Email & Online CampaignsBen Simon

@benjaminsimonMozilla

(thanks to @mattcompton, who I prepared this deck with in 2011)

Agenda

● Why email?● Anatomy of an email● Setting expectations and building relationships● Voice● Challenges of email writing● Good writing & bad writing● Four components of a good email● What to ask for● Key metrics● Landing pages & daisy chains● Audiences● List growth & churn

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Why Email?

Why Email?

●Because – despite some protestations to the contrary – it is not dead

●It is the best driver of action at your disposal

●It allows you to reach people directly – and quickly

●It will amplify what you’re doing elsewhere

Anatomy of an Email

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Anatomy of an email

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Anatomy of an email

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Anatomy of an email

Setting expectations and building relationships

Expectations & Relationships

●What should folks think when they see an email from you?●They should expect it to be:

●Interesting●Relevant●Engaging

Expectations & Relationships

●Senders and subject lines help build your connection●Send from a real person ●Subject lines:

●Catchy●Relevant

Voice

Voice

● Building up specific voices over time increases reader connection to and identification with the org. Things at play:

● The writing itself● The asks

● Who are our voices right now? Mark, Erin (only 1 email), Ben

Voice

●What does voice done well look like?

Writing

I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order,

you can nudge the world a little. -Tom Stoppard

Why is email writing hard?

The challenges

●69 percent of readers don't read; they skim

●Growing numbers read on their mobile phones

●Readers spend 2-7 seconds on most emails

●300 percent more email than four years ago

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What is good writing on the Internet?

Good writing is good writing.

What good writing is:

●Vivid●Clear●Gripping●Authentic

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What good writing is not:

●Dry and jargon-heavy●Stiff and formal ●Confusing

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The Four Components of a Great Email

Four Parts

●Moment●Theory of Change ●Emotional Hook●Identity

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Moment

Moment

●Draws the reader in:●What's happening? ●Why does it matter?●What should we do about it?

● Urgency●Why take action right now?

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"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do

before."

-Rahm Emanuel

Moment

●Crisis●Something awful is about to happen

●Opportunity●We're on the verge of something great

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Moment

●Bush has vetoed children's health care●CRISIS

●Congress can override him, but lawmakers must act quickly

●OPPORTUNITY

●There's a special election in New York●CRISIS

●If we win, we'll cut into the GOP majority in Congress● OPPORTUNITY

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Moment

Sometimes urgency is easy…

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Moment

Sometimes it isn’t…

“We have a fundraising campaign scheduled for March!”

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Moment

●Find the urgency ●News pegs

●Policy fights●Advertising

●Calendar deadlines ●Voter registration●Days of Action●Debates●Election Day

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Theory of Change

Theory of Change

●A cause-and-effect sequence ●that begins with something the reader can

tangibly do●and ends with the resolution of the

moment.

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Theory of Change

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#1: College football won't have a true national champion until there is a playoff system. Sign our petition to demand a playoff.

Theory of Change: MISSING

Theory of Change

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#2: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is pursuing a radical anti-worker agenda. Call his office and tell him to stop.

Theory of Change: IMPLAUSIBLE

Theory of Change

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●#3: Puppy mills are more concerned with their bottom line than the health and well being of the dogs in their care. Americans for Puppies Everywhere is rallying day and night to stop them. Contribute now to keep us going.

Theory of Change: TRUST ME

Theory of Change●“A majority of Americans want to repeal “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” but

right-wing voices are drowning them out. With a flood of calls, we'll raise the pressure until they push this bill over the finish line.”

●“China is Burma's only real ally, and if China pressures the junta, Burma will have to back down. So we're launching a petition today and publishing your signatures in the Financial Times—with a huge circulation among the power brokers of Beijing.”

●“New fuel efficiency standards for big trucks are critical to reduce global warming pollution, but the EPA's proposal for pollution controls is under attack by the Republican Congress. The EPA comment period is open until January 31st – and it's up to us to show Congress that Americans support these new standards.”

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Emotional Hook

Emotional hook

It's the way you say it. Make 'em cry, make 'em laugh, make 'em mad, even mad at you, stir them up and they'll love it and come back for more.

-Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men

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Emotional hook●Right now, I'm paying $4.19 a gallon every time I fill up my truck.

Meanwhile, the oil companies are set to rake in $200 billion in profits. I like making money as much as the next guy, but if I were making billions, I wouldn't be asking taxpayers for a handout. That's why it is time to cut the subsidies that the oil industry gets from government each year.

-versus-

●The top five multi-national oil companies have earned $1 trillion dollars in profit over the first decade of the new millennium. Our government has been subsidizing the oil industry for almost 100 years, and over the next decade, the American public will provide to the big oil with $36.5 billion in new tax breaks. With the price of oil hovering at $100 a barrel, it's time to end the subsidies.

Identity

Identity

●What does participating say about what kind of person I am?

●How are supporters like me the heroes of this story?

Identity

●We give because it makes us happy. ●We give because it makes us feel

important. ●We give because we want to be part of a

success story. ●We give because others are giving.

What to ask for

What to ask for?

●Some considerations:●Overall campaign goals●Organizational needs

●List growth●Fundraising

●Mixing it up a bit●Providing opportunities for engagement at all levels

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Whatever it asks, action emails should always answer (at a minimum) these four questions:

1.What’s the problem? (Moment)2.What’s the solution? (Story)3.Why your organization, and why this action? (Theory of change)4.Why right now? (Urgency)

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What to ask for?

What to ask for?

●Some options:○ Money○ Tell a friend○ Event RSVP○ Letter to the editor○ Make a call○ Email a target/sign a petition○ Read/watch/make something

●KEY POINT: ONLY ASK FOR ONE THING

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Landing Pages & Daisy Chains

Landing page

●Once they click through, what should they see?●Clear path to a single action (what the email asked for)●As few form fields as possible●As few ways to leave the page as possible●A bit of case-making●Share functionality (Optional)

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Daisy chain

●After someone takes action, you choose where to send them●This is an opportunity to focus their action someplace new●Thank them for their action – but do more than that●Some options:

●Donate●Share/Tell-a-friend

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Who should you send to? (Audience segmentation)

Audiences

●Who can you send to?●Everyone●Action takers/Non-action takers●Donors/Non-donors ●A specific location or radius●ID’d issue interest group●Different demographics (Id’d gender/ethnicity/age)●Clickers/Openers from specific emails

Audiences

●Who does it make sense to send to?●Who is it relevant to?●How difficult is the action?●Is it specific to a certain area?

List growth

List Growth

●How can folks join the list?●Site sign up ●From social media●Email from a friend●Search/Paid ads ●Donations ●Online actions/petitions

●Goal: Get as many people as possible to do those things

●Lesson: There’s no single way you’ll grow your list; you should always be considering how your campaigns will appeal to folks not already with you

List churn

List churn

●Every email has a cost: Unsubscriptions●Goal: Minimize unsubscribes while maximizing conversions

Action

Key stat: Average churn for nonprofits is 19% per year

List churn

●How can you minimize churn?●Make sure there’s a good reason to send your email

before you send it●Test before you send widely

Key metrics

Key Metrics

● action rate (could be donation rate, sign-up rate, etc.)● click rate● conversion rate (clicks/actions)● action/unsubscribe ratio● click/open ratio● action/open ratio ● open rate (at the bottom because it's really not important --

email isn't about getting people to open, it's about getting them to do something)

Some best practices

Best practices

● It should be as short as it needs to be – the average reader will take 2-7 seconds on your email, but shorter paragraphs are more important than a short email

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●Think hard about the subject line (concise, attention-getting, creative)

●Use a personal tone

●Test

●ALWAYS have an action

●Don’t go graphics-crazy

Best practices

●Welcome folks to your list – but do it with an action ask (or fundraising)

●Avoid information-only emails to wide audiences

●Don’t overload folks. Should never double-hit on the same day, and it’s best to avoid consecutive days when possible.*

●Don’t worry as much about the days of the week – people are always connected these days.

●Seriously, test some more.

●Think about your senders strategically

Questions