Nonprofit Marketing: 3 tips to increase year-end revenue
With the end of the year approaching fast, it’s not only retail industry marketers who have campaigns to implement. It’s also a busy season for nonprofit marketers – a time of the year for holiday giving and year-end contributions.
What can nonprofit marketers do to increase their fourth quarter revenue? We’re sharing three tips for you that have proven effective for others, and might prove useful for you, too.
Tip #1. Coordinate your offline and online marketing efforts
It can be hard to stand out in a crowded mailbox – both your physical mail box and email inbox. That’s why HealthConnect One wanted use both channels in its year-end campaign. The team had previously sent out direct mail including an appeal letter to its supporters, but they decided email might be a great way to reinforce the message.
By creating a four-email campaign around the direct mail piece, the nonprofit saw a 50% increase in revenue compared to the prior year. To see the emails and learn more about the campaign, check out the MarketingSherpa case study, “Email Marketing: Four short emails boost year-end revenue 50% for nonprofit organization.”
Tip #2. Provide “quick donate” links for previous donors
The Obama for America campaign wanted to enable repeat donors to effortlessly give again. This required a few steps.
First, they encouraged donors to save their payment information during checkout. Second, they sent out emails with multiple calls-to-action (CTA) for different contribution levels. Third, with one click of the CTA, donors could donate again without visiting a landing page or filling out a form.
The result? Conversion rates increased 300% on average when using the links.
To learn more about this tip and other tactics the campaign used, read the MarketingSherpa case study, “Email Testing: How the Obama campaign generated approximately $500 million in donations from email marketing.”
Tip #3. Test your donation page
The Heritage Foundation, a think tank located in Washington, D.C., used a donation landing page to test its value proposition. By incorporating additional value into a much longer webpage, the team increased the average donation amount by 189% and increased donation conversion by 74%.
The new page had four key differences:
- The headline better conveyed value and vision
- Bulleted copy provided reasons to donate
- Adding quotes built up credibility of the organization
- The donation form and CTA were introduced after the value had been clearly communicated
This is just one example of how Nathaniel Ward, The Heritage Foundation, and Tim Kachuriak, Next After, worked to optimize the nonprofit’s marketing. You can watch their Optimization Summit presentation to learn about their other efforts, “How The Heritage Foundation increased donations 274% by using MECLABS methodology.”
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Categories: Non Profit Fundraising Email Marketing, email testing, nonprofit marketing, Nonprofits, optimization
Direct mail can definitely be a reinforcer to whatever efforts have already been made online. If done right, direct mail will help with those consumers who don’t always approach your business through your online efforts. It also adds a personal touch. Thanks for sharing!