Five Symptoms that May Indicate that your Nonprofit Is Suffering from List Decay
Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 07:49PM | by Allyson Kapin 
Symptom 1: Churn rates are above 19% annually.
Tips: Identify strategies to minimize your churn rates such as timing action alerts to coincide with breaking news, crafting short and catchy subject lines, telling a good story, and giving members opportunities to take meaningful action on your issue. Remember, every email should be about participation and can often go beyond just clicking a button to sign a petition. Have you asked people to comment on a great blog post that is getting good traction? Experiment and see what resonates with your list.
Symptom 2: Not replenishing the members who left your list.
Tips: Utilize list building campaigns such as paid advertising, online petitions, social media outreach, and “viral” marketing to recruit new members.
Symptom 3: Online members not moving up the ladder of activism.
Tips: Many nonprofits segment their list into three categories:
1. Super-activists (a member that takes multiple actions over a calendar year)
2. Activists (a member that takes a couple of actions over a calendar year)
3. Non-responders (a member that rarely takes action online).
If your members are not moving up the ladder of activism, consider the following. Look at what you’re asking your members to do. How can they help your nonprofit and advance your mission besides signing petitions or donating money? Are their offline events they can attend? Can they volunteer? Write a letter to the editor?
Symptom 4: Your average donation online is less then $71.
Tips: Check out these solid strategies to engage donors from Madeline and Jenn at Watershed.
Symptom 5: Not surveying your online list once a year.
Tips: Consider framing survey questions around:
1. What issues do you think our organization should take on? The key is it to make online members feel like their opinions count and that you care.
2. What motivates your members to take action and donate money?
What tips can you share that would help nonprofits energize their online list?
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Reader Comments (1)
As someone who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through writing emails, I’m also worried about organizations that treat their donors like ATMs. Some organizations only seem to hit you up when they’ve got a hot-button issue, try to make you mad about it, then ask for money. Obviously, orgs do this because it works. But it gets pretty tiring too. I’d prefer to be treated like a real member of the team and get fresh information throughout the month, rather than a series of rage-invoking emails.