Email fundraising

There are hundreds if not thousands of people online offering technical and content advice on email marketing for business as well as for fundraising or campaigning. I'm not a technical expert so can't pretend to understand detailed coding or firewall issues but I do know a thing or two about content and about engaging readers.

Why do we want to engage readers? Because engaged readers are much more likely to do what you're asking them to do! Note the implication in that last sentence... you have to have a clear and compelling 'ASK' in every email whether it's for funds, to buy something, to sign-up to a campaign, to share with a friend or just to get further information - include an action.

I received a well-intentioned and polite email earlier this week from someone telling me about a schools reading project in Wales. Here's how it broke down:

Catching up on some long overdue reading this weekend, I spotted an article in Third Sector magazine by Sophie Hudson under the headline:

Nuisance marketing charities face fines

It transpires that The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO - the team that polices the Data Protection Act) has been granted new powers to fine organisations for ‘making unwanted contact with the public’.

This could be huge news for all organisations that run individual marketing or fundraising campaigns for four reasons:

Each time we see a significant evolution in the way consumers communicate there is always a temptation to jump to the conclusion that the latest method will surely kill-off the previous methods.

As such, following the incredibly rapid adoption of Social Media over the last few years it’s not surprising that people are having the same discussions again – ’surely if everyone is tweeting or facebooking then they’ll no longer be using email?’.

However, it turns-out based on a growing body of research evidence that the rumours of Email’s imminent demise at the hands of Social Networkers are incorrect...

Click here to read on...