Jennifer Campbell, Jennifer Campbell Charity Writing and Publications Enhance your email marketing workshop www.charitycomms.org.uk/events

1. Sharpen your copywriting skills
CharityComms
Enhance your email marketing workshop
23 May 2013

2. What we’ll cover
1. How to get people to sign up to your mailing list
2. How to get people to open your emails
3. How to get people to click through to your website
…with great copywriting

3. The golden questions
• Who is your audience?
• What do you want them to do when they’ve read your
email? What action to you want them to take? What is
the purpose of sending this email?

4. The ‘secret’ of email success…
Make your emails useful to
your audience

5. 1. How to get people to sign
up to your mailing list

9. Tell people the benefits of
signing up. What’s in it for
them?

10. 2. How to get people to open
your emails

11. Scary statistic 1…
On average, only 23.25% of charity
emails are opened
Source: Email Benchmarking Report 2012, Sign Up

12. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
1. Keep it below 50 characters
28-39 characters = highest click rate in a study of 200 million
emails. Source: Mailchimp

13. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
2. But don’t abbreviate
Bad: Res conf, 5Mar11: 20 tkts left. Save ££ & see
Gov’t spkrs.
Good: Just 20 tickets left for our research
conference

14. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
3. Don’t use unnecessary
punctuation, or capital letters.
Bad: Housing Chief Will ‘Justify Sector Cuts’ at
Conference

15. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
4. Keep to one message, keep it
descriptive and simple
Bad: Discounted entry to our events, tips for
coping with chemo, prizes
Good: Tips for coping with chemo

16. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
5. Start where the action is
Bad: Greentree Foundation Newsletter March
Edition
Good: Bring the kids to Greentree park fun day
on Saturday

17. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
6. Use the right words
• ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘my’
• Your guide to saving money
• How the Foundation saved my life

18. • Numbers
• 10 things you didn't know about our planet

19. • ‘How to’ and ‘top tips’
• How to save energy in your home
• 10 top tips for marathon fundraising

20. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
7. Ask a question
• Are you drinking too much?
• Do you care for a loved one?
• Are you job hunting?

21. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
8. Put the most important words
first
Bad: New report shows there are over 2 million people
affected by floods in Pakistan
Good: 2 million people hit by Pakistan floods

22. Bad: We need people to support us by running
the London marathon
Good: Run the marathon, support disabled
children

23. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
9. Be urgent
For example:
Only 5 conference places left – book today
Petition to save badgers closes at 5pm

24. Writing killer subject lines: top tips
10. Be timely
For example: Show your support for gay marriage: Email
your MP now

25. Avoid spam
No magic list of phrases to avoid!
• Talks about lots of money (.193 points)
• Describes some sort of breakthrough (.232 points)
• Looks like mortgage pitch (.297 points)
• Contains urgent matter (.288 points)
• Money back guarantee (2.051 points)
• Why Pay More? (1.249 points)

26. Personalisation
Positive or negative?
For example: Jennifer, our 10 top tips on fundraising are
waiting
The jury’s out…

27. The ‘from’ line
• Should say exactly who you are as the sender
• Should stay the same

29. 3. How to get people to click
through

30. Scary statistic 2…
On average, only 3.32% of people click
through from charity emails
Source: Email Benchmarking Report 2012, Sign Up

31. 1. Make content useful, focus on the
reader’s needs

32. 2. Have good headlines, subheads
and pull quotes and stats

33. 3. Sentences shouldn’t be more than
30 words. Paragraphs shouldn’t be
more than 3-4 lines

34. 4. Repeat your call to action

35. Label your images well