Want to see better engagement from your email campaigns this year?

Greetings friends,

 

One of the things I love about being a part of NGP VAN is that we're creating the tools I wish I’d had during the 10+ years I spent on the campaign trail helping Democrats raise millions of dollars. And one area I’m really focused on right now is improving our Targeted Email tools to make it even easier for organizations of any size to go from zero to 60 and spin up a professional email fundraising and outreach operation.

 

Recently, I’ve been seeing a trend among many of you who are worrying less about “how big is my email list?” and more about how engaged your supporters are and how effective your program is. And, this is exactly what you should be doing to position yourself for success in 2021.

 

As you probably already know, one of the best things you can do to improve your list engagement is to focus on the quality of the messages you are sending out. Your supporters expect to see emails that look professional, polished - and, of course, mobile-friendly.

 

That’s why I’m excited to announce that this week we are launching a new Drag & Drop Editor in Targeted Email that makes creating well-designed emails much easier, even if you don't have any technical knowledge.

This new editing experience is much more visual and makes it easier for you to arrange your text and visuals by just dragging and dropping different sections and elements where you want them.

 

You’ll be able to add more advanced elements, like video, easily. For example, once you drop your video in, it will automatically create a screenshot and link to it with a play button. That’s a huge time-saver, and it’s the kind of complicated but common task you’ll be able to do right away.

 

Our launch this week will give you all the basics you’ll need to start creating emails immediately. And in the weeks and months to come, we’ll be building out the editor to give you more customizations and access to tools like Smart Links, A/B testing, and our query string builder. And of course, you’ll still be able to use our Classic Editor if you use tools like Themes and Reusables.

 

Look for the new Drag & Drop Editor in Targeted Email this Wednesday.

We’re also adding one other small but powerful improvement this month that will help you track how much engagement your emails are generating. Many of you have asked us to make it easier to apply new source codes on the fly when you link to your Online Actions forms, so we’ve created an automatic process that will look up any source code you add to your query string and if it doesn’t already exist, we’ll create the new source code in your records for you.

 

Read more about adding query strings to track your success

What else should I be doing to improve my email program?

Well, deliverability is, of course, key. In the past year, we've put a lot of effort into making sure that when you hit Send, those emails actually get to the person you want to reach and don't go into spam filters.

 

We have a dedicated staff here that focuses on deliverability and inbox placement. Our clients send millions of emails every day, which means we have a lot of experience on the best methods to deliver your email. Our team has been working behind the scenes to create tools to improve your results - like adding a process that automatically prioritizes your send list by delivering first to the people that we think are most likely to open your message. Because this runs in the background, you might not necessarily notice it in the UI, but you’ll get the benefit of improved deliverability with this optimization.

Read our Success Guide for improving your email deliverability

Beyond creating a great looking email and following deliverability best practices, improving engagement really depends on the smart use of your data - and that’s where NGP VAN can really help.

 

• Targeted Email helps you use your data to create much more personalized messaging.
  
  If you are just getting started with our tools, personalization is where you should be spending your time to improve your messages. When you take the whole picture of a person in your records, and then create a customized ask that fits their prior giving and interest levels, we know from our research that there’s an increased likelihood that your supporter will donate or take action.
  
  Read more on personalizing Targeted Email
   
   
• FastAction connects you to a wider network of giving.
  
  If you want to get better returns on your email program immediately, adding FastAction one-click links can make it so much easier for your supporters to respond to your ask.
  
  FastAction lets you take advantage of a whole universe of people who have given to other organizations in our network and your donors won’t have to go through a whole separate signup process if they’ve given before. Our research shows that FastAction users convert at a rate 9 times higher than other supporters, and organizations that use FastAction raise 8.6 times more from those users.
  
  Read more on FastAction
   
   
• Automation helps you reach more people with less effort.
  
  If you’re already experienced with our tools, you can really take your program to the next level by using Automation to create an email series that reaches targeted groups of supporters and engages them with messaging that matches their interests.
  
  These Automations can run whenever your supporter takes an action, such as signing up for an event or giving a gift. Automate your Welcome series, create a series to engage more volunteers, or encourage one-time contributors to give more by making a recurring commitment. Automation opens whole new avenues for boosting engagement.
  
  Read more on Automation
  

I’m looking forward to seeing what all of you can do with the new Drag & Drop Editor to create the kind of great-looking, mobile-friendly messaging that will get you better results. And, I’m excited to hear about all the smart and creative ways you use our tools - and your data - to boost engagement.

 

As always, feel free to reach out to me or any of our staff members with your suggestions.
We love creating tools that help you succeed.

 

 

Yours,

Mike Liddell

(He, Him, His)
General Manager, Digital

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