Starting the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 27), I received 423 e-mails asking me to, among other things, buy, give, not to miss out on, urgently read, save XX percent (all the numbers you can imagine) and to HURRY! I stopped counting at 10 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 1. That's right — five days, 423 e-mails (and that doesn't include all that filled up my inbox on Cyber Monday).
Honestly, even as a marketer and fundraiser (translation: I should understand this digital-marketing dynamic), I was shocked at the number of promotional e-mails from both for-profit and nonprofit companies. In addition to the fact that I'm a Gmail user and all of these went into specific tabs in the new layout, trying to figure out what to keep and not keep became quickly overwhelming. So, like everyone else I talked with in an unscientific, unvalidated, do-it-yourself focus group, I just started skimming the subject lines. If this quantity in five days sheds any light on what we can expect for the rest of December, those subject lines feel even more critical than before.
I was reminded of this fantastic article from MailChimp, "Subject Line Data: Choose Your Words Wisely," which includes study data about subject lines. It does a great job of not just reporting out what some of us already know, but it really breaks down the data by industry, and what works (and what doesn't), as well as providing the percent of negative affect (and positive) when comparing certain words to other words. I urge you to read the entire article and really think through the data it provides. This is based on looking at 24 billion delivered e-mails with subject lines composed of approximately 22,000 distinct words. The authors had a very specific methodology and criteria to ensure this analysis would pass all the sniff tests and the scientific questions.
- Categories:
- E-Philanthropy
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.