Cross Channel Engagement Email

The Gist of It

Provide urgency and motivation to encourage people to use a different channel. Also, make it easy to share social media posts from the landing page.
Use only one call to action. Don’t ask for donations or redirect them to your website.
Once supporters get to the landing page make it easy for them to share the content.

Transcript

We all know the reason the chicken crossed the road, but why did the potato run across the road? So it wouldn’t get smashed.

Wait, wait, stop me if you’ve heard this one. Why didn’t the bicycle cross the road? Because it was too tired.

I know, these jokes are painful. For many organizations, it’s painful to get supporters who use one channel to use another. How do we encourage our direct mail audience to donate on the website? Or supporters to share posts on social media?

Cross-channel engagement is not simple and it is no joking matter.

So, why did the marketer keep watching? Because they wanted to go Behind the Campaign.

Introduction

Welcome to Behind the Campaign.

A showcase of the best nonprofit campaigns. Here you will get ideas, tips, and strategies to create successful campaigns for your organization.

Today, we will look at 2 emails from Habitat for Humanity. The first email asks for cross-channel engagement. The second email is a reminder.

Organization

Many of us know about Habitat for Humanity and their work to build homes but they do more than that. They revitalize neighborhoods, respond to disasters, and prepare families for homeownership through financial education.

Habitat homeowners achieve the strength, stability, and independence they need to have a better life, for themselves and their families.

Habitat for Humanity works with homeowners around the world.

In 2021, they helped more than 4.2 million people. An additional 8.5 million gained the potential to improve their housing conditions through training and advocacy.

It isn’t all about the numbers. It is about the lives changed.

A home is a place to love and be loved.

Email Inbox

Both emails come from a person, not the organization. Having an individual’s name as the sender's name encouraged more supporters to open and interact with an email. In one test, we did, the click rate was 36% higher when the email was from a person instead of an organization.

Notice one email is only from Jonathan and the other is from Jonathan plus the name of the organization. My preference is to use both a name and the organization. I would recommend you test to see which one works better for you. It depends on your organization.

The top subject line is the first email Habitat for Humanity sent. This is a great example of having the call to action as the subject line and adding urgency. “Fire up your social media - we need you! The preheader provides more explanation if you need it. “Share these facts on why a home is so important.”

The subject line and preheader for the reminder email are clear. They put “update” in brackets so you know this is a reminder. This time the preheader adds some incentive to open the email. Help them reach “10,000 shares.”

Upon opening the email, a fun image greets you. Kids doing cartwheels. The text on the image sets the stage for the email. “Sharing is caring. Help spread the importance of safe, affordable homes for all.”

They don’t waste time getting to the point of this email. They present the problem in the first sentence. It is difficult to afford a house. The second sentence describes the reason. More than helping families, affordable housing “lifts communities.”

Then, we learn how we, the supporters, can help. Share a powerful fact with your network on your social media accounts. This is an easy call to action. It does not require much thought or planning.

They don’t even ask for a donation. One simple, direct ask to share.

To increase the urgency and provide a sense of accomplishment, they add motivation and a goal. “Help us reach 10,000 shares by the end of this month.” The sentence is linked to the landing page, where a supporter can share.

The email explains how sharing these facts on social media helps others know the importance and need for affordable housing.

The last paragraph thanks you. One final call to action happens in the postscript and it includes a link to a real-time counter.

The image, buttons, and links go to the same landing page.

Cross Channel Landing Page

This page has the live counter. Every time a person shares a fact it is recorded for everyone to see. The counter provides a visible, concrete way to see the contribution you made.

Under the counter, you see the facts that Habitat for Humanity asks you to share. Pick a stat that you find interesting and put it on your favorite social media site.

Reminder Email

This is the reminder email from Habitat from Humanity. They sent theirs 3 days after the first email

Stats say the best time to send a reminder email is between 48-and 72 hours.

Habitat for Humanity fit their reminder right in that best practice window.

Again, they use a great image. This time the image includes one of their facts.

Keep the reminder email short and simple. The copy here is shorter than the first, but the message is still clear. They provide you with 4 steps. View the facts. Choose one. Pick the social media site and watch the counterchange as they try to reach the goal of 10,000 shares.

Conclusion

It is too bad that more organizations don’t send emails like this one.

Habitat for Humanity delivers two well-written and focused emails to encourage engagement across channels.

This is such a better approach than only including icons at the bottom of an email.

The purpose of each email is clear. They explain the need and provide urgency and motivation with real-time results.

So, no joke, to Habitat for Humanity, who sends emails to improve cross-channel engagement.

Bravo!