Strangest ask ever?

World Vision US's super bowl email: donate and pay the postage

I’ve just been shown this stange World Vision US email. In a follow up to the superbowl, they’re asking supporters to make a donation so that they can post left over NFL clothes to poor people, probably in Haiti.

Whilst there’s nothing really wrong with the execution of the email, or even the timing, the ask just seems completely mis-placed to me.

How disempowering for a donor. Their contribution is completely belittled and they aren’t made to feel part of the project, or even that they’re achieving anything. Essentially, paying for postage is never going to be the most motivating ask in the world, but if this ask was 100% necessary (and I strongly challenge this – surely the NFL could afford it?!) then the proposition should have brought the donor much more closely into the story and made them the start.

Instead, the NFL takes all the glory and the donor is a bit player.

I would be really surprised if this achieved its fundraising target.

12 days of xmas email…

First up, who is this email from? The lack of Christian Aid branding and an obvious mention of the organisation is really stark to me. Their supporters will have to be well aware that Present Aid is their sub brand for virtual gifts. No logo and only mentioning the organisaiton deep into the body copy will have people reaching for delete until they discover it’s from an organisaiton they trust.

Secondly, I think this email is a bit confused about what it’s trying to get me to do. Is it selling Present Aid? Is it a feedback (I haven’t bought from them before), is it content about their celeb’s trip to Tanzania? I’m confused! A clear call to action and a single minded proposition is an absolute essential in an email – more so than any other communication. What needs to happen should be clearly marked above the fold, but there’s nothing here doing that (fold indicated by black line of image below).

present aid email with graphics enabled

Thirdly, copy errors in the final paragraph make this seem very sloppy and slap dash. Proof reading before pressing send costs nothing.

Finally, the data opt out is to opt out of 12 days of Christmas emails. What if I want to opt out of all communications? Or all present aid ones? What happens to communications from Christian Aid if I opt out here? I think they’ve tried to give the supporter choice here, but without a crisp explanation this just adds to more confusion.

I do like the creative look. It feels quite clean and simple – not over designed. I also like the header copy before the link to the html version – this introduces a bit of the content of the email and gives it a bit of intrigue and CTA to open the email, rather than just “click here if you can’t see the images” which tells you nothing about what’s inside.

An experiment…

Email marketing is one of my bug bears. The channel can no longer be described as being in its infancy – yet there is an incredible amount of bad practice in email marketing – especially in the charity sector.

Email is a very powerful and profitable medium and it is only going to carry on growing so it’s important charities learn how to use it now. There is so much expertise in the sector for direct mail, but so little for email – this just seems crazy to me and leads to common mistakes and error being repeated over and over again.

So I’ve decided to do a bit of an experiment (as part of an effort to make me blog more) and monitor and comment on emails that I receive from various charities. I’ll comment on the good and the bad and I won’t hold back from identifying organisations and poor practice. I’ll also try and look at things like targeting and frequency and see if these are being optomised. I hope that this will come together to be a resource for everyone to see a bit of a snapshot of what charity emails look like now, as well as helping people improve their email marketing.

I won’t be posting about creative from my organisation. Not because I think it’s perfect but because it’s unfair on my colleagues and also because it’s not very professional of me as I should be highlighting my concerns internally to the relevant people. Also, as a disclaimer, nothing I post is a malicious attack and I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of every organisation or their marketing plan – this is just my subjective opinion as someone who’s approaching this a member of the public.

So to start…an agency email I got recently.

I know this isn’t in the exact spirit of what I’ve just written, but as it’s a charity agency and it’s incredibly poor practice I thought I should highlight it.

Xmas party email from a charity agency with images turned off

I have blanked out the name of the agency to protect their modesty (aren’t I nice?).

As you can see, this is what confronts you when you open up the email. A load of empty boxes with red crosses. What am I possibly going to get from that?

This is such an incredibly common mistake – relying on images to do the work where html text should take over. Lots of lovely images may make the email look nice, but unless you’re a trusted sender of the recipient they’re not going to get a chance to see your email. Trust me, having a load of blocked images like this does not add intrigue.

Making an impact with words is incredibly vital as it’s the difference between your email getting deleted or people taking the time to download the graphics, read it and respond.

For balance, including my name in the subject is a good touch to increase open rates.

What does this email say to me about the agency who sent it? They don’t have much of an idea about email marketing, and I certainly won’t be beating a path to their door for an email campaign. So whilst the email is trying to build client relations by inviting me to a party, it’s actually ended up scoring a bit of an own goal.

Excellent welcome email

zoho welcome email 23-03-09

Got an excellent welcome email from Zoho this morning.

Here’s the accessibility-friendly copy:

Hello,

Thank you for signing up with Zoho Projects! I just wanted to drop you a note to see if everything’s fine and if you have any questions about how Zoho Projects works. I will be happy to assist you with our service. If you want to get in touch with me in any regard, kindly do mail me at psvijay@zohocorp.com.

You can also reach my team at the following Toll Free Number: +1 (888) 900-9646. You can use our forums and blogs to keep in touch with us and our community.

Best Wishes,
P.S.Vijayakumar
Product Manager – Zoho Projects

I think it’s excellent for five reasons:

• From a named individual: sent by P. S. Vijakumar, from his email address, with his email address given in the body for you to reply to with any quesitons. This doesn’t feel like a big corporation or a faceless company.
• Timing: I signed up on Friday and got the email Monday morning. This didn’t make it feel like it was automatically generated (though it almost certainly was)
• Tone: chatty and conversational tone – very accessible
• Length: nice and short. Didn’t feel like I was reading a novel. It has one coms message and it gets it across clearly, namely “if you need help, here’s how you can get in touch”.
• Subtly introduces the wider organisation: at the very end there’s a soft ask to get involved in the Zoho community. Prominent enough for interested people to get involved but not too strong that it makes them come across as a high-pressure organisations.

I think there’s so much that charities and other brands can learn from this. It’s an example of an excellent communication which is a great way to start building a relationship. How many charities feel that they have to cram all of their key messages and mission statements into their first welcome? How many even bother to send a welcome email?