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WELCOME

Jeff Terry, Account Manager

Molly Maple, Senior Solutions Engineer

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9:30 Welcome & Introductions

10:00 User Spotlight – Baldwin Wallace College

10:15 Email Best Practices for Nonprofits

11:30 Q & A

AGENDA

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EMAIL BEST PRACTICES FOR NONPROFITS

Molly Maple, Senior Solutions Engineer

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Bui ld ing the StrategyBest Practices

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COMPONENTS OF AN EMAIL STRATEGY

• Responsibility• Audiences- Key constituencies?- Subsegments within a particular audience?

• Schedule- Frequency of messaging- Campaign or Event based messaging

• Goals- What will you measure by?- What are the industry benchmarks?

• Content

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Audience Message Schedule Goal Type Benchmark

Donors? Quarterly? Donations? ?

Upgrades?

Alumni? Monthly? Opens? ?

Registrations?

Members? Renewals? ?

Conversions?

Subscribers? Weekly? Opens? ?

WHAT DOES YOUR STRATEGY LOOK LIKE?

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BUILDING ON AN EFFECTIVE EMAIL STRATEGY

• Author compelling message content- Anatomy of an effective message

• Understand keys to successful delivery of your email- What is deliverability and why is it important?- What does Blackbaud do to help? What can you do?

• Grow your list- Steps to help you know, grow, and maintain your list

• Design compelling message designs- Designing by display and by device

• Two feature walkthroughs:- Email Campaigns - Conditional Content

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Creat ing compel l ing messagesBest practices

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ANATOMY OF AN E F F E CT IV E E M AIL M E S S AGE

Recognizable “From” or “Sender” address

Descriptive, invitingsubject line

Concise, relevant content

Compelling call to action

Supporting landing page(s)

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If readers don’t recognize you, they are likely to flag your message as spam

• The “From” line should reflect an identifiable organizational figure

• Use your Organization’s Name

• Avoid numbers/symbols in the “From” line – they may trigger spam filters

• Use consistent “From” and “Reply-To” addresses to build your sender reputation

RECOGNIZABLE “FROM” OR “SENDER” ADDRESS

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Good subject lines tell the reader what’s inside – not try to sell what’s inside

Good examples Bad examples

Blackbaud University Foundation: Newsletter Newsletter

Blackbaud University Foundation: October Update It’s not too late!

The top five ways you can get help BBU You asked for it…

Upcoming events with the Blackbaud University Alumni Association

You won’t want to miss THIS!

Happy holidays from the BBU Alumni Association Become a Platinum Member and get exclusive invitations

We need your help to keep BBU Engineering Tops We need your help!!

DESCRIPTIVE, INVITING (& HONEST) SUBJECT LINE

• Keep subject lines clear and simple – not promotional

• Limit subject lines to 50–60 characters maximum (mobile devices only display the first 15–25 characters)

• Avoid using $, ! or ALL CAPS in the subject – could trigger spam filters

• Look inside your own junk mail folder – and don’t do what they do

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CONCISE, RELEVANT CONTENT DESIGNED TO BE READ ONLINE• Think about the audience

• Establish ideal tone or editorial “voice” for messages• Content should be appropriate for level of engagement, interest, knowledge

• Keep content short and to the point• Use headlines and bulleted lists for improved scannability• Easier to read in a short timeframe; emphasize important points

• Use stories to engage readers• Share own experiences (or those of supporters) to engage readers• Use statistics, testimonials, case studies, or expert opinions to support a point

• Demonstrate a clear purpose and a clear call to action• Each (promotional/appeal) email should have one main point, with a clear call

to action• Give readers a compelling reason to act now

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COMPELLING CALL TO ACTION

• The call-to-action should compel readers to do something• Contribute, sign up to volunteer, register for an event, download a

resource, etc.

