DMFA E-mail Renewal Package of the Year: amfAR Holiday/Year-End E-mail

“We realize that during this time of the year people have very little time, so we created these postcard formats,” Habig says. “This format was particularly attractive with the calendar on it, copy that’s very succinct and making the case to give, and making sure all of the copy and images when they view in someone’s e-mail client stay above the fold.”

The e-mail was also accompanied by a lightbox on amfAR’s website, a transparency that covered the homepage and had similar graphics as the e-mail itself.

The e-mail hit donors on Dec. 29, just three days before the new year. It went to 59,121 amfAR donors and had a response rate of 0.40 percent, bringing in $40,480 by itself. The cost to raise a dollar was just 6 cents, and the average gift was $176.

Further, the entire integrated campaign — prior e-mails, direct mail, the lightbox, banner ads, targeted website copy, etc. — raised $115,825 from 681 gifts, with a response rate of 0.57 percent.

Habig says this e-mail was so successful in lifting the overall campaign for a number of reasons. For starters, it had a very clean design that recipients’ eyes were drawn to. Also, the deadline highlighted by the calendar with such a short time to respond created an enticing sense of urgency. Also, the message was well-branded with amfAR’s overall brand, and the look and feel were very consistent with all the organization’s other mediums. Keeping everything above the fold also was key, providing a strong visual impact that got the entire message across quickly. And there was a very easy way to click to donate and go straight to the donation form to get that conversion.

But, Habig stresses, the integration with a larger multichannel campaign was perhaps the most important aspect of this winner.