Megan Buchheit at #22NTC All about segmentation

1. All About Segmentation:
The Good,The Bad, & The Ugly

2. Session Objectives
• In this session, we will learn more about
best practices for email list segmentation.
We’ll discuss practical and sustainable ways
to segment your email list.
• We’ll also share real world examples about
what to do … and what not to do.
• Finally, we will discuss how using
segmentation can boost fundraising results
and can enhance relationships with
supporters.
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3. Megan Buchheit
Digital AccountManager
Lautman Maska Neill &Co.
she/her/hers
mbuchheit@lautmandc.com
Brought To You By…
Alex Agard
Managerof Membership
TheActors Fund
he/him/his
aagard@actorsfund.org
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4. 4
Segmentation allows you incorporate
more personalization and build stronger
relationships with your supporters.
It is critical to email deliverability.
It can help contribute to better results
and more revenue.
Why Does
Segmentation
Matter?

5. The Actors Fund is a human service
organization that fosters stability and
resiliency, and provides a safety net for
performing arts and entertainment
professionals over their lifespan.
We’re here for everyone on stage,
camera and behind the scenes to
support a life in the arts.
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6. Ways to Think
About Segmentation
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7. Layers of Segmentation
Full Email File
Email Openers and Email Non-Openers
Donors and Non-Donors
Mail and Non-Mail
Interest Area #1 and Interest Area #2
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8. • Opens: Have they recently opened
an email?
• Clicks: How recently have they
clicked on an email?
• Actions: Have they taken a particular
action?
Ways to Segment:
Email Engagement
Incorporating engagement is critical
for email deliverability.
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9. Email
Engagement
Used Every email:
Segment by recent email
openers (and clicks)
Purpose:
Improve email deliverability
Email
Engagement
At The Actors
Fund
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10. • After Apple announced their new
Mail Privacy Protection option in
2021, we were concerned that open
rate would no longer be useful for
email engagement.
• However, at this time, we have found
that it has had less impact than was
originally predicted.
• We are continuing to use both opens
and clicks to track email
engagement.
But What About
Open Rate?
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11. • Mail/Non-Mail: Are they
also receiving a particular
direct mail campaign?
• Mobile: Have they opted in
to also receive SMS
messages?
Ways to Segment:
Channels
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12. Mail vs. Non-Mail
• Used occasionally:
Mail audience will receive email copy that refers
to the mailing or a follow up email will only be
sent to people who received a mailing.
• Purpose:
personalizes communications,
acknowledges donor relationship,
improves results by making a
campaign multi-channel
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13. 13
• Donor or Non-Donor: Have they previously
made a gift to your organization?
• Level of Giving: What size of gifts are
they giving to your organization?
• Lapsed or Active Donors: How recently
have they made a gift to your organization?
• Source of First Gift: Did they donate to a particular
campaign or during an important moment for your
organization?
• Membership: Are they a current member of
your organization?
Ways to Segment:
Donor Behavior
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14. Members vs.
Non-Members
• The Actors Fund is a true membership
organization and provides benefits
(such as access to house seats to
Broadway shows or other special
events) to their members.
• Renewals take place year-round on a
rolling schedule.
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15. Communication with
Members vs. Non-Members
• Used for specific campaigns:
Only current and lapsed Actors
Fund members receive Renewal
and E-Renewal campaigns.
• Purpose:
Personalizing content,
acknowledging donor
relationship, improve results
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16. Ways to Segment:
Interests
Focus area:
Are they interested in a particular part of
your mission? This can be based on how
the supporter joined your email list.
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17. • Used for specific campaigns:
As mentioned, renewal campaigns
focus more on the membership
benefits, while appeal campaigns have
a philanthropic focus.
• Purpose:
personalizes communications,
improves results
Philanthropic vs.
Benefits Focused
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18. 18
Using Segmentation for
Emergency Donors
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19. Responding to COVID-19 Pandemic
• When the COVID-19 pandemic began, it shut down
Broadway, other live performances, and film and
television productions across the United States.
• The Actors Fund jumped into action to support the
performing arts and entertainment community with
vital services.
• Since the pandemic began, The Actors Fund has
provided over $26.2 million in financial assistance
and helped over 17,750 individuals.
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20. An Influx of COVID-19
Emergency Donors
• The Fund also acquired a
large number of new donors,
especially during the first several
months of the pandemic.
• Many of these donors came from
new virtual events to benefit the
Fund’s work, such as Stars in the
House.
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21. 21
What To Do With All These New Donors?
• The Fund had to figure out how to
retain these new emergency donors—
and segmentation became a critical part
of the strategy.
• The donor file was divided into
three key segments:
• Pre-COVID Members/Donors
• Emergency Members
• Emergency Non-Members
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22. Purpose of Emergency
Donor Segmentation
• Our focus was on donor retention –
especially tracking to see if
emergency donors would make a
follow up gift.
• This segmentation was used in the
mail and online, and we tracked the
emergency donors to see how many
donors made an additional gift.
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23. Campaign Customizations
for Emergency Donors
• Emergency donors received a
shorter email series during
year-end fundraising.
• They were sent a donor survey so
we could learn more about them.
• They were targeted with a monthly
donation ask.
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24. Test Results for Emergency Donors
• In December 2020, we tested including copy in emails
that specifically referenced the COVID-19 pandemic to
see if it would improve the response rate.
• While the average gift was higher with the COVID copy
included, it did not make a statistically significant
difference, and both the control and test received the
same number of gifts.
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25. What We Learned From This Segmentation
• Emergency donors had high response rates:
in some campaigns, their response rate
exceeded that of long-term donors!
• However, they made lower average gifts.
• From the survey, we learned that they were
focused on philanthropic efforts of the Fund,
not benefits.
• They were particularly focused on two areas of
the Fund’s work: emergency financial
assistance and social services.
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26. Moving Away from
Emergency Donor
Segmentation
In September 2021 – about 18 months
after the COVID-19 pandemic began – we
stopped dividing Emergency Donors into
separate segments.
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27. The segmentation had served its purpose:
we had learned valuable information about
the emergency donors and many of them
had converted.
The data wasn’t as clean as we would have
liked.
The additional work of creating and tracking
these new segments for every campaign
wasn’t worth it any longer.
Why Did
We Stop?
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28. Start small – and make it
sustainable.
Do what makes sense for your
organization, not anyone else.
Focus on what improves results
and provides the greatest impact.
Segmentation:
The Good
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29. Don’t make it too complicated.
Avoid creating additional segments just
because you can (no one wants to send an
email to 20 different small segments!).
Consider if you are truly using the data
from the segmentation – or if it’s not
necessary all the time.
Segmentation:
The Bad
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30. Data can quickly get messy—and it can be
inaccurate.
It’s an ongoing battle to keep donor data in order.
It can be worth the investment to clean up your
data, but you might not have the staff bandwidth
to focus on it at this time.
Changing standards and processes can further
complicate the process.
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Segmentation:
The Ugly

31. Don’t Forget:
• Do what makes sense for your
organization.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment
or try new ideas with
segmentation.
• You can reevaluate your tactics
or change your mind.
• Try to keep your data clean.
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32. Questions? Please reach out to us at any time!
MBuchheit@lautmandc.com | AAgard@ActorsFund.org