This document summarizes an educational session on maximizing email campaigns. It introduces the presenters, Lee Raney and Brad Davies, and provides information about their backgrounds and qualifications. The bulk of the document outlines effective email strategy and best practices for emails, landing pages, and A/B testing. It emphasizes the importance of relevant content, call-to-action buttons, and testing emails to improve results. Examples are provided of successful email campaigns for non-profits.

1. INTERNET EDUCATIONAL SESSION
Maximize Your Email Campaigns
Lee Raney Brad Davies
Christian.org Dunham+Company
KoineMedia.com

2. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
ABOUT US
Lee Raney
@leeraney

3. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
ABOUT US
Lee Raney
On-line Consultant - KoineMedia.com
Christian.org
ORU, Regent
NRB Internet Committee
Dallas Cowboys
@leeraney

4. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
ABOUT US
Lee Raney
On-line Consultant - KoineMedia.com
Christian.org
ORU, Regent
NRB Internet Committee
Dallas Cowboys
@leeraney

6. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
ABOUT US
Brad Davies

7. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
ABOUT US
Brad Davies

8. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
ABOUT US
Brad Davies
Dunham+Company - Director of Web Services
Member of NRB Internet Committee
Biola University BA
MBA in Global Business
Enjoy doing Crossfit & Yoga
Biggest Loser Fan / Nebraska Football Fanatic
Motorcycle Rider
bradjdavies

9. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
ABOUT US
Brad Davies
Dunham+Company - Director of Web Services
Member of NRB Internet Committee
Biola University BA
MBA in Global Business
Enjoy doing Crossfit & Yoga
Biggest Loser Fan / Nebraska Football Fanatic
Motorcycle Rider
bradjdavies

12. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
Effective Email Strategy
• It’s all about relationship
• Better technique = Better results
• Poor technique online means inferior results

13. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
Effective Email Strategy
• Have good manners - also known as reducing friction
• An online experience is directly related to a donors
likelihood of giving more and more often

14. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
Effective Email Strategy
•Email marketing is the best activity you can conduct to
generate income - In 2009 Direct Marketing Association
discovered that email marketing generated an ROI of
$43.62 for every dollar spent on it. The expected figure for
2010 was $42.08
•It’s immediate, mistakes can mostly be addressed on-the-fly
•It’s extremely measurable

15. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
Effective Email Strategy
•All starts with your website
•Research has shown that people adopt new
technologies, not stop using old ones

16. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
Effective Email Strategy
•Providing relevance is the missing ingredient in most
email marketing initiatives.
•Relevance = right message, right person, right time.
•Just get a click

17. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
E-MAIL STRATEGY
• Types of eMail - Campaigns, Engagement, Ministry
• Communications schedule
• Intro series
• Campaigns - direct response
• Newsletters - engagement
• Audience - paths and segmentation - recurring donor stat
• End of Year Campaigns

18. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
E-MAIL STRATEGY - PART OF
COMPREHENIVE ON-LINE STRATEGY
• Websites - CMS, Design, User Experience (UX),Video, Tools
• Back-end Integration - CRM/Donor Management, Donation Forms
• Traffic - Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Media
Buying
• E-mail - Platform, Integration, Analytics, Communcations
• Social Media - Communication, Integration
• Presence on External Sites - Reaching the Larger Christian Audience On-line
• Mobile - Mobile website, Apps, Text-to-give

19. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
E-MAIL STRATEGY - TOOLS AND
CONSIDERATIONS
• MailChimp - Easy to Use, Social Media Integration, CMS Integration
• Constant Contact, Blue Hornet, SilverPop
• “e-Mail Plus” - Convio, 2Dialog
Considerations:
• What do you need to integrate with? (2Dialog-DonorDirect; MailChimp-Drupal)
• Features - Auto-responders, segmentations
• Portability - open or long-term contract?
• Opt-in Requirements

21. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
Effective Emails are:
Short and Scannable

23. Shorter is better
Interest in the content of an email diminishes as the email
extends below the fold*
* Web users spend 80% of their time looking at information
above the page fold. Although users do scroll, they allocate only
20% of their attention below the fold. - Nielsen 2010

25. Scan-Friendly
Today people scan web copy, they do not read top-to-bottom.
Typography for the web then is quite simple and involves a few
key principles:
•Rhythm
•Bullet Points/List Items
•Blockquotes
•Headings
•Bolding and Italics

27. Technically Correct
Technically Correct
• Not all email browsers were created equal and an email campaign can be promptly
sabotaged by bad coding. Attention must be paid to:
• Alt tags
• Alt-tag font styling
• CSS formatting
• Using DIVS incorrectly
• Using alternate-content
• Google’s ‘display:block;’
• Forgetting to edit copy-pasted data
• Trying to insert the non-appropriate code into an email (javascript, flash, forms,
video)• Alt tags •Alt-tag font styling •CSS formatting •Using DIVS incorrectly •Using alternate-content •Google’s

30. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
EMAIL BEST PRACTICES
1. From Address
2. Subject lines
3. Pre-headers
4. Button copy - “just one click”
5. Timing - research on send times
6. Test - Measure - Change

31. From Address
•Send emails with a
recognizable “From” address.
•Use your organizations name
and a valid email address in
the “from” line and remain
consistent in each mailing.
•Subscribers are more prone
to open messages and allow
images from organizations
they have a relationship with.

