Effective Email

Pulling both Web links and Articles together into a single Labels menu item

Article: How Can We Avoid Being Labeled "Spam"?

When sending out large email communications, an organization can run up against the issue of being labeled as “spam.” As spam filters grow more aggressive, and popular opinion against unsolicited emails grows, an organization’s email blast can become...

Article: How Do I Know If People Read Our Emails?

Tracking the results of an email blast is an important step for an organization in order to determine not only the success of the campaign, but also to plan for future blasts. Open rates, click through rates, unsubscribes and bounces all give...

Article: How frequently should emails be sent to clients for on-line fund raising campaigns?

How often is too often for a small nonprofit (budget of ~ $1,000,000) to send out email appeals? Do donors get fatigued with too many emails with asks? First and foremost, start by respecting your readers when constructing e-mail correspondence. For...

Article: How frequently should email be sent?

This depends on the goals for your email, the type of content you are sending and, ideally, the preferences of your email recipients. General Guidelines: Mail at least once a month. Mail less often than this, and you risk being forgotten by...

Article: How Can We Create Well-Formatted Emails?

There are many small components that go into crafting a compelling email message. One must always remember that their constituents get multiple, sometimes hundreds of, emails every day, so emphasis must be put on standing out in the crowd. This...

Article: What's a Good Balance for text and photos in Emails?

Through HTML, email can be improved stylistically by photos, graphics and text styling. But many people use email clients that automatically take out photos, graphics and styling, or use mobile devices that show text-only versions by default. A good...

Article: What's a Standard Reference for Churn Rate?

When an organization maintains an email list, they must acknowledge that the information contained in the list is changing constantly. Some people unsubscribe, some emails become defunct, and people join the list. This constant shifting can work...

Article: What are some of the software tools commonly used for email outreach?

There’s dozens – possibly hundreds – of different email services that can help you to manage your list, create effective emails, and get them into your supporters’ Inbox. Several have particular relevance for nonprofits. VerticalResponse...

Article: What free software tools are available for email outreach?

First off, I never recommend starting with “free” (as in beer) as a requirement for software. Email outreach software is in general not terribly expensive – it’s easy to find good options for $20-$30 per month, especially if you’re not sending emails to...

Article: What’s the downside of just using Outlook to send personal emails to a bunch of people through the BCC line?

I’d advise you to look beyond Outlook and other personal email browsers if you’re going to be sending more than a few dozen emails, or sending to a list on a periodic basis. Tools like Outlook have a number of substantial disadvantages. First, putting...

Article: Are there certain days of the week or times of day that are better for sending out emails?

The best day to blast an email is the day no one else is sending email. Test, test, and test some more.  What works for an environmental group may not for a state association of small business owners.  It’s different for everyone.  Some have great...

Article: Does having photos in your email really matter?

Image-blocking (which is the default for many email providers, including Gmail, AOL and Outlook) prevents email recipients from seeing the images in the messages they’re receiving. While this can merely render images ineffective, they can cause b...

Article: What is a good email open rate?

Open rate is a relative and flawed statistic. Due to the fact that open rate is calculated based on a one pixel image loading, the rise in image-blocking software that is increasingly used by email providers and ISPs has made open rate an even less...

Article: Should we consider buying email lists from other organizations that have members that may be interested in our issues?

There are a number of ways to grow your email list. Buying lists is tricky, because of CAN-SPAM regulations, blacklisting and deliverability, and it may not be the most effective one for either performance or price. For instance, recruiting...

Article: What makes an effective or compelling subject line?

It’s hard to get your email recipient to open your email – there’s just too much email coming in, and too much else to do. But much more important than folks opening your email is that they interact with it, clicking-through to give, signing up, getti...

Article: What can be done to increase the open rate of emails?

There are a few different things that can impact your open rate. The goal is simple—to get your reader to CHOOSE to open your email (and especially in a crowded inbox, to open your email over another). First off, make sure you’re building a...

Article: Is there an ideal length for emails?

The general wisdom about emails is that shorter is better.  With in-boxes at their all-time high in terms of volume, people have taken to scanning email much like they scan websites, looking for keywords or recognizable items, and often filing things...

Article: How often should you email your list?

If your goal is to update a set of people as to general happenings in a particular field or organization, a monthly eNewsletter might work well. On the other hand, many advocacy groups aim to email their full list once every week or two. These...

Article: What's the best width to use when designing an html email?

For HTML email, maximum width should be 550 to 600 pixels to allow for the viewing space in most email programs and Web mail viewing areas. If the email is likely to be printed, like a donation receipt, you should keep to 550 pixels to ensure that...

Article: Is There an Easy Way to Test Emails Across Platforms?

Testing email blasts before they go out is an essential step in any email marketing campaign. Because of the different email clients and services that people use, an HTML email can look very different, depending on the software that reads it. The...