How to Write Earth-Changing s July 17, 2014

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How to Write Earth-Changing s With Alison Carlman, GlobalGiving July 17, 2014

Presenters Becky Wiegand Webinar Program Manager TechSoup Assisting with chat: Ale Bezdikian, TechSoup Alison Carlman Senior Unmarketing Manager GlobalGiving

Introduction to TechSoup Participant Polls – where are you now? GlobalGiving’s Secret Sauce Users Peers Theory Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat. Q&A Today’s Agenda:

TechSoup is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a clear focus: connecting fellow nonprofits, charities, public libraries, and foundations with tech products and services, plus learning resources to make informed decisions about technology. Who Is TechSoup?

Since 1987, TechSoup donation programs have served more than 210,000 charitable organizations. We’ve distributed more than 11 million software and hardware donations and enabled recipients to save more than US$3.75 billion in IT expenses in 60+ countries around the world. We reach more than 400,000 nonprofit, library, and philanthropy subscribers in the United States with our newsletters each year.

What’s New at TechSoup? Consulting Services Thinking about updating software, investing in new computers, or deploying a network or server? TechSoup now offers consulting services to help! QuickBooks 2014 Want more time in your day? Automate your bookkeeping by using QuickBooks. Windows 8.1 Support for Windows XP has ended so make sure you’re ready to upgrade.

What’s the size of your current list(s)? – 1,000 or less – 10,000 or less – 50,000 or less – 100,000 or less – More than 100,000 Participant Poll

Have you done A/B testing on your s before? – Yes – No – I’m not sure what that means. Participant Poll

How to Write Earth- Changing s Alison Carlman Senior Unmarketing Manager, GlobalGiving TechSoup

In the next hour you will: Learn the most effective way to motivate your audiences Identify your Superfriends Write a hypothesis for an experiment

Find out the recipe to GlobalGiving’s Secret Sauce

Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat.

Today: We’ll demonstrate how we Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat. …so you’ll be inspired to Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat.

Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat. users – peers - theory

users – peers - theory

This needed improvement. We listened to our users.

User feedback no. 1: People don’t really read news.

User Feedback no. 2: Humanize. Show me what it means to ME.

User feedback no.s 3 & 4: Make it even shorter. Use big images.

User Feedback no. 5: Feature one person making eye- contact.

User feedback no. 6: Make it clever. Unexpected.

User feedback no. 7: Use a CLEAR call-to-action.

User feedback no. 8: Personalize!

Summary: users – peers - theory 1.Keep it short and focused. 2.Make it about the users, not you. 3.No really. Make it even shorter. 4.Use big, compelling images 5.Picture one person making eye contact. 6.Use humor; do something unexpected. 7.Feature a clear call-to-action. 8.Personalize.

Questions?

– users – peers - theory

Kiva, DonorsChoose.org, Charity:Water

Peer learning: charity:water Subject Line: ’Tis the season for a box full of sand beautiful image well laid-out formatted for mobile phones very little text interesting lead text unexpected/humorous (but still large!) call-to-action

Peer learning: donorschoose.org Subject line: Urgent classroom request

Peer learning: donorschoose.org personalized by state simple, brief urgent Subject line: Urgent classroom request

Peer learning: Kiva Personalized Made it look like it was forwarded by a staff member in-person. Less formatting was more effective One trick pony?

Summary: users – peers - theory 1.Use beautiful imagery. 2.Format images and text to look good on mobile phones. 3.Keep it brief. 4.Use interesting lead text. 5.Try unexpected/humorous (but still visibly clear) calls-to-action. 6.Try unexpected subject lines and formats – less formatting may be better.

Who are your peers? Find your Superfriends! Facebook Groups (DC Social Media) Conferences (NTEN, Social Media for Nonprofits) LinkedIn groups Create your own yahoo or Google groups with people you know

– users – peers - theory

Theory: what does the research say?

Listening to peers and experts: best practice according to research

1.Increase a donor’s emotional proximity; connect them to ONE person (animal or object).

Listening to peers and experts: best practice according to research 1.Increase a donor’s emotional proximity; connect them to ONE person (animal or object). 2.Tell a compelling story about that ONE person

Listening to peers and experts: best practice according to research 1.Increase a donor’s emotional proximity; connect them to ONE person (animal or object). 2.Tell a compelling story about that ONE person 3.Donors will give if they feel it will bring them closer to people in their network.

Listening to peers and experts: best practice according to research 1.Increase a donor’s emotional proximity; connect them to ONE person (animal or object). 2.Tell a compelling story about that ONE person 3.Donors will give if they feel it will bring them closer to people in their network. 4.People give more when it’s easy.

Listening to peers and experts: best practice according to research 1.Increase a donor’s emotional proximity; connect them to ONE person (animal or object). 2.Tell a compelling story about that ONE person 3.Donors will give if they feel it will bring them closer to people in their network. 4.People give more when it’s easy. 5.Not all donors are the same.

Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat.

How do we know what “works”? We look at these metrics: QUESTIONMETRICTOOLS How good is the subject line?Open rates Provider like MailChimp Does the content make people want to do more? Click rates Provider like MailChimp, Bit.ly Does the content of the and the landing page make people act? Conversion rates (donations, petitions, sign- ups.) Provider like MailChimp, Google Analytics

Create an Experiment: A/B Testing

A/B Testing in Version AVersion B

Which version do you think got more clicks? – A – B Participant Poll

How did it go? Metric Version A: Prices Version B: No Prices Opens Clicks Conversion (donations) Conversion (donation) amount

Time to design your own experiment

What’s your hypothesis? Answer in the chat: “I believe that trying _______ (tactic) will lead to higher __________________ (open rates OR click rates OR donations).”

Summary: users – peers - theory 1.Keep it short. 2.Make it about the users, not you. 3.No really, make it even shorter. 4.Use big, compelling images 5.Picture one person making eye contact. 6.Use humor; do something unexpected. 7.Feature a clear call-to-action. 8.Personalize.

Summary: users – peers - theory 1.Use beautiful imagery. 2.Format images and text to look good on mobile phones. 3.Keep it brief. 4.Use interesting lead text. 5.Try unexpected/humorous (but still visibly clear) calls-to-action. 6.Try unexpected subject lines and formats.

1.Increase a donor’s emotional proximity; connect them to ONE person (animal or object). 2.Tell a compelling story about that ONE person 3.Donors will give if they feel it will bring them close to people in their network. 4.People give more when it’s easy. 5.Not all donors are the same. Summary: users – peers - theory

How do we know what “works”? We look at these metrics: QUESTIONMETRICTOOLS How good is the subject line?Open rates Provider like MailChimp Does the content make people want to do more? Click ratesMailChimp, Bit.ly Does the campaign & landing page make people act? Conversion rates (donations, petitions, sign- ups.) MailChimp, GG dashboard

What’s your hypothesis? Answer in the chat: “I believe that trying _______ (tactic) will lead to higher __________________ (open rates OR click rates OR donations).”

Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat.

Goals for this webinar: Learn the most effective way to motivate your audiences: Listen, Act, Learn. Repeat! Identify your Superfriends Write a hypothesis for an experiment

Closing Story:

Q & A Please type your questions in the chat window. Follow-up questions can be posted in the community forum:

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