I signed up to 100 charity email lists
Glyn Thomas
Email: glyn@glyn-thomas.co.uk
Twitter: @glynmthomas
Why?
1. Deliverability
2. Welcome journey /
first 8 weeks
3. 'Email doesn't work for fundraising.'
Two email addresses
- One for general sign up forms
- One for petitions
Which organisations?
- A mixture of small, medium & large
- Organisations that do some campaigning/advocacy
The rules
- Tried again next day if it didn't work or couldn't find the form
- Only filled in mandatory form fields
- Only opted in to receive emails
What happened?
98
- 1 form broken
- 1 form so complicated I gave up
13
- could not find a way of getting on the email list
- found other organisations instead
3
- required me to create an account
17
- not one single email
- no confirmation
- no welcome
2
- no email
- a letter in the post
Welcome emails
- 31 - no welcome email
- 48 - one welcome email
- 2 - two welcome emails

29
- sent welcome email
- no email since
19
- one email a month
9
- one email a fortnight
18
- one email per week
6
- two emails per week
Deliverability
- 51% of emails go to promotions
- 48% go to main inbox
- 1% spam
Emails in promotions tab
Heavily branded template
- Around half the emails in promotions
- Banner at the top
- Lots of images
No preheader text
Images not displaying?
View this email in your browser
Can't see this email?
View
Logo
Salutation - not personalised
Dear Supporter
Dear Friend
Emails in priority inbox
Simple template
1-2 images
Logo
Preheader text
or the first line of the email at least
Confirmation
- Double opt-in
- 30%
- More than half went to spam
Email content
- 36% of emails were predominantly donation asks
- 26% of emails were newsletters
- 20% of emails were campaign actions
- 9% of emails welcome emails
- 9% reporting back
16
- First email I received was a donation ask
6
- All I received was donation asks
Reactivation
5 top tips
1. Test the sign-up process and how emails look in different email clients regularly
2. Keep your email templates and designs simple
3. Email more frequently, especially during first 8 weeks (welcome journey)
4. Include plenty of opportunities for supporters to engage actively with your content
5. Be strategic with the donation asks - use email to create a dialogue and build a relationship with supporters
Thanks for listening!
glyn@glyn-thomas.co.uk
100 email lists
By Glyn Thomas
100 email lists
Charity Meeting March 2018