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Your organization and its communication style is unique. Defining it will consolidate expertise, build confidence, and help you and your co-communicators hone an
Whatever you do—don’t just imagine your headline on your page itself. Consider how your headline performs without the rest of your page to
What draws people to your cause? What motivated your supporters to take their first action? What did they feel when they first donated?
SPOILER: it’s not good. Sure—you know you’re writing an email to 5,000 people. But your task is to make your reader feel like
These folks are some of the most innovative and transformative communicators in (and beyond) our movement. And they’re on a mission to help
For several years, I drove a strategy at Animals Australia to send ‘thank-you’ emails to action takers that were jam-packed with followup
Imagine you’re seeing a 25% open rate on your emails. That means whenever you send a broadcast, 3 in every 4 recipients will
Here’s how the internal dialog usually goes: “We’re torn. We see other organizations sending from individual people but how do we know if
Imagine you’ve been asked to have an important conversation with ... ‘someone’. Chances are, you’ll be much happier to have that conversation if
If we want to get the most out of email, we need to make it personal. If every message we send sounds
Most of us have a hard time keeping on top of emails from people we do know, to let alone give a second
The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that leads us to overestimate the knowledge of our audience. If you allow this curse
Sometimes, the purpose of an email can be simply to inform. But often, we’re trying to get someone somewhere. An action page. A
I’m not saying don’t do heroic things. Keep that up! But when you’re telling your supporters a story of injustice, there’s only
You’ve sent your action or appeal broadcast. It went okay. But you’re not satisfied that enough supporters noticed it or recognized its urgency.
There’s more than one way to build an email list. The various types of digital assets you can use to attract people to your list are your list building entry points. Choosing the right entry points can either set you up for long term success or agonizing frustration.
The very first touchpoint that brings someone to your email list is defining. That moment is responsible for establishing the terms of the relationship they will have with you. Will the interaction position them as an action taker? Or a spectator? Consider how supporters can best help your organization achieve its mission, and then design list-building entry points to mirror that.
Active entry points include:
Passive entry points include:
Simply put, if your core list-building strategy relies on passive entry points, it’s going to be harder to mobilize your supporters into action. You’ll find plenty of digital agencies keen to push passive entry points because they’re easily applied in a commercial environment. However, we have something more valuable to work with. So play to your advantage—optimize online action pages such as petitions and advocacies to fuel your list building strategy. Prioritize your active entry points. These highly-sharable assets will build audiences faster than generic signup forms every time.
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