And the Winners Are … the 2014 FundRaising Success Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence
- Targeted messaging with variable copy based on the recipient’s 2013 donor status;
- Emails segmented by recipient time zone; each recipient received a personalized message with increasingly urgent copy focused on the midnight deadline; and
- A Dec. 31 landing page with a countdown clock tied to the viewer’s local time zone.
The campaign was sent to the full email file, including low-, mid- and high-level donors, activists and prospects (but excluding sustainers and previous 30-day donors, who each received customized versions of the Dec. 31 morning email only).
The campaign resulted in significant year-over-year gains, with clickthrough rates increasing by 41 percent, 37 percent more revenue and 30 percent higher average gift. And … the unsubscribe rate actually decreased by 18 percent — proving that your supporters really don’t mind hearing from you often, as long as you have something to say.
Email (less than $10 million)
October Belo Cipriani Appeal
Guide Dogs for the Blind
(Submitted by Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey)
The Numbers
Recipients: 62,952
Response rate: 0.17 percent
Total cost: $500
Income generated: $25,732
Average gift: $238.26
Cost to raise a dollar: $0.019
The first thing our judges liked about this year-end email campaign was the compelling and heartfelt story presented by guide-dog recipient Belo Cipriani. The message was crafted to tell the story of Belo and his guide dog, Madge, but it highlighted the donor as the true hero for making the pairing of guide-dog teams possible.
The second email in the two-email series kept the Belo connection. But rather than repeat his story, the second email featured Belo educating recipients about the importance of their year-end gifts and why it was so critical that they gave to Guide Dogs for the Blind specifically at that time.
But our judges really took notice when it came to the results — specifically a 99 percent larger average gift over the previous year.
