By now it’s conventional wisdom: your audience is not a monolith, and you shouldn’t communicate with them that way. Online communications are particularly well suited to segmentation – thinking about your audience in terms of subgroups – but all communications can benefit from a bit of strategic thinking about what makes different subgroups of your list more and less open to different messages, approaches, asks, and channels.

If you’re among the lucky communicators with access to data from past communications campaigns, you can analyze past results by different groups and establish a segmentation approach based on the hard work you’ve already done.

If you’re building your segmentation approach from the beginning, here are three things you can take a look into for opportunities to better target your communications:

1. Level of Engagement: People who have volunteered for you could receive different communications than those who have just signed up for information; advocates who donate could be approached differently than advocates who haven’t donated yet; people who always read your emails could be approached differently than those who never read them (as determined by your handy dandy software). What different levels of engagement do subsets of your audience have with your organization, and are there ways you can communicate with them better to acknowledge their current commitment and inspire them to commit more?

2. Demographics: 20-somethings and 60-somethings not only get their information from different channels, but they interact with those channels in different ways. There’s evidence that men and women utilize online communications differently, and mounting evidence that age and geography have an impact on how people respond to direct mail. Does it make sense for you to think further about the demographics of your audiences?

3. Content: The Humane Society of the United States is famous (at least in certain circles) for effectively targeting dog lovers separately from cat lovers to inspire ever-higher levels of activism and contributions. Is there anything in your content — training versus job board programs, international versus domestic policy focus, child-related services versus senior services — that might make a difference to different subsets of your audience?

Segmentation is a complex science as well as an art, and is always a work in progress, but these days, as options for targeting messages grow ever-more sophisticated, you can’t afford not to give it a try.

Perhaps she’s right and email will soon join the rotary phone in the dustbin of communications history. But for now, email remains an important and effective commuications tool, albeit one that could use some strategic rethinking.

Three things to consider about your organization’s email list:

1. Size matters, but not as much as you think.

It’s axiomatic that the more people you have on your email list, the more productive that list can be for fundraising, advocacy, education, or almost anything else you’re working to inspire people to do. Of course that’s true, but focus on building as big an email list as possible often comes at the expense of focus on building as strategic an email list as possible.

It should be equally axiomatic that who’s on your email list matters as much as how many. 1,000 deeply committed activists from your target Congressional districts is better than 100,000 vaguely interested people scattered across the country. 500 people with the means to contribute something and personal connection to your organization is better than 5,000 people who are on your list just because they thought they could win an iPad if they consented to getting email from you. 100 people engaged, committed, and inspired enough to talk to their friends, family, and colleagues about your cause or organization may prove more effective than any other list you’ve got (so long as they’re the right 100 people).

So, size matters, but strategy matters more. Think about your approach to building your email list and make sure you’re looking at who you’re building relationships with, what you’re hoping to inspire them to do, and whether they’re the right people to move your mission.

2. Content matters, even more than you think.

Not very long ago, the state of the art thinking on email communications was that they key was consistent communication to keep your organization, cause, candidate, issue top of mind for the people on the email list. The conventional wisdom was that the people on your email list were kind of like moms – we just love to hear from you, even if you don’t really have anything specific to say. - So the priority was establishing a regular calendar, then filling it in with content.

For some lists at some times that might be true, but statistics on open, click-through, and conversion rates point to a new conclusion: what you say is more important than how often you say it. Assuming you’ve recruited the right people onto your list, more important than regular communication is compelling communication. Send an email when you’ve got something of value to offer or some truly important, efficacious way for the people on your list to engage.

3. Email matters. Make it more effective by integrating other channels.

Email is decidedly not dead. Not even mass email.

A few weeks ago a study revealed that 58% of people check email first thing in the morning, before doing anything else online. And mass email lists remain a critical and even growing component of many organization’s fundraising, advocacy, and education program – one that still delivers results.

