Nonprofit Newsletters That Engage

Tips to an engaging email newsletters that raises

awareness, strengthens your relationships and helps

achieve your mission.

Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Newsletter Frequency That Engages Supporters

Getting the Frequency Right

How Often To Send

■ Your goal is to keep supporters engaged

■ At least quarterly

■ Updating supporters twice a year isn’t enough to keep them engaged and keep your organization top of mind

How frequently are other nonprofits emailing? #1 - Monthly (43%)

#2 - Every other week (17%)

#3 - Quarterly (16%)-2011 Nonprofit Marketing Guide

of mind

Tip: Do you have an 8 page newsletter that you send twice a year? Divide it into a quarterly, more timely email communication. Shorter communications are more likely to be read and shared.

■ Frequency should be driven by:

■ How often can you produce fresh, interesting, relevant content?

■ What your supporters groups want

■ How often do they want updates?

■ Use a simple online survey to find out

2Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Newsletter Frequency that Engages Supporters

Tocqueville Society Email - Quarterly Tax Volunteers Email - Monthly

3Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Newsletter Frequency that Engages Supporters

Young Leaders Society Email - Twice Monthly Board of Directors Email – Monthly

4Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Newsletter Content That Engages Supporters

Target Content to Your Different Segments

� Create lists/groups with similar interests� Supporters can add themselves through your

sign up form

� You can add people from simple online survey

results

� Send a newsletter to different groups based on their interests

“80% of recipients Stop Reading emails they have signed up for because they

deem them Irrelevant.”

– Study by the Ad Agency Quris

Tips to keep it simple:

� Create your general newsletter

� Create a copy of it

� Add in a block or two that is unique for each group or just re-prioritize the content

5Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Can You Promote in Your Newsletter?

As long as you’re providing informational content, readers won’t mind some promotion.

Newsletter Content That Engages Supporters

“Over-solicitation” was the second most-reported reason why donors stop giving (32%). – Cygnus Donor Survey 2011

content, readers won’t mind some promotion.

What is a good balance?

85% Informational15% Promotional

“When subscribers read about the new book in the newsletter, they forwarded it to others and helped us generate hundreds of pre-sales as well as connected us to professionals at the local and state levels who could get this important

book into the hands of foster children.”

- Michelle Lovejoy, Director of Community Education

C.A.S.E used their online newsletter to bring attention to its new book W.I.S.E. Up! For

children in foster care.

6Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Newsletter Content That Engages Supporters

Keep Track of Everyday Content

� Listen to and keep a log of what donors/volunteers/board members are asking about.

Having a hard time getting good content?

Listen via Twitter for valuable content� Go to search.twitter.com, search on keyword

about your industry, organization or topic of

Sign Up For Regular Content Feeds (RSS)

� Sign up for a topic closely related to your mission –human rights, violence prevention, literacy, climate change, etc.

� Creates a pool of content for articles in your newsletter

� Examples – Twitter, Google, CNN, NPR

7Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Tip: How many times is the word YOU in your newsletter?

about your industry, organization or topic of interest.

Newsletter Design Tips that Drive Response

Use Hot Spots

Top left and right corners generally

have the highest click rates.

Test different layouts with your audience. They may have a different behavior

Bottom – after reading the valuable content, feature more information about your programs and options to support your mission.

have a different behavior than you expected.

8Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Nonprofit Newsletter Metrics

Tracking Supporter Engagement – Open & Click Rates

Constant Contact’s Nonprofit Customer Averages

(all message types)

Open Rate – 20% Click Through Rate – 12.3%

Source: 2011 Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study9Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

Want More?

Discover many more tips to improve your email newsletter in one of

Constant Contact’s free, live nonprofit webinars…

Nonprofit Newsletters That Engage� Understand what kind of content you should be sending supporters and explore resources for

fresh content.

� Gain the top design tips that drive response.

� Find out what you can do to get your newsletter into the inbox and opened.

Copyright © 2011 Constant Contact Inc.

� Find out what you can do to get your newsletter into the inbox and opened.

� See what other nonprofits are doing with their newsletters and the results they are getting

including examples and statistics.

� Finish with some lessons you can learn inside of your reports to continually improve your

newsletter.

This is an information-packed live webinar hosted by a Constant Contact online marketing expert. Ask

questions, hear the questions of other nonprofits, and see how to get the most out of your newsletters.

Register Here - http://conta.cc/NPNewsSlideShare