Series profiling the people that your audience helps.

Every non-profit helps somebody. It’s why people get attached to your cause and choose to donate. People want to see the real world results that your fundraisers help achieve. Specifically, they want to meet the people that are being helped. 

Important point to remember here: this isn’t just some ploy to get more money from your email list. People are more than happy to donate, but they need to see where their money is actually going. By profiling the direct beneficiaries of your fundraisers, you are showing people the positive effect they can have in the world. This is a great feeling indeed.

3) Series talking about the results of last year’s donations.

It’s likely that you aren’t starting from scratch. You probably have other campaigns you have run in the past and have a series of fundraisers behind you. This means you have evidence to draw from that you can use as convincing subject material for fundraisers. 

This can be a great place to include statistics or white papers. Of course, you don’t have to get too advanced here. Instead, simply sending an email to everybody that donated to a specific campaign along with total numbers in the body of the email can be incredibly effective.

4) Reminders to people that have given in the past.

It is often said that getting people to buy again is easier than getting them to purchase for the first time. This is true. In fact, as Constant Contact shows, not only do repeat customers spend more money overall – they also promote your business more than anybody else. Treat these people as your “superfans.”

You can say the same about nonprofits. People that have already donated are proven candidates for approaching this kind of email campaign with long term focus. Emailing past donors should not be a spammy tactic to get some boosts in donations. Rather, these campaigns are great for maintaining relationships with people that have a proven interest in your organization.

…

Are you an enterprise, nonprofit or small business looking for help on your website? Give us a shout! We provide a free consultation. Email us at info@lughstudio.com or call us at (718) 855-1919!