However, that same study showed that more than 10% of people log onto Facebook first thing, 20% start with a search engine or portal site, and 5% head first to online news. By and large people still check their mailbox on most days and answer their phones. Be creative and test ways to engage your email audience in other channels. (Read the details of the study here: http://bit.ly/cFHXxW.)

Working in the silo of politics, especially at a time when the national debate is so uber-focused on a few big issues (healthcare, anyone?), one might assume that articles about politics, Congress, issue debates, and the like would predominate among the shared links.

Or, setting politics aside, misery loves company, right?  We assumed negative articles, or articles discussing negative topics (the Iraq War, the millions of Americans without healthcare, the appalling state of our public schools) might get passed around to friends, family or those whose opinions one might be trying to change.

Turns out, neither is the case.  The study showed that “awe-inspiring” articles, especially about science, predominated the most emailed list.

We wonder if this finding doesn’t have broader implications for how causes communicate with the people on our email list, and whether we might do well to rethink how we mobilize our communities – or at least test some modifications.

The general “formula” for email messaging, at least specifically for “ask” messages, goes something like this:

A.  Brief Introduction to the issue
B.  Stark description of the problem (or what the opposition is up to)
C.  The Ask – do this to help solve the problem!
D.  Reminder of the problem
E.  Ask Again
F.  Inspiring closing line about how goodness and justice will prevail over evil because of their action

This is such an ubiquitous formula, that we had difficulty finding an email that didn’t utilize it, at least for the most part.  And why not use it?

The NYT findings got us thinking: maybe, instead of focusing on the negative aspects of our issues, we should instead talk more about the amazing positive things that have happened lately, either because of the efforts of our organization or due to the act of secondary (or even unrelated) partners.

Backing into this theory is the old “peer pressure” adage that we also take advantage of when motivating action.  “Join the thousands just like you who are emailing the President right now…”

What if we simply rethought how we utilize peer pressure and combined it more with the positive, awe-inspiring messages?

Instead of sending messages that regale readers with the vastness of the problem, and telling them that their email to the White House is the solution, why not share inspiring stories of success achieved through collective action that leads to an ask that calls on the individual reading your message to follow in the footsteps of those other ordinary citizens?

Have you tested this different approach in your communications? We’d love to hear your findings.

Health care, midterms, stimulus, oh my! There’s a lot going on these days and maybe you’re asking a lot of your organization’s volunteers, donors, and activists.  Maybe asking so much that you’re worried about “list fatigue”.

“List fatigue” is the notion that the people on your email, direct mail, phone, and other lists are tired of hearing from you and tired of being asked to participate. They’re still supportive, but they’re “fatigued.” It’s a common explanation for everything from declining response rates to bottomed-out website traffic.

Three things to consider if you’re worried your lists are suffering from fatigue:

1. Prove it. How do you know your list is tired? What does that mean to you and your organization? Define the indicators, measure them, and make sure it’s not just you who’s exhausted.

2. Give it a rest. While we’re proponents of consistent communication with supporters and activists, we know that sometimes list fatigue is real. Maybe your organization is just on the flip side of a major fundraising push or grassroots campaign aimed at the Hill; you’ve asked a lot of your people, and they’ve delivered. It’s OK to take a break. Halve the frequency of your outbound emails, shift from a direct ask to a softer ask, and stay off the phones for a couple of weeks. Give your supporters a chance to miss you.

3. Mix it up. Maybe your list isn’t tired generally, just tired of the specific thing you’ve been hammering them with of late. Veer a little bit: talk about something new, make a completely different ask, tell the story in a completely new way.

Be sure to set your evaluation criteria, time frame, and measurement protocols in advance so you can be certain about when your lists are fired up and ready to go again on your behalf.

One of the biggest mistakes we see our clients make is not taking the time to really understand, and then take action on the knowledge, of who exactly is “in” their email list.  We hesitate to even call this a “mistake” because it’s both extremely understandable, and changing it requires a not insignificant new workload for your team.

