Advice on the "Four Deadly Sins" from the E-mail Diva

The "E-mail Diva" of MediaPost Publications, Melinda Krueger, recently wote an article " The Four Deadly Sins of E-mail Design" about MediaPost's E-mail Makeover Panel at its Insider Summit. In her article she outlines a few of the Makeover Specialists findings--more specifically, what went wrong that can put readers off. So what are the 4 deadly sins? They're more traditional than you might think: envy, gluttony, pride, and and sloth.

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Featured Event. 2006 Grassroots Use of Technology

On Saturday, June 17, 2006 over 200 individuals from community-based organizations throughout the Northeast will come together for the 7th Annual Grassroots Use of Technology Conference. Sponsored by Organizers‚ Collaborative (OC) and the CTC Vista Project at UMASS Boston, this national conference will provide valuable training and information to nonprofit professionals and activists on how they can best use technology to effect social change. The conference will take place at UMASS Boston from 8:00 am to 5:30pm. The registration fee is $60, which includes breakfast and lunch. Care2's Andy Stocking will be speaking at this event about social networking and activism.

For more information about the conference and dinner visit the conference website, or call: 617-720-6190.

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Open Rates Declined in 2005, Click-through Rates Remained Steady

An ExactTarget study based on data collected from over 4,000 organizations found strong evidence supporting audience segmentation in e-mail campaigns as e-mail open rates declined by a whopping 16.5% in 2005. The open rate during the fourth quarter of 2005 was 35.5%, a 7% drop from 2004. What explains this drop in e-mail open rates? Morgan Stewart, the report’s author, cites image blocking as the main culprit.

Despite the drop in open rates, e-mail click-through rates remained above 6% in 2005 and reached 6.6% during the fourth quarter, an increase of 0.6% over the 2004 fourth quarter rate. In addition, senders are generating more clicks with each tracked open email. According to Stewart, "organizations are doing a better job of designing their e-mails to drive click activity.”

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Heavy Internet Users Love Nonprofits

OK, love may be too strong a word, though heavy Internet users are more "favorably disposed " toward nonprofits than lighter users, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive reviewed on Beaconfirewire, a really sweet blog I follow by Beaconfire Consulting.

One of the surprising things pointed out in the review is that older Internet users, the ones that contribute the most money, are less favorably disposed toward nonprofits than younger Internet users.  Maybe familiarity does breed contempt?  Let me stop right about here before I steal Beaconfire's thunder.  Go check out their  review which includes a link to more information.

How Nonprofits can leverage Social Networking

I ran into Brian Satterfield of TechSoup at the NetSquared conference last week.  He referred me to an article he had written about Social Networking platforms and how nonprofits can get the most out of online networks.  Care2 was mentioned in the mix! 

Join Care2 at Al Gore's Movie on June 12th in DC!

Movie, Dinner and a Call to Action!

Monday, June 12th, E Street Theater in DC and Ella's Wood Fired Pizza

Join Care2 and friends from many leading nonprofit organizations on Monday, June 12^th at the 4:45 pm screening of the Al Gore film An Inconvenient Truth at the E Street Landmark Theater in downtown DC followed by dinner and post-movie conversation at Ella's Wood Fired Pizza from 6:30-9:30.

Global warming experts will help kick off an informal group discussion about the film with suggestions for actions we can all take. Also check out Care2's new global warming center for tips and discussions about how to fight global warming.

The theater has limited seating, so be sure to pre-buy your movie tickets online now at moviefone.com and then RSVP. See you there!

Movie:
An Inconvenient Truth 4:45 pm at E Street Landmark Theater, 555 11^th Street NW (Enter on E Street between 10th and 11th Street) (202) 452-7672. Cost is $6.75 plus $1.00 service charge on moviefone.com.

Dinner:
6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Ella’s Wood Fired Pizza, 901 F Street, NW (on Ninth between F & G Streets) (202) 638-3434 www.ellaspizza.com. Cost is $10 at the door. Cash bar. RSVP required.

Location:
The nearest Metro stations are Metro Center and Gallery Place/Chinatown. Map from E Street Theater to Ella's.

Nonprofit Communications Survey Results

Last month's poll of online communications professionals about online advocacy issues had too low of a response to draw statistically significant conclusions. But the five essay questions prompted some fascinating responses, which we have excerpted for you. ALSO: If you missed your chance to sound off, you can always take it to the boards, the nonprofit discussion boards, that is!

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