Sustained Giving Campaign - why 3 messages?

Danielle

I am very concerned about the sustained giving campaign and sending 3 messages. Is there proof or results that show 3 messages work? I think many of our records will unsubscribe after receiving 3 emails.

Also, what is the recommended timing between messages? We need to schedule ou campaign.

Adam Lemmon

Hi Danielle,

The multi message sequence that we recommend for sustaining fundraising campaigns has proven to be more successful than a one off appeal message for some of the same reasons that year end giving is more successful with the multi-message sequence when compared to single appeal messages.

One of the best ways to view the effectiveness of a mult-message sequence is to use the "Fundraising Timeline Report" found under "Data management -->> Reports -->> Analysis Reports -->> Donation Form Timeline Report".  Using that report you can specifiy the date range that includes your three messages and when you look at the number of donations during that timeline, you should see a spike after each message.  Using the standard unsubscribe reports found in Email Campaigns you could also take a look at the number of unsubscribes from each message to get a good feel for how many people are unsubscribing.

Keep in mind with unsubscribes that you can tie the Email Campaign to an email interest category meaning that when a user clicks to unsubscribe they are presented with the option to unsubscribe from the interest first before the option to unusbscribe from all communications.  If you're ever concerned about seeing a lot of unsubscribes on any message that you are about to send out, it's a great idea to edit the email campaign and link it to an interest category.

A couple other things to consider when it comes to marketing a giving opportunity via email:

1)  Context Context Context -- remember that when a user is reading an email message it is not the same as a print piece that might stick around on their coffee table for an extended period of time.  If your first email message gets ignored for any reason at all, the follow up email messages might be your chance to get their attention.

2) Online marketing is INTERACTIVE -- never underestimate the importance of the fact that a reader ONLINE can take action immediately upon reading the message --- but this means that the timing of the ask can have a big impact.  With a print piece, it might be more common for a reader to set the print appeal aside and then come back to it later on.  In the world of email, if they don't click now, it will be important to come back and remind them later.  When you are writing your online marketing messages make sure to consider that this is an interactive medium, you users are reading about your organization, they're hearing about your story, and there is a role for your users to play in the story... the role during an appeal sequence is that they can join in the story as a supporter -- and they can do that "right now".  The action rates on emails are always the highest within the first 24-48 hours after delivery.  After that, the email message is sitting somewhere in their inbox below a bunch of other higher priority messages.  The reminder messages can be the very element which allows you to get all of your prospective donors participating... without the reminder message many of your would be donors simply don't jump into their role in the story that you are conveying.

Adam

Kim Hernandez

Adam Lemmon:

Hi Danielle,

The multi message sequence that we recommend for sustaining fundraising campaigns has proven to be more successful than a one off appeal message for some of the same reasons that year end giving is more successful with the multi-message sequence when compared to single appeal messages.

One of the best ways to view the effectiveness of a mult-message sequence is to use the "Fundraising Timeline Report" found under "Data management -->> Reports -->> Analysis Reports -->> Donation Form Timeline Report".  Using that report you can specifiy the date range that includes your three messages and when you look at the number of donations during that timeline, you should see a spike after each message.  Using the standard unsubscribe reports found in Email Campaigns you could also take a look at the number of unsubscribes from each message to get a good feel for how many people are unsubscribing.

Keep in mind with unsubscribes that you can tie the Email Campaign to an email interest category meaning that when a user clicks to unsubscribe they are presented with the option to unsubscribe from the interest first before the option to unusbscribe from all communications.  If you're ever concerned about seeing a lot of unsubscribes on any message that you are about to send out, it's a great idea to edit the email campaign and link it to an interest category.

A couple other things to consider when it comes to marketing a giving opportunity via email:

1)  Context Context Context -- remember that when a user is reading an email message it is not the same as a print piece that might stick around on their coffee table for an extended period of time.  If your first email message gets ignored for any reason at all, the follow up email messages might be your chance to get their attention.

2) Online marketing is INTERACTIVE -- never underestimate the importance of the fact that a reader ONLINE can take action immediately upon reading the message --- but this means that the timing of the ask can have a big impact.  With a print piece, it might be more common for a reader to set the print appeal aside and then come back to it later on.  In the world of email, if they don't click now, it will be important to come back and remind them later.  When you are writing your online marketing messages make sure to consider that this is an interactive medium, you users are reading about your organization, they're hearing about your story, and there is a role for your users to play in the story... the role during an appeal sequence is that they can join in the story as a supporter -- and they can do that "right now".  The action rates on emails are always the highest within the first 24-48 hours after delivery.  After that, the email message is sitting somewhere in their inbox below a bunch of other higher priority messages.  The reminder messages can be the very element which allows you to get all of your prospective donors participating... without the reminder message many of your would be donors simply don't jump into their role in the story that you are conveying.

Adam

Can you please tell me the time span between each of the 3 messages sent in the Sustained Giving Campaign?      Thanks!

Adam Lemmon

Kim Hernandez:

Can you please tell me the time span between each of the 3 messages sent in the Sustained Giving Campaign?      Thanks!

Hi Kim,

We typically space the 3 messages out one week apart.  Example:

Monday March 8 - Kick-off message

Monday March 15 - Reminder message

Monday March 22 - Last chance message

7 days in between each message is what we recommend for these types of appeal messages.  That said, some organizations do put more days in between each email... The timing can be influenced by several factors - is there a target date that the campaign is marching towards?  are there other email messages where you might be mentioning the sustaining campaign in a sidebar or side note?  are there other external marketing efforts that need to be taken into consideration for the campaign?

Hope this helps, don't hesitate to let us know if we can expand further...

Adam