That said, smart list segmentation can have a tremendous return on investment in the form of more action, dollars and engagement from your email list.  Below are three of the first ways to rethink how you’re using your list.  You probably have already done this once – is it time to do it again?

1)  Very Active vs. Active vs. Passive Subscribers. One relatively easy, but highly useful list segmentation comes in the form of slicing by activity levels and then tailoring the difficulty of your information and ask to suit each list.

Let’s say 1% of your list is very active subscribers who open nearly every email you send and take action most of the time.  These individuals could be getting emails that contain slightly more complicated information, along with more time consuming asks – because they’ve proven they both want and can handle the information and tasks.

Then, let’s say another 10% of your list sometimes opens your emails and occasionally takes the action asked of them.  These individuals could be getting messages that are more direct, easier to read and have quick & simple action asks.  As they become more informed and more engaged, those would then be moved into the “very active” list.

Then you have the other 89% of your list.  This group rarely (if ever) opens your emails, and thus rarely (if ever) takes action.  It’s often a good idea to step back a bit with this segment and put together a series of brief, education-oriented messages and reiterate the importance and value of your issue, with the goal of reminding them why they bothered to sign up with your group in the first place.  Since we are big believers in asking someone to do something as the best way to get and keep them interested with an issue, you should always have something for these individuals to “do” – even if it’s “Click Here to Learn More.”  Then, after a few months, take those that have opened several of the emails and move them into the “Active” list so they begin getting the slightly bigger asks.

2)  New registrants vs. long-time subscribers. It can often be helpful to keep your “new” folks separate from your “old” folks for up to 3-6 months and tailor your messages a bit.  The new folks can get value from messages that contain a little bit more background information (beware of the weeds however – carefully edit here!) in order to get more up to speed on your issue.  Those who have been on your list for a while we can assume already know a little something and so can get slightly more direct messages with less background data.  The asks can usually be the same – especially if they are the quick & easy tasks – but packaging them a bit differently can often yield much greater results.

Once an individual has been on your list for a predetermined period of time, you can move them into the “long-time” segment and just keep them there.

3)  Opt-In Source. Often, knowing where an individual came from can help you decide how to begin communicating with them via email.  Did they google your issue, find your website and spontaneously sign-up or did they randomly get one of your action alerts from a friend and decide to just sign the petition?  One of the best ways to turn a moderately interested person into an uninterested person right quick is to overwhelm them with too much information and difficult asks too soon.  And, that engaged person will be turned off if their interest and willingness to help isn’t being put to good use up front.  Thus, separating those who came to exist in your list “more casually” from those who were more proactive – and then talking to them differently, at least to start with – is an excellent way to turn that casual person into an active person and keep that eager person involved for the long term.

Utilizing all of the above segments simultaneously would be impossible – or at least more complicated than it might be worth.  So, you should think about your goals for your email list and choose one way to segment – whether it’s one of the above suggestions, or a different way altogether – and then run with it.  Test your segmenting for a few months and see if it’s having an impact on your open rates and completion rates.  If not, it might be worth trying a different approach.  The bottom line is your list is comprised of many different individuals who all want, need and are able to do different things.  Treating your list like one, amorphous blob is simply not the best way to take advantage of their talents and potential.

We hope this helps!  As always, we are available to help, so please be in touch if we can be of use to your project or organization!

Words, words, words, words, words.

Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada.

Are you annoyed yet?  Are you wondering what the heck this post is going to be about and just wish we’d spit it out already?

Guess what:  So do the individuals who are getting your emails!  Especially those who are using their mobile devices to triage their messages and decide what’s worth reading when they get back to their desks.

Having email messages that are short, focused and clear will help ensure your readers actually read your email, and it will also increase the likelihood that they will take the action you are asking of them throughout the message.

Below are three things to help you get to the point in your email messages:

1)  If you can’t say what you mean in 3 sentences or less…say something else. We know that your story is the best, most inspiring, most compelling story ever written – if only people would read it.  But that’s the kicker:  they won’t if it’s too long.

