Nonprofit Welcome Email Report
Who doesn’t like to feel welcomed?
It doesn’t matter if you go to a friend’s house or sign up to receive emails, people want that warm welcome feeling.
Welcome emails have some of the highest open rates, more than half of subscribers open our welcome email. Yet most organizations do not take advantage of the moment supporters want to engage with their organization.
And that’s too bad because 74% of people expect to receive a welcome email after they sign up. Supporters who get a welcome email show 33% more engagement with an organization.
Methodology for the Welcome Email Report
I signed up on 100 nonprofit websites, giving them my email address and first name. Then over the course of 5 months, I tracked which organizations sent me welcome emails, how many, the content in the emails, etc. I also looked at the first email after they sent the welcome to see how long it took and the call to action.
Organizations I signed up to receive emails from were large, medium, and small nonprofits. They ranged from providing humanitarian aid to animal welfare to religious organizations.
Highlights from the Welcome Email Report
Most Organizations Don’t Send a Welcome Email
Out of 100 nonprofits, only 46 sent a welcome email.
In a world where people expect to receive a welcome email after signing up, this is a shockingly low number. By comparison, more than 92% of the e-commerce world sends a welcome email.
The organizations that didn’t send a welcome email would email me weeks or months after I signed up. In most cases, I had forgotten I wanted to hear from them. And when they did email me, their first email asked me to donate.
Then organizations wonder why their email engagement is low.
Instead, build loyalty and trust from the moment new constituents want to hear from you. Use the welcome emails to tell people more about your organization and mission. Encourage engagement and tell stories. Just because they signed up to receive emails doesn’t mean they know everything about your organization, the programs you run, or the people you serve.
The Majority of Organizations Sent Only One Welcome Email
Of the 46 nonprofits that sent a welcome email, 70% only sent one. After that, they began to send their (not so) regular email communications. Some organizations sent their first non-welcome email 2-3 weeks after they sent their one welcome email. That is a lot of time between emails as you build a relationship with a new constituent.
This is another missed opportunity to share about your organization and to get people involved. Most of the welcome emails included content (30%), followed by fundraising (13%). While 11% of welcome emails had no call-to-action, at all.
On the other hand, 56% of welcome emails included more than one call-to-action in one email. The more calls-to-action an email has the less likely the supporter will click on the one you want them to click. In many of these welcome emails organizations ask supporters to read an article, follow them on social media, get involved, and donate.
Instead, this is a perfect time to expand the welcome to more than one email, with one call-to-action per email.
The Welcome Emails Are Not Personalized
Despite giving all the organizations my first name, only 17% used it to welcome me.
Based on research, personalization including using a person’s first name in the subject line increases engagement. Based on these findings few organizations even use first name personalization.
What better way to welcome someone than to use their name?
First name personalization is only one way to make an email personal. There are other ways, but that is a discussion for another time.
Download the full Nonprofit Welcome Email Report here >>
What Happens After the Welcome Email?
I continued to track all 100 organizations after I signed up to see what they would do. Here is how they responded whether or not they sent a welcome email.
Never Received an Email
That’s right, of the 100 nonprofits 34 never sent me an email, not a welcome, not a newsletter, not a donation ask—nothing.
Why are organizations asking for email addresses if they don’t intend to send emails? I would recommend keeping the form off the website until they are ready to start emailing. Or better yet, until they have their welcome email set up.
It is possible the process to capture the information from the form was broken. In this case, organizations have another problem to solve.
Many nonprofits sent their first non-welcome email between 2-6 days later. The next longest timeframe was between 2 weeks and a month before sending a non-welcome email. And 7% waited more than a month before a non-welcome email reached my inbox.
Organizations Like to Send Content And Fundraising Emails
The most common type of first non-welcome email asked supporters to read content from the organization’s website (30%). Fundraising emails followed close behind with 26% of non-welcome emails asking for money as the first non-welcome.
A few organizations promoted an event, told a story, or thanked supporters.
Not only do organizations lack a welcome email plan they lack an email communication strategy. It is important to know what types of emails new constituents see after they sign up. Do you want your first impression as an ask for money? Or would you rather give them something of value like a resource or video? You could even send them a survey so you can personalize future emails.
Final Thoughts
Email isn’t bad it's how we use it that has given it a bad name.
There is nothing wrong with sending fundraising emails. People get frustrated when they haven’t had a chance to know your organization and build that relationship before you start bombarding them with donation asks.
Create a welcome email series between 3-5 emails long. Each email should have a unique call-to-action that helps supporters understand more about your organization and mission and engages them. After the welcome series is over, put them into your regular email communication stream and make sure to deliver value in those emails before asking them to donate.
Do this and you will build a healthy supporter audience that wants to receive emails from you and looks forward to donating when the time comes.
To see the results from the entire Nonprofit Welcome Email Report download it here >>
Quick Case Study of a Welcome Email Series for New Subscribers
Purpose: To convert new constituents to become first-time donors
Strategy: Introduce the organization and mission. Build a relationship that will increase
engagement and result in more new people becoming donors.
Number of welcome emails: 5
Sent: Received the first welcome email immediately. Received the rest once a week.
Results:
Converted 700+ new constituents as first-time donors
Raised $30,000 over 2 years
35% open rate for all 5 emails
45% open rate for the first welcome email
Low abuse and unsubscribe rate
