Donor E-Blast Feedback

[MarissaM7]

Hello! Greta webinar today. We are a non-profit and send about 6-8 e-blasts to our donors every year. How could we improve our open and click-through rates? 

The email can be seen here: https://conta.cc/43bQhxT

[ACTIVATE]

@MarissaM7 I really like this email! You have tons of great images, which is really critical in today's digital marketing game. Your branding is solid and on point. The email is easy to see and read. If I'm nitpicking then I might consider taking your featured images from your articles down in the middle and making them full size. For example the photo of the books to win really grabs me so having that be full size would be lovely.

Regarding one rates... question for you: What was your subject line? Feel free to share your past handful of subject lines from past campaigns if you'd like! That really is one of the keys to getting the opens higher, and of course once they open they need to be delighted so that they are ready to open your next one! 

[MarissaM7]

Thanks for this! How would you recommend we lay out with the full images, just the same we do with the other articles? I have seen on Constant Contact before about using different layout 'shapes' to guide the eye and reinforce key messages. We try to use the Z pattern or the F which is why we've avoided using only full sized images in the past. I haven't been able to crack the Triangle pattern. Would you recommend using less text to achieve that?

As for subject lines. Here are our last few, starting with the one from this campaign. 

• Advocating, Reach out and Read, Umpqua Bank Highlight
• The Way Station set to open, Arcora Foundation spotlight
• The Way Station Open House, National Philanthropy Day
• National Health Center Week and Mobile Dental Rolls Out

[ACTIVATE]

@MarissaM7 I would indeed say go ahead and try the full width... and cutting down on text slightly to massage the whole formula is a good plan as well. The Constant Contact article and suggestion is spot on, but these are more guidelines than rules, and my experience has been that people enjoy the juicier images more often than not. On mobile you are covered either way because the platform stacks the smaller images to be full width, so it's really just an idea for improving the desktop experience. That being said, either path is necessarily better than another across the board. Since your goal is to improve opens and improve engagement, this suggestion came to mind to test! 

Your subject lines are great - absolutely solid - but what comes to mind is to make them more intriguing by perhaps only using snippets or open ended questions/comments. "Will we see you there?" for the open house "It's that time of year again!" leading to the reveal of National Health Center Week. You can even have more flexibility in being intriguing and direct at the same time by using the subject line along with the Pre-Header text. Since you can customize the pre-header text as well as the subject line you have tons of "real estate" to try new things in that preview pane experience for the readers. 

What are your average open rates and click rates on the past 5-6 emails?

[MarissaM7]

Great suggestions on the subject line zhuzhing! Thanks.

We sent 7 Donor Eblasts over the last year and our average open rate has been 44.4%. Average click rate is 5%,  

[ACTIVATE]

@MarissaM7 ok got it, and wow that's a fantastic open rate. That means your list is very ready to hear from you! So any improvement on that into the 50% or 60% zone is truly something to celebrate. Your click rate is good as well! 

[MarissaM7]

Yeah! We're pretty proud of our open rate but we could always do better! Thanks for all your help.