Short, Sweet…and Segmented! 5 Email Marketing Tips for Nonprofits

“Resource limitations,” (i.e. staff and budget) can make it difficult to engage your supporters in reaching your goals. Email marketing is an affordable approach with a potentially high return. Email is still the most effective online fundraising tool,  is a great way to thank and recruit volunteers, and allows you to build direct relationships that strengthen your brand and mission.
Below are five tips and tricks for your organization’s next email campaign:
Make your message clearThis is particularly important for fundraising calls to action, as transparency is crucial to donors. Make sure that you articulate clearly what your proposition is, what your goals are, and why you want to achieve those goals. For a donor to support you, they need to fully understand and believe in your initiatives.
Keep it short and sweetImagine yourself as the recipient, checking your email during the workday. When you’re scrolling through a lengthy message you begin to skim through or stop reading entirely with the intent to pick it up later—only you never do. Keep your emails clean, concise and to the point—your stakeholders will thank you!
Segment your listsWhen short on time, it’s tempting to send out an email blast to your entire subscriber list. It is important to remember that not every message is one-size-fits-all. Each supporter has a unique connection to your organization; therefore it is important to send them relevant information. If a donor has made a donation to a specific initiative they would expect to receive a thank you email as well as follow ups as the initiative develops. Segmenting your lists will help personalize emails and help retain subscribers.
Be sure your email is mobile-friendlyAccording to the recent US Consumer Device Preference Report from MovableInk, 66 percent of all email in the US is now opened and read on smartphones or tablets! It is more important than ever that your email template is mobile responsive for your content to look clean and correctly formatted.
Take advantage of the digital mediumOne of the biggest benefits to email marketing campaigns is that your supporters can take additional action via a simple click. Try using:

• Links to your website to help your supporters learn more about your organization’s goals.
• An eye-catching call-to-action button redirecting your readers to a landing page to donate to a specific cause.
• Social media icons that link to your organization’s profiles to help you grow your online following and encourage public engagement with your content.