Be honest – how many emails have you opened where you just think to yourself, “Nope, not going to happen…too many words, not enough time.”  Don’t let people think that about your organization’s emails!

If you really must have this lengthy topic or story be the subject of your email, start by giving them a brief, engaging, preview and then link to the rest of the story once you’ve tugged at their heartstrings or peaked their interest.

2)  What do you want me to do? We’ve worked with organizations who think they need to “trick” readers into caring about their issue with a bunch of long and involved stories or statistics before they can even begin to think about making an action or donation ask.  First of all, see last week’s 3 things about making an effective ask, then put yourself in the shoes of the individual getting this email.  Don’t you wish they’d just get to the point and let you know what they need you to do (with a quick note about why doing this specific thing will have an impact)?  You care about the issue – you signed up for the email list for goodness sake!

Ts a general guideline, the point or ask of the email should be in the top 1/3 of the body, the next 1/3 of the body and at the end of the message. (Of course, test this in your emails!)   That way people know what you need of them right away and all the way throughout, and they have plenty of opportunities to take action at the point in the message that most compels them to do so.

3)  Have some personality. This one can be tricky.  We work on serious issues that have serious consequences, so it can often be difficult to separate ourselves from the headiness of what we are doing.  The trouble is, every other organization out there is sending serious, weighty, important messages too.  You can get yourself noticed, and engage more people, if you can stand out from the crowd a little bit.  You don’t have to be disrespectful or silly, just being a bit more interesting or down to earth is enough.  Bringing the tone down just a notch will also help you shorten the wordage and increase the impact of your email because you’re not taking yourself too seriously.

Hopefully keeping these 3 things in mind when you are composing your email messages will help you increase your readership, click through rates and conversions.

Remember, we are always here to help you think through your communications and messaging strategy, so drop us a line if we can be helpful!

1. Do you have a lot of little things to say – events, updates, member highlights – that are important to you and your list members, but not important enough to warrant their own emails?

The general rule of thumb for sending email messages is they need to be short, sweet and focused.  However, trouble often arises when you have a lot of “little” things going on that you want to get out to your members, such as drawing attention to new web content, reminding folks about upcoming events, or highlighting a special member or donor.  These things need to be shared, but doing so often becomes your communication strategy, which then leaves no room for actual messaging, action alerts or contribution asks.

Having one space – your newsletter – that acts as a “catch-all” for things you want members to see  can be a great sanity saver, as well as a great tool for driving other goals.

2. Do you have a hard time keeping up with your email communications calendar?

This can be especially true of small organizations who don’t have dedicated on-line staff.  If you are finding it difficult or overwhelming to create, and then stick to, a regular e-communications plan, a newsletter can be a great tool for helping you stay on track.  At least you know that every 1st Tuesday is “newsletter day” and you can work that into your monthly calendar.

Anytime a random piece of information, event or whatever comes up in the month, add it to your “for the newsletter” file, then pull that out Monday morning, type it up and hit send!  No more trying to juggle your beautiful and strategic communications plan with these newly gathered (but important) tidbits.

3. Are you ready to start segementing your list, or want to test specific ideas?

Having one regular piece of communication is a great way to segment and test your list.  Tests can be as simple as learning whether a PS or a button at the bottom of your email leads to more action; or as sophisticated as learning which narrative draws a better response.  Whatever you’re testing, the fact that a newsletter is regular, consistent and expected by your members makes it the ideal format to learn something from your people to then use in other communication formats.

1. You are not your audience. Usually, neither is your organization’s staff.  If you’re looking to make policy change, your audience might not be your organization’s current list of supporters.  Be clear about who you need, and be willing to really understand what will move that audience to act  For example, Environmentalists: you may care about marine ecosystems, but the audience you need to activate on behalf of climate legislation might be much more motivated to preserve clean beaches for their kids to play in.*  Never lie, but always be willing to message to the comfort zone of your target audience, which may not be the people you’ve already got on your side.

