Expanding email lists can increase donations

June 6, 2013

Expanding email lists can increase donations

Nonprofits often have to be risk-averse with marketing budgets each month, as their finances are often difficult to manage. This is why it's important to find affordable practices to spread the word about the organization and get people to want to lend a hand to the cause.

Subscriber lists are constantly changing
Email marketing efforts have proven to be cost-effective and strategic in the past, as long as nonprofits keep updating their subscriber lists and continue to add to their group of recipients. Recent research from email marketing provider Constant Contact revealed nearly 60 percent of respondents to a recent survey said they are constantly trying to grow their subscriber lists. Nonprofit managers are learning just how much getting contact information from everyone they meet can help add to the donations they receive each month and lead to greater support for the organization.

"They realize that engaging customers is a key aspect of both maintaining relationships and finding new ones – – and one of the best ways to do that is through email marketing," said Christopher Litster, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Constant Contact.

Nonprofits can get people involved in many ways
One of the best aspects of internet marketing tactics is that it offers multiple channels through which potential donors can be reached. For example, 92 percent of respondents said they use email marketing to get people to sign up for their subscriber lists on their company website, while 46 percent said they use Facebook to supplement their list-growth efforts. Finding the platforms where lenders and followers of the nonprofit are most active is extremely important if organizations want their lists to grow.

Email list growth doesn't have to difficult
Many nonprofit managers have a lot on their plate, and gaining contact information for list growth isn't always top of mind. A recent article for ClickZ provided a list of easy tactics nonprofit organizations can use to get people to subscribe to their email blasts:

• Engage mobile users: People are more active on smartphones and tablets and may be more willing to opt into email lists on mobile-optimized landing pages.
• Take advantage of visitors: Those who come in to check out a nonprofit in person are clearly interested in the organization, and their contact information should be collected for email lists.
• Directly link from social networks: It's easy for people to stumble across a nonprofit's social networks, and when they do, they should be able to easily find a link for an email list opt in.