• Give readers a sense of excitement and urgency• Convince readers if they don’t act now, they might miss out on something• Highlight any relevant expiration dates for a quicker response

• Use specific, action-oriented language• Instead of “You might want to check out our new events,” try “Register by

Tuesday and save!”• Use verbs to keep it active – Make those few words count

• However…• Keep it soft: often identity is usually more important than “making the sale”• Not every email needs to push the call-to-action: some emails may just be

informational

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Sample message Related landing page(s)

Monthly newsletter Multiple – one for more information on each article, plus a “donate now” button

Event announcement More information + signup page

Fundraising appeal Donation form

Progress report on mission Slideshow of activities, summary of media mentions, “tell-a-friend,” donation form

SUPPORTING LANDING PAGES

• You’ve motivated them to act – now bring them even closer • Once you’ve got readers’ attention, why let them wander off?• Draw them into the website with related content

• Use the landing page to help keep your message brief• Don’t pack every detail into a message (and lose a lot of readers in the

process)• Email only the basics and let them find more information online

• Each kind of message might call for a different kind of landing page

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Effective message testing can dramatically improve response rates

LEARN ALONG THE WAY: TEST MESSAGES AND METHODS

What you might test What you should look for

Variations on subject lines Higher open rates

Designs, colors, graphics Higher clickthrough rates

Day of the week or time of day Higher conversion rates

Long copy vs. short copy Fewer unsubscribe requests

With incentive vs. without incentive Clickthroughs, Conversions

Product price vs. without price Clickthroughs, Conversions

Logo placement Clickthroughs on lower links

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Del iverabi l i ty !Best practices

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DELIVERABILITY IS A MATTER OF TRUST

• Reputation determines if you arrive in an Inbox or in Junk- Low-reputation senders are more likely to land in junk mail or be denied

altogether- Sending large quantities to invalid addresses can lower the impact of

messages sent to strong supporters

• Low reputation can disable email content- ISPs often block images- ISPS also may disable links from non-trusted sources

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HOW BLACKBAUD HELPS

• “Throttling” delivery- Spammers typically send large quantities of emails in a short period of time. - BB “throttles” or staggers large mailings by reducing messages delivered at one time

• Blocking invalid accounts- Spammers generally have large percentages of invalid accounts in their email lists. - If ISPs detect a high number invalid accounts, they reduce the number of emails they

will accept. - If an ISP reports an address as invalid, we automatically block future emails to the

recipient.

• Blocking complainers- When a recipient “complains” about your email by hitting the ‘Report Spam’ button,

many ISPs will send an email to inform us of the complaint. - To eliminate the chance of future complaints from the same recipient, we automatically

block future emails to that recipient.

• Monitoring reputation- BB uses a number of tools to monitor the “reputation” for all of our NetCommunity

clients.- The goal is to detect/correct problems early before they can cause major issues.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO

The single best thing you can do to protect your reputation is prevent complaints.

• Send to subscribers only- Send email only to those who have requested it.- Sending to someone who did not request is more likely to result in a ‘Report

Spam’ warning.

• Keep it relevant- Set expectations early and then send the type of email that people expect.- Limit cross-marketing email across your lists (subscriptions to one program,

likely does not warrant weekly notices from all other programs)

• Maintain expected frequency- Tell subscribers how frequently they will receive email and then stick to the

schedule.

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AVOID LOOKING LIKE A SPAMMER

CAN-SPAM and PIPEDA (Canada) legislation requires:• Bans false or misleading header information- “From,” “To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email

address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.