2. You can’t say everything you want to, at least not all at once. Your commitment to your cause, issue, and/or organization no doubt has contributed to you becoming an expert on the topic, steeped in the many nuances and details, the evidence trail that supports your position, and the myriad problems with your opponents’ point of view.  Resist the urge to try to cram all of that into your external messaging.  Start with triage: if your target audience could only take in three discrete pieces of information, what would they need to know to be effective advocates, donors, or volunteers?  No cheating on this one – narrow down to three discrete ideas, concepts, or facts, not compilations or greatest hits. Once those three bits have embedded themselves in your audience’s consciousness, what are the next three bits?  And so on.  Develop messaging that builds, always starting with where your audience is.

3. Tell stories. Weave your “three bits” into narratives that can be much more easily remembered, integrated into existing knowledge, and understood than random pieces of information.  Sticking with the environmental example, rather than spitting out statistics about beach erosion or pollution, identity an archetypal beach, one that used to be an oasis for family fun but has been frequently closed due to polluted waters.  Describe, or better, depict the consequences of the pollution – did it give kids rashes or worse? Result in dead fish on the surface? What is the picture your audience should get in their heads about these bits of information? And include a “so what” as the denouement – what can your audience do about it? How is what your asking of them connected to a solution?

Developing excellent messages is an art and a science, grounded in good information and proven techniques, including the three above in addition to many others.  We’d love to know what you’ve done that’s worked, or lessons learned from messaging that has come up short.  Share your thoughts in the comments, or shoot us an email – info@englin.net – to be featured as a future Three Things author.

*Much more on this in a future blog post on Earth Justice’s work in Re: Green – The Ecological Roadmap, A Guide to American Social Values and Environmental Engagement.  Download the executive summary here: http://bit.ly/yAlla (downloads a PDF).

Newsletters can be great tools to provide regular, updated content to your members.  Whether your content is safety tips, success stories, career advice or continuing education, newsletters can provide an opportunity to to put new content in front of members in an organized and predictable manner.

Newsletters are also hardly new.  The monthly or quarterly newsletter has been used organizations of all shapes and sizes has long as printing presses have been easily accessible.  I’ve heard recently that the old fashioned printed newsletter is becoming “not worth” the hassle.  The common complaints are that they take too much time, cost too much to print and mail and that people just don’t read them anymore.  In a world that is increasingly moving online that trend certainly easily fits into my worldview.  Although like many things, the obvious is not always the right answer.  We’ve written before about online newsletters (see “Is your Email Newsletter a Waste of Time?“).  To address the offline end of the question, we offer us this weeks three things:  Three things to consider before making changes to your newsletter.

1) What purpose are you serving? Are you delivering articles that will help your members keep up to date in your profession or with your issues?  Are you delivering a message through stories that keep your members connected to your cause?  Are you informing folks about upcoming events and opportunities to get more involved?  All of these purposes are valid for newsletters and all can be done through different mediums online or offline.

2) Who is your target audience? Whether you’re moving online, to social networks or changing your deliver mechanism in anyway, make sure you know who you want to read your stuff.  Are your most valuable members older and used to getting content in this format?  Or are they younger and looking for something online?  Is your target audience a community that has limited high speed Internet connections?

3) How will you know you’re successful? Are you trying to increase traffic to your web site?  Increase membership renewals, engagement or donations?  Are you trying to maintain the same level of service while cutting costs?  Knowing what a win is before you decide to make a change will help you evaluate it next quarter or year.

What’s your thought process on changing your newsletter?  Any success or horror stories – please share in the comments.

When trying to activate donors, members, or activists to take action, asking only once leaves a lot of potential “actions” on the table. Most of the time, asking several times still doesn’t maximize what your members are willing to do.

