We’ll be closing the survey for the 2021 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report soon. Please take the survey now and be a part of the report!
While the full 2021 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report won’t be released until mid-January, I thought I’d share some preliminary data with you.
We asked nonprofit communications staff about the use of various email best practices in 2020. Based on the results to date, we see LOTS of room for improvement!
Email List Building
Only 7% of nonprofits report using a quiz as an email list builder.
Only 27% require email registration in order to access some kind of gated content, like a special download.
Email List Engagement
Only 16% of nonprofits have an email re-engagement campaign for unengaged subscribers of at least three emails.
Only 25% of nonprofits have a welcome series for new subscribers of at least three emails.
Just under half, 47% of nonprofits, say they send emails monthly or less often. (We recommend at least twice a month if not more often.)
Email List Performance
Only 28% do split or A/B testing of email subject lines.
We also asked about the use of UTM codes. UTM codes are code snippets you add to the end of URLs so that you can track the performance of that particular link in an email or social media post. The majority of nonprofits, 59%, said they didn’t know how to use UTM codes. Another 13% said they knew how to use them but didn’t. Only 15% said they used them regularly, with another 13% saying they used them occasionally.
Some Good News . . .
A majority of nonprofits, 58%, reported personalizing subject lines or email body copy by merging in names or other personal information.
We have lots and lots of room for improvement in 2021. If your email marketing results aren’t all you want them to be, implement some of the tactics mentioned in this post.
We’ll be closing the survey for the 2021 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report soon. Please take the survey now and be a part of the report!
