How Year-end Fundraising Gets Multi-Channel Boost

Even though nonprofits are deep into year-end donation drives, it's worth checking off fundraising benchmarks to give those final tweaks and finishes before New Year's. MobileCause, a fundraising software and strategy firm, has developed a handy infographic based on marketing research and insights gleaned from its webinar attendees. A key takeaway is that branded, multi-channel campaigns raise both more immediate dollars and have more long-term value, with 61% of donors more likely to give again. The infographic cites Japs-Olson Company data to prove the point: Response rates are 6% for direct mail only, 27% for direct mail and web, 27% for direct mail and e-mail, and 37% for the combination of direct mail, web and e-mail. While direct mail remains the centerpiece of donation drives, with 71% to 81% of donations from mail, greater success requires combining and coordinating channels. It is also essential to make multiple appeals across channels, since research shows that it takes a minimum of three exposures to a message to generate a decision. MobileCause suggests the following tactics for maximum impact: a warm-up letter, an appeal letter, a follow-up letter, and e-mails every two weeks, all supported by website home page articles, customized donation form and personal communication (such as phone calls). Don't neglect to craft social media ads, too. Plus, plan to use video to drive engagement and response across channels--on social pages, e-mail, and website (Augmented Reality can even add video to paper mail, too). You'll be in sync with MobileCause attendees: 61% plan to add video to campaigns, 23% plan a custom donation page, and 21% plan an online landing page. By December, fundraisers should be reaping the results of efforts that launched in October, when website, donation page and videos were readied and the first year-end appeal mailed. But now that we're in December, there's still time for the extra push. Consider a Dec. 26 year-end e-appeal and a Dec. 31 last chance e-appeal, for example. For more data and tips, see http://www.acculistusa.com/year-end-fundraising-needs-multi-channel-multi-touch-effort/

E-mail Blasts Daily, But Tuesday Is Most Favored

What's the best day to send e-mail to get a response? Well, if you pick Tuesday, you are joining the e-mail marketing crowd. Using the exclusive e-mail campaign database from Who’s Mailing What (WMW!) for 2013 and 2014, Target Marketing magazine recently assessed e-mail volume by day of the week. The data ranks Tuesday as the most popular day for sending e-mails, with Thursday a close second, for both 2014 and 2013. A review of e-mails received by WMW! also shows that both days dipped slightly in 2014 — Tuesday from 17.8% of weekly e-mails in 2013 to 17.4%, and Thursday from 17.6% in 2013 to 17.1% in 2014 — but both days continued to hold the top overall spots. Those dips may have been due to more weekend sends for the 2014 elections, however. Meanwhile, the third most popular day was Wednesday, which took up 16.7% of weekly e-mails in 2014, up from 16.5% in 2013. Which industry categories are filling up digital mailboxes? Retailers send the most e-mails daily, followed by publishers (magazines and newsletters) and then nonprofits/fundraisers for politics and social action (causes), per WMW! data. Read the article at http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/day-week-send-email/

Tuesday, Thursday Still Top Days for E-mail Sends

Wondering when to blast off that next e-mail promotion? Most e-mail marketers pick a Tuesday. Tuesday was the most popular day for sending e-mails in 2014 (17.4% of all weekly e-mails), with Thursday a close second (17.1%), according to a Who's Mailing What! review of e-mails received. Both days actually dipped slightly in popularity last year compared with 2013, when they also led e-mail blasts, but that might be attributed in part to the mid-term elections, which spiked weekend fundraising e-mails. A recent eMarketing & Commerce (eM+C) article detailed the findings of WMW! on e-mail delivery popularity by day and category. No matter the day of the week, the leading e-mail senders are Consumer Catalogs, Retail Traffic Builders and Special Interest Magazines per the WMW! categories. If you want to dodge the Tuesday and Thursday crowd, you can e-mail Wednesday, the third most popular day at 16.7% of 2014 weekly e-mails, or send your message on Monday, fourth place at 15.9% of e-mail. For more detail by day and category, go to http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/article/more-emails-arrive-tuesdays-thursdays/1

E-mail Inbox Flooded? It Must Be Thursday

If your e-mail inbox is especially crowded, it's probably Thursday. Thursday is the most popular day for sending e-mails, with Tuesday a close second, according to the Who's Mailing What! review of e-mails sent between June 2013 and May 2014 by more than 2,500 companies and organizations. Almost 84% of all e-mails were received on a weekday, led by Thursday and Tuesday, as retailers and publishers blasted inboxes all week long, with many sending multiple e-mails daily for their various brands or titles. The top e-mail categories for Thursday alone were Catalogs-Consumer, Retail Traffic Builders, Magazines-Special Interest, Magazines-Business/Financial, Fundraising-Social Action (Causes), Newsletters-General, Seminars/Conferences, Catalogs-Food & Kitchenware, Catalogs-Children/Teen and Fundraising-Politics. For details, see http://www.directmarketingiq.com/article/thursday-tuesday-still-top-days-sending-email/1