Email Marketing for Nonprofits Best practices to ensure deliverability and engagement
@infoodle
Nadia Wilde, Marketing & Communications, infoodle Nadia comes from a background in education and administrative work. Last year she pursued her passion for marketing and design and joined the infoodle Marketing & Comms team. She loves all things social media and is currently responsible for writing blog articles, sending out newsletters, and maintaining help documentation.
How do we get our audience to open, read and engage with our emails? We all recognise the importance of keeping in touch with our key stakeholders and the role it plays in building community, loyalty and awareness. While we mainly support nonprofit organisations, good communication is vital for any sector. Here are a few things you can do to level up your email game.
This article is
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eing able to communicate effectively with your audience is paramount. The good news is that there are significantly more chances that people will open the email in their inbox than read a Facebook or Instagram post. There are also more chances that they will engage with your content since they have subscribed to your newsletter in the first place. In this article, we are sharing our best practices that ensure deliverability and high open rates, and, ultimately, result in a well-informed and engaged community.
Do your best to avoid the Spam folder The main obstacle to regular communication is that occasionally emails end up in a Spam folder and do not get seen by your audience at all. This happens for many reasons, but the most common ones are using unverified domains, not updating email addresses on your list, and finally your audience not engaging with your emails. First and foremost, verify your sending domains to protect your customers from phishing and spammers. Also, make sure to keep your email list up-to-date with current email addresses and remove those that keep bouncing. Finally, create good content and present it in a concise way with links that take them to your website or blog - ultimately, you want to drive traffic to your own platform. Segment your audience to optimise your emails If your audience consists of
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several different segments, make sure you communicate with them appropriately. Your donors do not necessarily need to hear that you’re hosting an afternoon tea party for volunteers, so adjust the information you are sharing depending on the group you’re sending it to. Conduct regular polls or surveys to find out what your audience wants to hear about. This will help create relevant content that your stakeholders are interested in. You can also try A/B testing by splitting your audience into 2 groups and sending them emails with different Subject lines or a slightly varied message. Observe which version receives more engagement, such as clicks on blog posts, or subscriptions. This will allow you to learn what people on your list respond to and communicate better next time you create a message. Give your message a personal touch All email providers nowadays give you an option of including
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