Two Points…
Nonprofit emails are in a state of limbo.
If you’ve never taken a look at MailChimp’s benchmark data, it can be a wealth of insight as to how you’re performing on average. On one hand, the sector averages a nearly 25% open rate — the seventh-highest by industry. On the other, nonprofits don’t receive as many clicks to their content, receiving a mediocre 2.76%.
So there’s some good news and bad news to take away from this data:
- List degradation is really low. That means a typical nonprofit’s email database is likely not losing many subscribers to opt-outs, bounces, or spam filters.
- While subject lines are getting people to open your emails, what’s in those emails isn’t getting people to click any further to your content.
If you’re looking to convert one-time donors into donating a second time (or recurring!), a monthly newsletter probably isn’t going to cut it. You need content that’s exciting, personalized, and actionable.
