FreshPerspectives: June 2009
‘Tis the Season for Nonprofits:
Prepare Your Email Database for Holiday Fundraising
Do you have low response rates? High bounce rates? Spam complaints? Is your organization at risk of being blacklisted by major ISPs?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, ‘tis the season to clean your data.
The Problem – Bad Data
What happens when you have outdated or invalid email addresses in your database? For one, your emails will never make it into your donors’ inboxes this holiday season. A once-loyal constituent won’t receive your message… but they may hear from other organizations! Second, if you’ve reached an ISP’s threshold of bounces or spam complaints, you risk the possibility of being blacklisted without even knowing it.
How do those problematic emails get into your database in the first place? You may inadvertently be accepting registrations with unintentional typos on your website. Or your house list may simply be getting older and your donors’ email addresses may have changed.
The Solution – Clean and Update
There are several ways you can clean and update your email database before your holiday fundraising efforts begin, including list cleaning and email change of address.
Cleaning and updating your email database are basic proactive steps you should now take to ensure your year-end email fundraising campaigns reach their potential. Not only can cleaning and updating your list help you reconnect with lost donors and improve email deliverability, but it can also help you avoid being blacklisted by ISPs by minimizing bounce-backs, decreasing spam complaints, and removing some potential spamtraps in your database.
Now is also a good time to take preventive measures to keep invalid addresses from ever entering your database in the first place. First, carefully inspect any lists you swap, rent, or purchase. If these lists haven’t been cleaned by an independent third party, adding these email addresses to your database may pose problems this holiday season.
Second, consider implementing technology now to ensure all email entries on your website going forward are accurate. One sophisticated, user-friendly option is real-time email validation, where problematic email entries are automatically flagged and corrected for the donor at the point of registration. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
‘Tis the Season…
Time to plan ahead for year-end e-fundraising and get your email database cleaned, purged, and updated. Consider the ramifications of a list infected with problematic addresses that could jeopardize your entire holiday campaign. Maintain up-to-date, clean files so you can make the best of this holiday giving season.
You’ll reduce your stress and be able to focus on building lasting, valuable donor relationships this holiday season by reaching constituent when and where they prefer to be reached.