Lee Rose - Xtra! Xtra! Read All About It! Effective E Newsletter And Email Campaigns

Xtra! Xtra! Read all About it! Effective E-Newsletter and E-mail Campaigns

Introductions and expectations
Around the room in 80 seconds
What do you want to walk away with today?
A quick show of hands
Does your organization currently have an e-newsletter or e-campaign?
What’s your current number of subscribers? < 500, Between 500 and 2 500, > 2 500?
Do you use a e-mail marketing service such as Constant Contact or Industry Mailout ?

Workshop overview
Planning your e-mail campaigns
An effective e-newsletter in 5 easy steps
What’s in a name?
What should my newsletter look like?
Writing tips and tricks
Subject lines
Hit send!
Post mortem (e-mail metrics & campaign evaluation)
Expanding your audience
The good, the bad and the ugly
Q&A

Develop a rolling production calendar
Map out your entire campaign or year
Select your publication or send dates
Work back from your send dates
Donor Campaign E-mail Plan Publication Date Content Contributors Notes June 15, 2009
Donor campaign
Client profile
Community Corner
Executive Director Program Manager Get photo of executive director in action July 15, 2009
Trillium Grant
campaign update
Second client profile
Community Corner
Grants Writer Program Manager Incorporate thermometer image for campaign total August 15, 2009
Campaign results
Impact statements
Community Corner
Board Chair Executive Director Event photos from campaign announcement

Line up content and contributors
Identify and solicit potential content at staff / board meetings
Connect with peers at similar organizations
Share news stories from the media (scour RSS feeds and news sites)
Set up templates
Newsletters, invitations, press releases etc.
Allow for flexibility
Have content ‘in the can’ for slow news months
Be prepared to shuffle content based on relevant events (leverage external events or news)
Solicit feedback from your readers
What kind of content do they expect and when?

Step 1: What’s in a name?
Step 2: What should my newsletter look like?
Step 3: Writing tips and tricks
Step 4: Subject lines
Step 5: Hit send!

Why is a name important?
Unique identifier for your readers – a measure of consistency and recognition
Opportunity to integrate/extend your organization’s brand and visibility
Newsletter names in the room
What makes a great name?
Linked to your organization (mission, vision, values)
Short and simple

Making the case – The Ten Oaks Project

Coming up with a great newsletter name – Group Activity
Take 15 minutes
Use the case study examples or real examples from your group
Come up with great newsletter names
Show & Tell

Keep it clean, clear and simple
Plenty of white space
Avoid flashy colours and special effects
Should match your organization’s brand identity and website
Use the same colour palette as your website
Simple, clean and easy to read typefaces (2 or 3 fonts – no more!)
Write and design for the preview pane
Keep accessibility in mind
HTML & Text versions, ALT descriptions
Never send an all-image e-mail newsletter

Making the case – Imagine Canada

Appeal to skimmers
Use lots of headlines, subheadings and short chunks of text
Active verbs and vivid nouns will grab the reader’s attention
Excellent online resource : Copyblogger - http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/
Brevity
Write tight. Omit unnecessary words
Sentence structure - Be straightforward

Text formatting
Use short paragraphs - A 100-word paragraph looks pretty long on a web page
Headings should make absolutely clear what the page contains or concerns
Use subheadings to help the reader scan the page efficiently and happily
Links
A link must give the reader a reasonable expectation of what she will get when she clicks
Avoid using ‘click here’ or ‘website’
Avoid spanning links over two lines
Links are a great way to drive traffic to your website

Making the case – HR Council

Effective subject lines are critical to the success of your newsletter or campaign
You’ve got three seconds or less to get someone to open your e-mail message
First second is spent on the ‘From’ line
Next two seconds are spent scanning the subject line

Lee’s inbox

Keep it short and sweet
Aim for less than 50 characters (including spaces)
Note: Aim for less than 50 characters (including spaces) = 50 characters
Most mobile devices, like Blackberries and iPhones, can only show 14 characters
Be specific
Vague and generic subject lines are a waste of real estate
Avoid things like “Humane Society March 2008 Newsletter”
Be a tease
A clever subject line can be enticing when executed properly
Teasers require some creativity and the content needs to deliver

Get personal
A personalized message will cut through the clutter of an over-filled inbox
This can be as simple as using the words ‘you’ ‘your’ ‘our’ or ‘we’
Use numbers to get attention
‘ Fundraising gala tickets still available’ vs. ‘Only 10 seats left for premiere gala event’
Listen to WIIFM
When a person gets your e-mail, the first thing they consider is "what's in it for me?”
Do they open your e-mail, leave it for later, or delete it?

Don’t get caught in spam filters
Your e-mail needs to be delivered to even stand a chance!
Avoid words like free, ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation etc.
Avoid using the same subject line every time
Seeing “Society Newsletter” every month isn’t going to spark interest
Write it last
It's important to determine all the elements of your e-mail first
Pick your top story and feature it e.g. “3 tips for new puppy adopters”

Step 5: Hit send
Double check that everything is in order
Do all of the links work?
Are the template elements updated? (month, issue number etc.)
Is my subscriber list up to date?
Put an unmistakable name in the ‘From’ field
Typically use your organization, campaign or initiative name
Use an individual’s name carefully
Keep it consistent to help build up reader recognition

Step 5: Hit send
When to send it out
Consider your audience first
Avoid the purge!
Best days:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
Best times:
Between 10 and 10:30 a.m. or 1 and 1:30 p.m. [The Pavlovian Ping]
Be aware of seasonal and time zone issues

Post mortem (e-mail metrics & campaign evaluation)
Demonstration of online e-mail marketing service
Service providers include:
Industry Mailout
EmailNow
Constant Contact

Expanding your audience
Place a sign-up button on your homepage
This can be as simple as an e-mail link or it can be a text field
Highly visible and ‘above the fold’
Example: David Suzuki Foundation
Place a sign-up button on your newsletter
Allows people who were forwarded your newsletter to easily subscribe
Collect e-mail addresses at conferences, events or workshops
Use social media
Include a link on your organization’s Facebook page
Start related discussion topics
Update your status to include a link to the latest issue
Update your Twitter feed

The good, the bad and the ugly – Newsletter evaluation
Amnesty International Canada
http://www.amnesty.ca/updates/latest.html
CanadaHelps.org
http://www.canadahelps.org/Newsletters/InsightsDec08.htm
CharityVillage
http://newsmgr.charityvillage.com/display2.aspx?SID=5c5df1ed-ae14-45d4-b74a-116460d0d5d7&N=298
Foundation for Rural Living
http://www.frl.on.ca/frl/NewsAndUpdates/newsletter/2006_Jan.htm
Maytree Foundation
http://www.industrymailout.com/Industry/View.aspx?id=149154&q=127755563&qz=504caa
Ottawa Humane Society
http://www.ottawahumane.ca/enews/apr2009/
Note: The presenter has not assigned good, bad or ugly ratings to any of these newsletters!

Q & A
Questions?

Xtra! Xtra! Read all About it! Effective E-Newsletter and E-mail Campaigns

Lee Rose - Xtra! Xtra! Read All About It! Effective E Newsletter And Email Campaigns

by CanadaHelps / MyCharityConnects

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 37

Statistics