NTEN Webinar Roundup: Stepping Up Your E-mail Marketing, Part 2

By Abny Santicola

In Part 2 of the NTEN webinar series — Tactics for Finding More Online Donors, Members and Advocates: When Organic List Building Tactics Aren’t Enough — presenter Alia McKee, principal, Sea Change Strategies, discussed a few tactics organizations can use to get offline donors online.

Why go through the effort, you ask?

Because these donors know you already, they'll donate across channels.
You can deepen engagement and loyalty.
The Web shortens response time.
And it allows you to tap into their social circles online and help them evangelize for you there.

Tactic 1
The International Rescue Committee sent a postcard to high-value offline donors who had given via credit card, driving them online to a tax receipt with an e-mail collection device. McKee said IRC narrowed the donor universe to only credit-card donors to minimize costs, figuring that credit-card donors would be more responsive.

The result was a 10 percent response rate and 1,000 new e-mail addresses from high-value offline donors, costing the organization only $5 per donor e-mail. Plus, donor response to the online tax receipt was very positive. Among the comments the organization received: "This is without a doubt the best service ever. Keep up the good work." "Customer friendly, helpful and easy to use. Many thanks for providing the service!" "Excellent!! All charities should provide this service."

Tactic 2
For its "Photos From the Field" webcasts, the IRC asks constituents to vote on six photos from a group of 12 taken by IRC photographers. The photos selected then are used in a webcast featuring the photographers discussing what was happening on the ground when the photos were taken. The webcast audience then is able to ask questions.

Typically, only online constituents are invited, but IRC decided to open the webcast up and sent an invitation to a targeted segment of 6,000 offline donors within an already scheduled direct mailing. So far, it’s gotten a 5 percent response and netted 300 new e-mails. Then the IRC asks those who respond to be evangelists for the cause by inviting their friends and family to join the webcast as well.