• Prohibits deceptive subject lines• Requires that you provide recipients a valid opt-out method - Must honor opt-out requests within 10 days; opt-out must be free

• Bans the sale or transfer of email addresses of people who unsubscribe• Requires that “commercial” email be identified as an advertisement- Adult content must be labeled as such

• Ensures the email includes the sender's valid physical postal address• Learn more here: http://www.ftc.gov/spam/ http://www.ic.gc.ca/

Note: Transactional messages are exempt from these rules

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• Soft bounces: Emails that are not delivered due to a temporary issue/error (but may get through eventually). Possible causes include:- Person has changed email accounts (and no longer opens this email) - Email box is full - Server is busy

• Hard bounces: Emails that are not delivered due to a “terminal” failure, generally caused by:- Email account is no longer valid - Domain does not exist (alo.com, homtail.com, commcast.net)- Email address is misspelled or has syntax errors (for example:

joesmith@hotmail.om or joesmith@sbc global.com)

• Hard bounces will eventually be sent to Invalid Accounts• Some soft bounces do eventually get delivered

(but we can’t see which ones, unfortunately)

“HARD” AND “SOFT” BOUNCES DEFINED

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MANAGING HARD AND SOFT BOUNCES

Some options for dealing with those frustrating bounces….

• View/edit “Bounced” recipients via the Messages Gallery- Select message, view Message Statistics (magnifying glass) and click on recipients- “Bounced” recipients will display a yellow “action” icon – click for bounce error/reason- If user is a constituent in Raiser’s Edge, access the record directly to fix any errors

• Query on Bounced emails and the reason – then contact manually- Create query for “Soft” bounces and resend the message to that list- For the “Hard” bounces, contact constituents by another method (direct mail, phone) or

include them in a future data cleansing initiative (see below)

• Remove/notate “Bounced” addresses- Use “hard bounce” query to globally add an attribute or action of “Bounced” to the user

record, or globally change the phone type to something like “invalid” or “bad address” - Globally deleting the email addresses isn’t an option with standard RE functionality, but

there is a custom phone type remover plug-in which is available through RE Support 

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MANAGING INVALID ACCOUNTS

• In Invalid Accounts, you can view email address accounts that have been reported as “Invalid” by their ISP- An ISP may report an email address account as “Invalid” due to a

nonexistent or canceled account. Typographical errors in the account name or domain name also cause an email address to be reported as Invalid.

- Accounts that bounce email for another reason, such as a temporary network issue, a full mailbox, or due to a content filter, do not appear in Invalid Accounts.

• To prevent your email from being blacklisted, Blackbaud NetCommunity does not send emails to invalid accounts- For each email address in Invalid Accounts, you can view the bounce error

that caused the ISP to report the account as invalid. - If you feel an account is incorrectly marked invalid, you can mark it as active

to include it in a mailing. - If you correct an invalid email address in Raiser’s Edge, the incorrect

address will/should still remain in the Invalid Accounts Gallery. However, the corrected email address will be included in future mailings.

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IN SUMMARY…

Some of the most important factors for deliverability include:

• Predictability• Volume of email sent• Bounce management• Complaint history• Reputation

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List growthBest practices

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STEP 1: KNOW YOUR LIST

Don’t focus too much on acquisition – pay attention to your current list

• Organize and track your email file in The Raiser’s Edge- Regularly measure the size/growth rate of your email list vs. your entire

database

• Keep your list clean (hint: let supporters do the work)- Allow constituents to verify, modify, or delete personal data you collect- Allow easy opt-outs; remove/update invalid or bounced addresses- Avoid buying or selling of your list

• Set clear expectations and keep subscribers engaged- Respect subscriber expectations; reinforce newsletter/email subscriptions

with a confirmation page or email that reminds them of planned frequency, topics, etc. (and be sure to honor these)

- Communicate with subscribers regularly; always recap why you are emailing them and how they can opt out/update subscription preferences

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STEP 2: USE YOUR WEBSITEBe sure to get permission – an opt-in list is the key to success

• Use site-wide forms to capture subscriptions- Make email a required field on all online forms.- Include opt in checkbox on all relevant forms

• Encourage subscriptions through transactional/acknowledgement emails- Drive readers back to the site to subscribe to newsletter(s) or other

publications.• Encourage readers to pass along your message to friends- Include option to subscribe from all publications.

