What’s in an Email [Sender] Name?
Experiment No. 001
Does Sender Name Make a Difference?
The inbox preview consists of 3 parts, the sender name, subject line, and preheader.
Sender name is the main reason people open an email. Ranking more important than the subject line. It is the first part of the inbox preview people look at when they decide whether to open an email.
If they don’t recognize or care about the sender name, most people will not open the email, no matter how great a subject line.
Get the sender name right, first. It can make a big difference.
Foundations of a Sender Name
More is tied to a sender name than simply a name. A successful sender name builds recognition and trust.
Within a second of looking at the name, people will decide if the email is spam. Use a real name. Do not use an email address.
Consistency is key. Once you have tested and chosen a name stay with it. Changing the sender name on too many emails will confuse people. Losing trust and recognition.
With these two building blocks established your nonprofit can develop a relationship with supporters.
Choose a Sender Name
Nonprofits have a few choices when deciding on a sender name.
Word of caution, inbox previews only show a finite number of characters. A sender name will get cut off if it is too long. Any name over 25 characters is in danger.
Most organizations (77%) believe donors want an email from an individual at the organization. Only 23% think donors want to hear from the nonprofit as a brand.
When donors were asked their preference, 59% wanted to hear from an individual. While 41% say they preferred to receive communications from the brand.
Stats from Campaign Monitor
These stats provide an interesting perception. Sending emails from an individual is good. But sending from your organization is not as bad as nonprofits believe.
So which is it? Should nonprofits send from a person at the organization or as the organization?
Let’s look at this test from a nonprofit organization to find out more.
Research Question: Does sending from an individual or an organization lead to better performance for an appeal email?
Hypothesis: Using an individual from the organization as the sender name will result in more donations from an appeal email.
Test Element: Sender name
Control- Nonprofit name
Test- Individual’s name
Key Metric: Number of gifts
(This is the metric used to determine the element that performed better.)
Other Metrics: Click rate, open rate, and donation amount
(We looked and reported on this metric but they did not affect the final decision.)
Sample Size: Used a 50/50 split. The control email (organization name) went to 337,586 people. The test email with the individual’s name went to 337, 545.
When the list was split the contact size was even. The discrepancy upon sending happened because more addresses bounced in the test list.
Results: When the appeal email was sent from an individual it resulted in
A higher click rate - 36%
More gifts - 17%
Greater donation amount - 29%
Application: When sending an appeal letter style email use a person’s name as the sender. The test email had a higher open and click rate. Because of the higher visibility with the test email, it garnered more gifts.
Future Tests: A good test will often lead to more questions. This test raised a few. New test ideas include:
Different individual names
Individual name plus title
Individual name plus organization
First name only plus organization
Sender name based on the type of email. For instance, appeal emails use a person’s name and newsletters or events use the organization's name.
Final Thoughts: Don’t overlook the importance of the sender name on an email. Who sends an email impacts the performance. Get the sender name right, first. This builds trust with supporters.
