One of the cool things about email fundraising is how cheap it is. You can just keep emailing someone without postage and printing costs telling you maybe this particular name isn't such a good bet.
Not so fast. There's an insidious hidden cost to thinking that way, according to The Big Fat Marketing Blog, at Unscrubbed E-mail Files Pose Risks To Marketers: Study.
Just as with direct mail, the longer an emailer goes without responding, the less likely they are to respond. And then the trouble starts:
Internet service providers are increasingly giving weight to engagement metrics when determining deliverability. They know -- and care -- which messages are and aren't being opened, even if marketers don't. And messages that go unopened will increase the likelihood a marketer will be labeled a spammer.
In other words, if you're sending a lot of email to non-responders, you could be quietly building a reputation as a spammer. And that could cause your emails even to your best names not to reach their destination.
The good news is, getting gifts isn't the only way to create engagement. If you get someone to do something, anything, that's engagement. So even if you've got a lot of nondonors on your email list, if you get them to sign petitions, take quizzes, watch videos -- anything at all -- you've got engagement.
That not only keeps you out of the spammer category. It also helps move nondonors toward giving.
