Some interesting and useful observations on the Obama '12 email fundraising machine, from M+R Research Labs: Surprises from Obama’s New Media Staff.
- Segmentation based on donor behavior is the only segmentation worth doing.
- Novelty worked ... until it didn’t!
- Shorter vs. longer? It mostly didn’t matter.
- Micro-goals worked for advocacy but not for fundraising.
- Facebook app made a huge difference for their mobilization efforts.
- Best performing appeals often had the highest unsubscribe rates.
- They hardly integrated with snail mail. The online program was mostly a separate entity from the direct mail stream.
- Clickers and visitors to donation pages were strong prospects for resends.
Not all these apply completely to fundraising email, but some do, and they're all good hypotheses we can learn from.