• Direct staff and other close supporters (board, volunteers, etc.) to include subscription links in email signatures- May also include links for upcoming events, campaigns, etc. to drive traffic to

website.• Use Search Engine Optimization to increase traffic and subscriptions- Post web-based versions of current and past emails or newsletters (archive).- Content will be accessible via search engines (and will increase your

rankings).

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STEP 2: USE YOUR WEBSITE

Make it easy to subscribe – users shouldn’t have to search for your form• Feature a quick way to subscribe from each page of your site- Promote the benefits of subscribing on the sign-up page.- Offer a relevant incentive, such as an email-only discount, free shipping, or

link to download an informational resource. - Offer multiple subscription options (by topic, frequency, format, etc.)

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Top of page

• “Join our email newsletter”

Subscription callout on home page

• “Stay in touch” box describes benefits of signup

Footer navigation

• Link to newsletter

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CREATE AN EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION LANDING PAGE

Email subscription page

• Benefits of subscribing

• Quick, easy way to subscribe

• Link to email archive

• Invitation to share certain personal details – e.g., interest categories, suggestion box ideas

Bonus: Link to manage all subscriptions from one location

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STEP 3: GROW YOUR LIST THROUGH 3RD PARTIES (ONLINE)Think about how to leverage external resources to grow your list

• Investigate alliances or partnerships with similar or complementary organizations to reach common supporters- Promote partner’s program/events/subscriptions to your list, and vice versa.- Corporate or media sponsors may email signup invitations on your behalf.

• Promote email/newsletter in online articles, press releases, etc. - Include a reference and link to newsletter after the byline.- Promote email/newsletter or articles in industry directories or websites.

• Use social networking sites and blogs to increase reach- Encourage staff and supporters to promote to your newsletters or email articles via

their MySpace/Facebook/Blog pages. (Works well with specific call to action or campaign.)

- Encourage staff to contribute to and comment on industry blogs when relevant. Make sure they link back to the organization’s website.

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STEP 4: GROW YOUR LIST OFFLINE

Don’t be afraid to ask for your supporters’ email addresses – if they like and trust you, they will gladly provide them

• Ask for email addresses at every touch point- Over the phone, at special events, site visits, registration desk, box office, etc.- In addition to adding the email address, ensure you are noting “subscription

preferences” in The Raiser’s Edge (add attribute, solicit code, etc.).

• Provide option to receive future communications via email vs. mail- Emphasize the how email is more “green” than printed mail.- Publicize online versions of traditionally offline material online (i.e., Annual Report,

Press Releases, Newsletters, etc.).

• Offer opt-in service to receive special offers or reminders via email - Advertise special discounts, upcoming sales, event/ticket availability, etc. via email.

• Include your website address on all printed materials- Promotional items (bags, t-shirts), forms, surveys, direct mail, print ads and catalogs.- Promote your email/newsletter in your other organizational publications.

• Utilize an Email Append service like Blackbaud’s EmailFinder- Finds email addresses for many constituents already in your database; invites them to

subscribe.

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STEP 5: CULTIVATE NEW SUBSCRIBERS

Acquisition is only half the battle – have a plan for keeping them involved

• Hook subscribers early, and keep them engaged over time

• Optimize the “Welcome” message- Send out a welcome/confirmation message immediately after subscribing- Thank them for signing up; recap subscription details.- Include link to privacy policy, contact information, and link to manage subscriptions.

• Send follow up message within a week (or less)- Link to the most recent newsletter (and/or past issues).- Provide helpful links and/or important places to visit on your site.- May include a link to special offer or “insiders only” information/benefit.

• After a few months of active email, survey readers to see if you are meeting expectations- Is the timing, frequency and content meeting your readers’ needs?- Are your readers interested in learning about other topics?

