Blake Toman, Market Research Analyst
It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through 2024! As you evaluate your program's communications, it’s important to benchmark your performance metrics against industry-wide data and identify the digital trends that will help you get the most out of your remaining campaigns.
We’ve analyzed over two million email distributions across 350 unique messages sent by our clients in 2024 and identified three insights you can leverage today to optimize your program's communications.
Make Your Message Mobile
Nearly one-fifth of the people reading advocacy emails open them on a mobile device, with mobile readership peaking during March and April. Your readers are on the go, so your messages should be, too! Ask yourself these three questions to put yourself in the shoes of your mobile audience:
Is my subject line concise?
On mobile devices, readers only see the first 30 characters in a subject line, half of what they would see on a desktop. Keeping your subject lines short, engaging, and clear will convey the information your mobile readers need to know to open your message.
Have I checked how it looks on mobile?
Space is a commodity on mobile devices. The same graphics and layouts that look good on a desktop can be difficult to read and distorted on a smartphone. If it makes readers zoom in, zoom out, or infinitely scroll, they may still open your email. But they won’t read or act on it.
Is the most important information above the fold?
"Above the fold” refers to the part of the newspaper you see when you first pick it up off the rack. Think the front page of the New York Times. You want your call to action, the information you think is most important, clearly visible when they first open the email. No scrolling required. Getting your audience to act once is hard enough. Don’t make it harder!
When the answer to each question is "Yes," you'll be more likely to catch your reader's attention, keep their interest, and move them to act.
Leverage Your Leaders
Every well-crafted message has a singular goal. And the truly persuasive ones have content that makes the goal obvious to everyone, even those completely new to advocacy.
It's tempting to focus exclusively on crafting the perfect message. But the messenger can matter just as much, if not more, to your message's success.
If You Want People to Act, Go Up the Ladder
Emails sent from the Head of Government Affairs, President, or Chief Executive Officer had an average click-through rate of over 5%, double that of PAC Administrators or PAC Board Members. When the person asking is a respected leader in your organization, your readers are twice as likely to act.
Whether you want your members to contribute to the PAC or email their legislator, when action is your goal, having your message come from senior leadership will help you achieve it.
If You Want People to Read, Stay on Their Level
Action isn't always the goal. Sometimes you want to educate your audience about the importance of advocacy and inform them of the legislative and regulatory issues facing your industry.
Senior leadership is much less effective at building awareness than prompting action, with an average open rate of 45%. However, messages from Department Directors and Business Unit Leaders had an open rate of 70%! When information matters more than action, leverage the leaders your readers see every day.
The fundraising cliché is “people give to people.”
The data shows that people give to the right person, when asked the right way, at the right time.
We’ve covered the right person and the right way, now let's find the right time.
Monday Morning is Your Message’s Best Friend, Not Its Enemy
Does Monday morning fill you with dread? If so, you’re not alone.
A study conducted in 2015 by Plusnet, a leading British ISP, pinpointed Monday at 11:17 a.m. as the peak time of unhappiness for its workforce. The fear around Mondays has led some organizations to avoid it altogether for email. After all, that's the last thing you want to associate your program with, right?
The data says otherwise.
Solicitations sent on Monday had the second-highest average open rate, 44.1%, and the highest click-through rate, 5.4%, among all weekdays and times. And solicitations sent on Monday between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Eastern Time had the highest average click-through rate of any email, a whopping 7.6%.
If giving is your message's goal, then avoiding Monday morning may be asking not to receive!
Dive Deeper into Your Organization’s Data
Every organization is different, and what works for one program may not work for yours! As you plan for your program, reach out to us about the data from your efforts so far, and let's work together to find ways to ensure your messages reach not only your audience but also your organization's goals.
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