Since the early 1990’s when AOL’s ‘You’ve got mail’ hit the mainstream, marketers have embraced email as the number one way to foster direct, one-to-one communications with customers and prospective customers online.

In fact, in an eMarketer report last November, when asked in which marketing tactics business executives would increase investment in 2010, email marketing came out on top. Fully 69% of them said email marketing would get a bigger slice of their marketing budgets.

2010 Marketing Trends Survey

Why? Because, it works.

It’s measurable, cost-effective and gets results – because people have voluntarily given you permission to communicate with them. So, it’s one of the best ways to build relationships, loyalty and trust online – key ingredients if you want to grow your fundraising revenues.

So, what does your organization’s email marketing/fundraising program look like?

Here are a few tips to help you get the best results from email:

1. Grow your email list

Use every opportunity and touchpoint with your donors and supporters to ask for and collect their email address. Ask for email addresses on your direct mail coupons, on the homepage of your website, at events, on surveys and anywhere else people are engaging with your organization. The incremental cost of adding an email address is negligible, so the larger the list, the better.

2. Offer something of value

Inbox clutter is a reality, so you want to make sure what you’re saying resonates with your audience. It can be as simple as an electronic tax receipt. Or an online newsletter, a special report or event notifications. Be clear upfront when you’re asking for an email address, so that you meet the expectations of the person giving you their information. And, make sure you can follow through on what you’ve promised! If you do, you’ll find people will value and trust what you have to say.

3. Send your first email as soon as possible after you receive new email addresses

We all have short memories these days! If too much time passes between the time someone has given you their email address and your first email, you risk at the very least being viewed as irrelevant, and much worse, being reported as spam.
4. Have a plan

What are your goals and objectives? When are you sending out emails? To whom? What are you saying? Are you saying the same thing to everyone? Whether they are e-newsletters, invitations to upcoming events, fundraising appeals or any combination of these, a plan that is based on sound business objectives (as above) can help you maximize your ROI.

5. Test, test, test

Whether it’s a content test, timing test or technical test, test every time you send out an email and track your results. The more you learn, the better your email program will get.

6. Evaluate results

I’d argue that the two most important metrics for email are click-through rates and conversion rates – how many recipients found your content interesting, and how many of those actually completed the task you asked them to. You’re probably asking “what about open rates?” More about that in a future post.

Email has come a long way since the early days. And, with costs low and potential for return high, can you afford not to invest more in email?