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STEP 6: TARGETING NON-RESPONDERS

• Don't forget the non-responders- Just because someone doesn't open in 72 hours doesn't mean he/she is not

interested

• Three is the magic number- As a rule, emails perform best when the same message is sent to a non-

responder three times (in a bit of a different creative shell of course)

• Many organizations focus on the 30 percent who open and cast off the 70 percent who don't- A subject line with "last chance" or "final offer” can help activate your non-

responders

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Using your websi teBest practice examples

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CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN (CFW)

Top of page

• Name/Frequency of Newsletter

Subscription callout on landing page

• Previews topics and features

• Explains other ways to get involved

Sample Issues

• Link to view archives

• Current issue posted on actual page

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CFW – EMAIL PREFERENCES FORMSeparate Email Sign Up

• Specifically reference Email Sign up (not direct link to Login page)

Shorter Form for lower barrier to entry

• Only ask enough to create record

• Only capture interests/subscription data

• User creates login to manage subscriptions

Sidebar Callouts

• Value-add links to Donate, Get Involved, etc.

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SUBSCRIPTION LANDING PAGE

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NY FOUNDLING EMAIL PREFERENCES PROCESS

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Template creat ion and visual designBest practices

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KEY POINTS

• Design for the preview pane of email applications

• One giant image is a bad idea

• Never put important information like the call-to-action in an image

• Avoid large blocks of text – use headlines for increased scannability

• Provide a link to a web-based version of your email (at the top)

• Remind recipients to add organization to their address book/safe sender list

• Test HTML emails in multiple email clients before sending

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• Often, only the top 2–4 inches (or 400–600 pixels) of your email will be viewable in the preview pane

• Use images and text wisely – use images for text very sparingly

DESIGN FOR THE PREVIEW PANE: SAMPLE “DON’TS”

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• Don’t put all your content in just one image – and use ALT text if you do• No text, no alt-text, no message

DESIGN FOR THE PREVIEW PANE: SAMPLE “DON’TS”

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• It might look pretty – but if the image is blocked by the email client, you don’t have much of a message left

• Disney and Apple are notorious for this kind of thing – unfortunately most of the rest of us don’t have the name recognition and can’t get away with it

USING ONE GIANT IMAGE: SAMPLE “DON’T”

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• Good use of images/text to preview message content • Image displays and call to action is above-the-fold

DESIGN FOR THE PREVIEW PANE: SAMPLE “DO’S”

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• Use HTML text when possible to ensure proper rendering (avoid risk of image suppression)

DESIGN FOR THE PREVIEW PANE: SAMPLE “DO’S”

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DESIGN FOR MOBILE DEVICES: SAMPLE “DO”

Many recipients read email via a Blackberry or iPhoneAccording to MarketingSherpa.com, “64% of key decision makers are viewing your carefully crafted email on their Blackberrys and other mobile devices ... And, chances are, your email looks downright awful.”

Design emails for mobile reading- Mobile readers are more likely to scan, not read- Include compelling call to action of your subject line- Avoid “top heavy” images in the design- Use ALT tags on images- Test messages on devices

Acknowledge mobile readers- Ask reader to “flag” message for later review- You may want to eventually offer separate

subscription/preference for mobile delivery and provide a shorter, text-only version

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EMAIL EDITING DO’S AND DON’TS

• Never copy and paste text or images directly from Microsoft Word or another word processing program.- Always either “clean” the code before pasting, or try pasting into Notepad or

another plain text editor and then copy/paste into the email message. - Pasting directly from Microsoft Word tends to transfer some of the underlying

code which will inevitably disrupt/distort your message.

• Be careful when selecting text to edit/replace.- If you select more than just the text you are trying to edit (say, a blank space

at the end or beginning of a word) you may inadvertently delete the underlying code/formatting that should be there.

• When sending email, only use Web-safe fonts.- Most email tools will only offer a few limited fonts for email text. The most

common of these are Arial, Verdana, Georgia, and Times New Roman.- Don’t try to use non-web fonts – they won’t work- If you have a specific font that you want to include for branding purposes, it

is safest to do it in image form – but do this very sparingly.

