E-mail Campaigns

Timed, Tailored and Targeted, E-mails Tell a Story

During his tenure as Stephen Wise Temple & Schools' Director of Communications, weekly newsletters like the ones above consistently generated a 50-60% open rate, and the opt-in list grew by 23% during his tenure. Regular newsletters such as these serve as content vehicles to drive web traffic, and help reinforce branding. Along with e-blasts to carefully defined audience segments, they are the bedrock of an effective and comprehensive communications strategy which includes targeted social, printed collateral and on-campus signage (both physical and digital).

An effective e-blast campaign must be precisely timed, with messaging specifically tailored to each targeted audience segment.

Timed

E-mail blasts are not unlike social media: Different messages must be crafted to appeal to different audiences and served at optimal times for each message and audience. Whereas most social messages are aimed at younger and more tech-savvy audiences and are best timed during workday windows where the target audience has downtime to scroll, e-blasts can be more precisely

For older audiences, mid-morning or early-evening e-blasts are most effective. Depending on the event and the age of the target audience, six to eight weeks of notice should be standard, meaning the timeline for crafting overall and audience-specific messaging and full campaign graphics could stretch three to four months (allowing enough time for iteration).

Tailored

E-mail is a much more delicate tool. For example: Optimal times for one-off blasts are Tuesday mornings, after the catch-up crunch of Mondays, but before the current week's business gets too obtrusive. There again, though, there are considerations that must be taken in regards to audience: A development e-mail to high-level donors does not necessarily have to be sent within the confines of an everyday work schedule, as wealthier donors are less likely to work a 9-5 schedule. Yet, if they generally skew older, mid-morning is best. If those donors have already contributed, the message should be more inspirational and value-centric: 'Thank you for your generosity; you can live your values by urging your network to contribute." If they are potential donors, then artists' renderings of a new proposed building or naming opportunity can be included. Ryan evaluates each targeted group to determine the optimal time to engage and the best message to do so.

Targeted

One attribute remains true across all demographics and segmented audiences: They have limited bandwidth, so should not be overloaded, and no single e-blast lives in a vacuum. One must carefully consider the tone and tenor of messages sent out in close proximity, and if the tone and tenor cannot be altered, the timing must be reconsidered. All of these decisions must be made with a journalist's quickness.

Tell a Story Through Content

Even engaged community members or brand loyalists will only give the quickest glance to newsletters and targeted e-blasts, much less go directly to an organization's website unprompted. That's why content must be front-and-center. Working within the limitations of an aging CRM system, Ryan was able to turn Stephen Wise Temple & Schools' weekly newsletters and daily schedule emails into content vehicles that drove engagement and web traffic. Each visual element and call to action button sends the recipient to the main webpage, which itself has multiple internal links and calls to action. When readers clicked into the website, each content page was peppered with internal links and calls to action, allowing users to fall down rabbit holes and investigate more content within the site.