THIS IS WHY NO ONE READS YOUR NEWSLETTER Tips, Techniques & “The Basics”

Who IS THIS GUY?

ELLIOT COWAN

•  Creative Director of Here’s My Chance

•  British

•  Masters in Industrial Design

•  Soccer fan, tea drinker, sneaker addict, swimmer and street art fan

WHO IS HMC?

•  Founded in March 2011

•  Here’s My Chance (HMC) is a creative agency for good

•  HMC empowers organizations to capitalize on the influence of community, content, and social impact

•  Using our creativity to make a positive impact on the planet is a core mission and part of our business model

WHAT do we do? After 2 years, our little creative agency for good has produced campaigns, videos, infographics and events that have… •  Activated over 5,000,000 people around the world •  Helped raise nearly $10,000,000 for deserving causes

•  HMC's most recent campaigns have - •  Activated over 130,000 Philadelphians via the Philly DoGooder

Awards •  Secured $1 Million dollars for the City of Philadelphia through the

Bloomberg Mayor's Challenge.

•  We have even had efforts spotlighted on the TODAY Show, Huffington Post and others.

WHAT will we talk about? How you should think about an e-newsletter & why you need it! Content delivery The little details (subject line, titles, who is it from) Testing & Data Analysis (sending times, volume, A/B testing, lists) Design & templates Easter Eggs?? Strategy Extra tips & tricks – ta da!!

DELIVER CONTENT PEOPLE WANT TO READ

•  Once you've captured somebody's attention, it's yours to lose.

•  Develop a reputation for giving your constituents what

they want, and they'll be more likely to read your messages out of habit.

TELL THEM WHO IT’s FROM •  The "From" line is often the first thing people look at

when your message arrives in their in-box. •  I believe e-mail should come from a person, not an

organization. I use the format "First Last, ORG"

WORRY ABOUT YOUR SUBJECT LINE •  Subject lines have become even more important as

webmail and smartphones have become ubiquitous.

•  Try to keep them factual and descriptive of the content of the message.

•  Try to avoid going with the first thing that pops into your head.

•  For more, Kivi Leroux Miller has great suggestions –

www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2010/11/03/7-tips-for-email-subject-lines

TEST, TEST & TEST •  There's no reason to go with your gut instinct when so

many email providers have A/B test functionality these days.

•  And, even if yours doesn't, it's worth the effort to build your own test lists every now and again, especially for your most important messages.

TRAFFIC

VERSION A VERSION B

20% Conversion

Rate

25% Conversion

Rate WINNER

TRY PLAYING WITH SENDING TIMES

•  People are most likely to look at a message when it pops up on their screen with little competition.

•  Industry standard is people look at messages just before they go to lunch, just after they get back and just before they head home.

•  There is even a theory that Saturday morning is the best time too!

•  Look when you get things sent to you from your newsletter subscriptions.

SEGMENT YOUR LISTS Even if your organization is focused on a single issue, cross-sections will respond differently to your messaging in spite of their shared interest in your mission.

•  Segment people by:

•  Job type •  Organisation •  Gender •  Activity level (number of events attended, messages opened)…

•  Subject line can be different or even change the entire message.

•  Social media has taught people to expect a more personal experience.

VARY YOUR MESSAGE VOLUME

•  Some of your constituents will want to hear from you MORE OFTEN than others.

•  Some of your constituents will want to hear from you LESS than others.

•  If someone attends lots of your events and opens all of your emails it is an opportunity to contact them more often.

•  Look for the best opportunities to reach out to the unengaged.

DATA IS KEY. USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE •  You need to keep track of how often your subscribers

want to hear from you.

•  Which subject lines work best?

•  What time is the most effective?

•  If you don’t pay attention and look over your data you won’t be able to improve.

•  This goes back to the whole "deliver content people want to read" idea…

•  If your constituents know that your message will just ask them to donate again, they'll likely get tired of it.

Mix it up.

•  Send out important news, a free offer, a cool conversation happening on your Facebook page.

•  Build a relationship with your members.

Don't always ask for something

•  A nice, clean, easy-to-read and understand template can make it more likely your subscribers will want to open your message.

•  It is good to have multiple ones that have different functions •  Latest News (1 large picture and article for special events)

•  General Email (multiple pictures and stories)

•  What’s been happening (summation after events)

DEVELOP A GOOD EMAIL TEMPLATE

INCLUDE SOME “EASTER EGGS” •  It helps to find out how many people are reading emails all the way to the end.

•  It's okay to include fun links in your messages; bonus points if you can make them relevant to the content.

•  Vary the placement, so they'll have to at least scan your entire message to find them.

•  This is just another form of engagement, and engagement is the name of the game.

DEVELOP A STRATEGY •  It's one thing to try a few of these suggestions to boost your

open rates, another to plan it out.

•  Lay out a plan. •  Implement it. •  Record the results. •  Tweak the plan. •  Try again.

•  Treat your subscribers well and they'll reward you by actually reading the messages you spend so much time putting together.

BONUS TIPS – TA DA!! •  CLEAN YOUR LIST! - It's more important to have an active,

engaged list than a big list that never does anything.

•  PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS – It’s the same as the ads that are on your screen after you’ve visited a store online. You can do the same.

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SPECIAL OFFERS We’d like to put our money where our mouth is and help early stage organizations get great assets and offer real projects for our rising HMC talent to build a portfolio.

•  All startup social impact organizations or any social impact organization with an annual revenue less than $500K/£312,500 can receive :

1. A custom newsletter template with 3 custom images for $1000/£626 A regular monthly newsletter, one off appeal, promotion or invitation

2. A 1:30 minute motiongraphic explainer video for $3,000/£1900 You will work with our junior level creatives (our paid interns) to develop professional level video

3. A $500/£313 voucher for participating in this webinar for any work over $2000/£1,250

We are also interested in doing the same for our graphic design rising stars for infographics at $1500/£950 •  Just email workwithus@heresmychance.com with the subject line: Starving

Artists.