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MORE EMAIL EDITING DO’S AND DON’TS

Always resize and compress images before inserting into your message- NetCommunity allows you to easily add/place images in the message,

but it does not have robust built-in image editing tools.- It’s best to use 3rd party graphic software to prepare the images before

uploading

Always include important content within body content, not just in images- Many email browsers/tools automatically block images by default- Include most important messages first

Use consistent “From” name to build your sender reputation- The “From” line should reflect an identifiable organizational figure, not a

name that people are not familiar with. - Be sure to use the same name repeatedly over time to recipients come

to expect to “hear” from you.

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MAKING SURE EMAIL ARRIVES LOOKING ITS BESTAlways use inline styles when formatting Emails

- Image and text alignment- Appearance/formatting of Bulleted lists- Text size/color formatting- Link Styles- Spacing/padding for text and images

Be sure to copy/paste body content and/or call outs carefully- Carefully select text to be edited- Right-click elements to copy > soft return > paste element.- Ensure spacing is appropriate (use <br> tag for one line/space, <p> tag

for 2 lines).

Ensure images fit within template [guidelines] before inserting- Using an image that is too large or too small can greatly distort the

overall template.- Be sure to use “Alt Tags” on images in case they do not display properly.

Use browser testing to ensure image, text and cells alignment and padding

- Many ESPs will not correctly align elements unless specified (in-line) within each area of the template.

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TEST MESSAGES IN MULTIPLE BROWSERS BEFORE SENDING

Browser testing allows the user to preview how the email will “render” or look when it’s delivered to recipients’ inboxes

• Option 1: Manually Test- Create multiple "test" accounts in various email systems- Build test lists via imported lists or constituent queries in The Raiser’s Edge for quick access

• Option 2: Utilize a paid Testing Service (if possible)- Paid preview services are either pay-per-use or a subscription-based fee - Simply upload an HTML email and see how the email SHOULD render in browsers- Some vendors also offer Spam Checking and link-validator services

• But a disclaimer: No email will look the same in all email clients- Previews are only "best guesses" for how the email might render- Browser testing doesn't take into account any user preferences/settings that may be

configured on the recipients’ end (servers or inbox)

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Quest ions?

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Condit ional Content in BBNCApplying techniques

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WHY USE CONDITIONAL CONTENT?

• The more specific your message, the greater the impact• Not all communications are for all your constituents• It enables you to customize each of your messages for various

segments while just clicking “Send Final” once• Help reduce unsubscribe rates by using all the information you’ve got

about your constituents

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AN EXAMPLE…

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SET UP YOUR LISTS…

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DESIGN YOUR MESSAGE…

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ADD YOUR CONDITIONAL CONTENT…

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PREVIEW THE MESSAGE FOR EACH SEGMENT

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SEND, AND VIEW YOUR REPORTS!

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SEND, AND VIEW YOUR REPORTS!

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Emai l CampaignsFeature Overview

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STEP 1: TARGET LISTS

• Insert one or more Target Lists containing the primary recipients for your appeal. Each list may be sent one or more test messages prior to sending the final message.

• Each member will only receive one message from this appeal.

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STEP 2: SEED LISTS

• Insert one or more Seed Lists containing recipients you wish to have copied on every message.

• Seed list recipients receive all test messages to every list and are not counted within the statistics and reports.

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STEP 3: EXCLUSION LISTS

• Insert one or more Exclusion Lists containing those recipients you wish to exclude from any messages sent from this appeal.

• Recipients in this list will not receive any emails.

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STEP 4: CREATEYOUR MESSAGES!

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STEP 5: PREPARE SPLITS

• N number of test messages for each list allow testing of content, subject line, scheduled time of departure, from name, and from email address

• Test message sample size - Exact quantities- Percent of List

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STEP 6: SEND FINAL

• Send “winning” message to remainder of list

• Any recipients of tests or exclusions will not receive a second message

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STEP 7: REPORTING