For anything that you’re going to ask for, you should plan to ask for it at least three times, preferably in a pre-planned series of messages.  This includes donations, membership renewals, calls to their legislators, surveys, etc.  A series of messages helps create urgency, reach more members and show progress through the campaign (or mini-campaign). This series of messages can be all email, but it certainly doesn’t have to be.  Here are a few ways in which it can work:

Email series: The most likely and easiest channel for many non-profits.  You have an annual fundraising campaign.  You plan a series of 3 messages over a 1-2 month period.  The emails focus on a central theme, set out a goal from the beginning and then gently push members to help you reach it.  

Or, you know that you have legislation coming for a vote in 3 weeks.  Before sending that first email blast, plan 3 email blasts, with the the second and third messages in the series increasing their urgency and push.

Email auto-responders: Don’t be scared off by the ‘auto,’ part, either because it sounds hard or you think it’s less than personal.  When users sign up for your email list or join your organization, is there something they can do right away that will contribute to the cause and get the more invested?  My guess is yes.  In addition to the initial welcome message (that has a follow up ask, right?), follow it a few days later and a week or so later with another easy ask.   The ask can be timeless so it applies to someone who joins in February or June. Recent subscribers are the most likely to be fired up and ready to act.  Don’t wait until you’re next campaign to put them to work.

On the flip side, do you have users who haven’t take any action more than six months?  A year?  Set up a short mini-campaign of automated messages to dormant users.  Enlist their feedback, have them take a survey or some other ask to bring them back into the fold.

The best part of auto-responders is that you can set them up once and then you’re users will get at the time you set (when they join, after not taking action for a period of time, etc.  You should, however, review/refresh these messages every quarter or six months.

Offline follow ups: There isn’t any reason that your series of messages has to be through one channel.  In fact, there is a lot of research that shows that making a touch in a second channel can increase the potency of your campaign.  Some possible ways to follow up offline:

Post cards: For your next annual fundraising campaign, insert a post card as the second message between two emails.  This not only gives you the additional touch, but stands out a little as it is in a different medium.

Direct mail: Direct mail also works better in a series of messages, but that series doesn’t have to be all snail mail.  If you have a series of 3 letters, try adding a touch or replacing a letter with an email message.

Automated Phone calls:  Many are not fans of ‘robo-calls,” and count me as one.  But in certain contexts, they may be helpful.  One popular method with advocacy is the patch-through call.  It starts with an auto-mated message on your particular issue with an ask for the user to press 1 to be connected to their legislator’s office to voice their opinion.  Consider inserting a call like this into your email series to make it quick and easy for your members to deliver your message to legislators.

Phone Calls: Set up a phone program to chase your email, mail or other communications. Using patch-through technology is still possible, but this can also be used for fundraising, surveys and other asks.

Very Personal Phone calls: Probably not ideal for larger organizations, but if you have the capacity to identify previously active users (regular small donors who haven’t given recently, users who took 3 or more actions last year, but none this, etc.), then consider making a really personal touch.  As part of a campaign, reach out to 10 or 20 users and ask them to help with today’s priority.  If they do, they are also a little more likely to pay attention to future messages.  If they don’t, you may be able to get some feedback for future improvements.  This could also work for your high value users (recurring donors, users who take action on every message): ask them to take the next step by recruiting/organizing supporters or more.

And don’t forget about:

Twitter, Facebook et al:  Social networking does provide another touch and more importantly provides a way for your members to share your asks with their networks (aka potential new supporters).  If you turn any ask into a campaign (or mini-campaign if that sounds easier), then be sure to tweet or update your facebook friends multiple times to show momentum and ask them to help. You’ll probably even find a few new leaders this way by seeing who constantly re-tweets or shares your updates with their networks.  Don’t forget to engage them.

So, the next time you think you’re ready to ask your members to take action, take a few minutes and decide how you’re going to make sure they hear the ask at least three times.  It can be a combination of any of the above.  And as always, measure your results along the way to see what works best for your organization.

-Stephen