nonprofit annual event, sometimes referred to as a “progressive TED Talks,” sought to expand its reach beyond its once-a-year, in-person gathering in Northern California by becoming a digital media brand, offering content, resources, online events, and more year-round. Key to this effort would be a large and engaged email audience, facilitating direct communication and long-term relationship-nurturing. Because the organization covered a broad range of topics — from indigeneity and climate justice to feminine leadership and regenerative agriculture — its strategy needed to be both inclusive and targeted. Through its work with Bark Media, seven years later the organization has nearly tripled its email list; added three new topical e-newsletters, each with significant readership; has built a large network of readers and contributors; and counts email sales among its primary drivers of revenue and event attendance.
Email marketing delivers an average $40 return on every dollar spent and is rated by marketers as the most effective digital conversion channel. Not only is email marketing not “dead,” year-over-year rises in email engagement show that audiences value this direct line of communication with organizations they care about. Last year, email open rates increased by almost 13 percentage points and click-through rates climbed 1.3 percentage points, according to a report from GetResponse.
Amid an ever-shifting and growing digital marketing landscape, the humble email remains one of the best tools to build relationships with your audience and empower them to take action.
With an invitation to a subscriber’s inbox, purpose-minded organizations can sidestep the volatility of social media algorithms and the rapid-fire news cycle and instead directly share stories of inspiration and opportunities to engage. Using engagement-boosting techniques such as personalization and audience targeting, you can make email your highest-performing communications channel.
Communications That Inform, Inspire, and Nurture Community
Of course, emails only work if they deliver compelling content. In telling the stories of real people working for a better future, email marketing can tap into the power of emotion, delivering a tailored mix of words, images, videos, infographics, and interactive opportunities that spark hope and excitement, reinforce relationships, and attract new champions.
Purpose-driven groups have a unique opportunity to craft emails that nurture a feeling of community among people who share their goals and interests.
Organizations can highlight their values and actions in emails that uplift a steady and solid cadence of articles, resources, and calls to action. And once an organization has proven the value of its work, subscriber email inboxes can be a powerful conduit for actions that move the needle toward change. Whether it’s an environmental justice case study, a webinar on entrepreneurial funding, or a guide to responsible banking, tailored resources delivered to the right people via email can move subscribers to take the next step.
Best Practices for Impactful Email Marketing
Here are a few important tactics to keep in mind when crafting emails for impact:
Appeal to your reader’s humanity.
- As robotic AI-generated content proliferates, set yourself apart with emails that highlight the people behind your work — in the field, on the job, at the event. Uplifting the voices and actions of real people can inspire others to consider how they can make a difference in their own sphere of influence.
- Start a conversation with questions, surveys, or other interactive tools that engage your email audience and inform your future strategy.
Pay attention to the basics.
- Tailor email design to maximize the impact of a specific purpose or message. First impressions matter, and an attractive, well-designed email can help drive engagement.
- Ensure your email design is readable and receivable. A multitude of email clients and audience devices can create rendering challenges. Learn and adhere to best practices and stay up-to-date with technological changes.
- Clarify the call to action. If you want the reader to do something, make it clear what it is and how they can do it. The right design and content strategies can help subscribers quickly identify what’s most important in your email.
Test to hone your strategy.
- Remember that each organization and subscriber is unique, so there is no one-size-fits-all method. Testing a single variable — format, content, length, timing, design — over several sends can help identify what encourages subscribers to open an email, click on a link, or download a resource.
Boost engagement with automated emails.
- Automated emails outperform others, and welcome email series are the best performers. Welcome emails set the tone for the relationship and provide a preview of what subscribers can expect. Other automated emails can build on resources, offer next steps after events or special opportunities, or take a deeper dive into a specific topic or initiative.
In Summary, AI Reinforces the Need for Clear and Concise Email Strategies
Last year, AI email summaries launched on some platforms, reinforcing the importance of strong subject lines and effective preview notes that convey the email’s key message. As the technology is still in early stages, the effects of AI summaries will shake out over time and will likely present opportunities and challenges. One potential benefit: Tapping into AI’s ability to analyze customer data and generate summaries with information tailored for that subscriber. Greater relevance could lead to greater email engagement. On the flip side, AI summaries can yield inaccuracies and missed nuance.
Both sides of the AI coin reinforce the important framework that quality content provides for effective email marketing.
When emails use clear, concise language that resonates with a subscriber, AI and other technologies can complement, rather than detract from, marketing efforts.
What This Looks Like in Practice: More Impactful Email Examples
In our partnerships with beneficial businesses and nonprofits, Bark shapes email marketing strategies that align with each organization’s unique needs and goals. Here are a few recent examples of impactful email initiatives:
- Using email segmentation to drive donations and gain audience insights: The endowment arm of a major public university engaged in an annual day-of-giving campaign. It was a key fundraiser, but the organization knew very little about the interests and motivations of its huge list of alumni, and the list was highly unengaged. Bark Media worked with the organization to identify several storytelling pillars of the campaign that tied giving to specific outcomes for various campus groups. Through a social media campaign tied with segmented email journeys, we used the storytelling campaign to filter potential donors into their own interest areas, providing the opportunity to tailor subsequent asks and gather valuable information for future campaigns.
- Empowering a community of advocates: A nonprofit dedicated to developing equity-based regional fiber systems that build ecological health had a highly engaged email audience of advocates. The organization recognized an opportunity to expand its reach by empowering these champions to share resources, research, and stories with their own networks. To achieve this, Bark supported the development of a “community amplifier” program, through which hundreds of opt-in amplifiers receive monthly invitations to share. The program helped significantly increase the organization’s reach and engagement.
- A/B testing to increase engagement: Bark helped a nonprofit explore ways to revitalize an email newsletter with articles on purpose-driven business. Together we identified several variables and tested several format updates, identifying small shifts that significantly boosted the number of sessions, views, and time on page for articles over the previous year.
These are just a few of the ways that Bark collaborates with impact organizations to craft email strategies that encourage stronger connections with subscribers and help advance their goals. By sharing timely and creative storytelling that inspires and informs, these organizations effectively use email to build awareness and drive positive change.