32. From Address
•Send emails with a
recognizable “From” address.
•Use your organizations name
and a valid email address in
the “from” line and remain
consistent in each mailing.
•Subscribers are more prone
to open messages and allow
images from organizations
they have a relationship with.

33. Subject Lines
•Words to avoid in your subject line: Confirmation,
Features, Upgrades, Requested, Follow Up, Discount Offer
•People want exclusivity in signing up for emails.
They want to feel like they are getting something that no
one else can.
Source: blog.hubspot.com- “The Science of Email Marketing”

35. Preheaders
•Add a preheader that
supports your subject
line.
•Make sure your headline
and your button copy
work together.

36. Preheaders
•Add a preheader that
supports your subject
line.
•Make sure your headline
and your button copy
work together.

37. Preheaders
•Add a preheader
that supports your
subject line.
•Make sure your
headline and your
button copy work
together.

38. Buttons
•A call to action must be a meaningful, concise link that tells your
reader where they are going and why they should go there.
•Avoid cliches and over used links like:
‣“Click Here” or “Submit.”
•Replace them with something persuasive; use an imperative
verb and an implied benefit.
•Communicate what is going to happen next

39. Source: blog.hubspot.com- “The Science of Email Marketing”

43. Source: Future Now: www.futurenowinc.com

45. Timing
• Email is homework
• Best day to send for click thru rate Saturday or Sunday
• Send emails first thing in the morning 6-7am
• Days with highest unsubscribe rate Mondays and
Tuesdays
Source: blog.hubspot.com- “The Science of Email Marketing”

46. Source: blog.hubspot.com- “The Science of Email Marketing”

47. Source: blog.hubspot.com- “The Science of Email Marketing”

48. When People Donate

49. When People Donate

50. When People Donate

51. Frequency
•Don’t be afraid to send emails. Increased frequency does
not increase unsubscribe rate or decrease click thru rates.
• Expected emails are the highest read.
• Newest subscribers have the highest click thru rates.

52. Source: blog.hubspot.com- “The Science of Email Marketing”

54. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
EMAIL BEST
PRACTICES
1. Add links and buttons for calls to action
2. Make headline text; alt tags on images
- 40% of Outlook users have images
turned off
3. Always have a “View as a webpage” option
(Images vs. view online)
4. Prioritize Calls to action:
Primary- Direct Response (donate or
petition)
Secondary- Forward to a Friend, Social
Media,Viral

55. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
EMAIL EXAMPLE - END OF YEAR
Feed the Children - Direct
Response - Convio
In Strategy, Assign
Percentages to e-Mail Types
EOY - 1st After Christmas
(send to all)
EOY - 2nd Dec. 31st
(haven’t opened or haven’t
donated)

56. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
EMAIL EXAMPLE - END OF YEAR
Repeat offer on
homepage

57. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
EMAIL EXAMPLE - AUTORESPONDER
I Am Second - Ministry/
Engagement - 2Dialog
Welcome Series (Issue -
change path)
Devotional Series -
BlankBible.org

58. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
LANDING PAGE BEST PRACTICES

59. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
LANDING PAGE BEST PRACTICES
1. For Direct Response,
remove distractions
(menus, etc)
2. Don’t repeat content
3. Landing page vs.
Microsite vs. Donation
form
4. Forward to Friend - URL
not the email

60. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
LANDING PAGE EXAMPLE
TV: Hanity Online: Drudge Report
e-mail
Mi
cro
site
Donate
YouTube Register
Blog Widget
PROJECT 1 Social: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr

61. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
CAMPAIGN RESULTS
Liberty Institute - Petition -
2Dialog
12 month list growth - 20k to
150k (750%)
Donation increase from
$15,000 to $1,100,00
Grew Facebook Fans from 0 to
35,000
4. Forward to Friend - URL not
the email

78. Maximize Your Email Campaigns
A/B TESTING
If you want to get better results then you have to test.
Create a calendar of what you plan on testing.
No better data than you own.

79. Q&A

80. ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Get presentation at KoineMedia.com and Slideshare
• Please fill out a feedback form
• Attend the Internet Advisory Council - open to
all on Tuesday 2-3 pm