E-mail Campaigns of the Year: Trust for Public Land and People for the American Way

GOLD AWARD
The Trust for Public Land
Vote for Your Membership Card Image
Submitted by Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey

The Numbers
Number of Recipients: 143,646
Response Rate: 0.12 percent
Total Cost: $1,500
Income Generated: $8,208
Average Gift: $48.86
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.18

Our judges were impressed with the creative engagement device used in this campaign. The objective of the campaign was to increase the response rate of the renewal series and track how an engagement incentive worked to increase the number of renewed donors. To make it different from the regular messages in the renewal series, it offered early renewal donors the incentive of voting for the image on the membership card for 2012.

“Once people filled out the donation form with their renewal contribution,” CCAH’s Lon Chapman wrote, “they were redirected to a separate page with four choices for a member card where they could cast a vote.”

This was a creative approach that really paid off. The addition of the campaign increased October 2011’s online renewal gifts and revenue by four times the previous year’s donations, Chapman explained, adding that October was the highest grossing month for online renewal contributions.

“The 2011 online renewal revenue totaled $55,356, a 40 percent increase over 2010,” he wrote, “which is extremely encouraging when looking at the overall health of the online renewal program.”

Judge Joe Boland commented: “This package really encourages response and opens up participation in the card design; it’s a great renewal effort.”

GOLD AWARD
People for the American Way
Recall the Right and Re-Engage Your File
Submitted by Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey

The Numbers
Number of Recipients: 2,849,668
Response Rate: 0.17 percent
Total Cost: $1,750
Income Generated: $165,798.64
Average Gift: $34.78
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.01

Our judges agreed the copy of this e-mail seems a bit on the long side, but it’s hard to argue with the results. A controversial budget-repair proposal in Wisconsin was the perfect catalyst for PFAW to re-engage its entire e-file on a hot-button issue. The two-month-long, 17-e-mail series fueled a sense of urgency by counting down the days to a recall election that would determine the political fate of the Wisconsin governor.