All Hail the Email Welcome Series (Consumers Certainly Do) Angie Moore

By Angie Moore

So, ask yourself: Is your communication plan missing an e-welcome series? Do you have only a welcome email versus a series? Well, you should change your plan now. Here are a few helpful hints about a welcome series.

Priority No. 1: Make sure you are letting your new constituents know how important they are and how thankful the organization is for their engagement. Be thankful as much as possible in your email and communicate that they are a critical part of a larger mission and a larger community trying to make real change.
The focus of all the touches in the welcome series should be to build a relationship around awareness, information and the progress of the organization. I'm not saying that you should withhold from stating your needs and asking for money, but with a welcome series the new constituent should be learning about your organization and those who benefit from your organization, while you are also stating your need. And, for those of you thinking, "All of my fundraising e-appeals do that"—don't kid yourself. I'm talking about real relationship-building through sharing of information, and even a two-way dialogue where you ask for their feedback and insight.
If you haven't figured it out from what is above, this means you need to put your new constituents into a carefully timed welcome series before you flow them into your standard fundraising e-appeals. Each organization can be different, but typically a welcome series is spread over four to eight weeks with at least one touch every week (but you can easily test into what works best for your organization). But remember, these are not fundraising asks, so frequency should not be a problem as long as you are talking about the organization, what is relevant to them, their role in the organization, upcoming events (if applicable), ways to get involved and, most importantly, how the organization is making progress with the help of people just like them.

You've got the numbers and the guidelines—now go develop it.

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Angie Moore Author's page

Vice President, Strategy & Development
Eleventy Marketing Group

Angie is ridiculously passionate about EVERYTHING she’s involved in — including the future and success of our nonprofit industry.

Angie is a senior exec with 25 years of experience in direct and relationship marketing. She is a C-suite consultant with experience over the years at both nonprofits and agencies. She currently leads strategy and development for marketing intelligence agency Eleventy Marketing Group. Previously she has worked at the innovative startup DonorVoice and as general manager of Merkle’s Nonprofit Group, as well as serving as that firm’s CRM officer charged with driving change within the industry. She also spent more 14 years leading the marketing, fundraising and CRM areas for two nationwide charities, The Arthritis Foundation and the American Cancer Society. Angie is a thought leader in the industry and is frequent speaker at events, and author of articles and whitepapers on the nonprofit industry. She also has received recognition for innovation and influence over the years.