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Advocacy List Management

 

Every advocacy list requires maintenance if it is going to serve your program year after year. That means good habits are important. Nonprofits that get into these habits early will have far fewer problems and a higher-performing list over time. Here are some suggestions. 

To Embrace Solid Email Practices, Do…

  • Keep the List Warm. A list that sits unused for weeks or months will not perform well. Some people will forget how they came to know your organization. Others will change email addresses. The best way to prevent this is to engage any list you have regularly. Lists perform better when they are used.
  • Adopt a Growth Strategy. A list that is not growing is almost certainly shrinking as people move, change jobs and switch email providers. To fight this “list atrophy,” develop a strategy to attract new people to the list. This can involve events, social platforms, content or anything else that draws supporters.
  • Monitor Deliverability Metrics. Monitoring email delivery is also important. A high number of “bounces,” meaning the email could not be delivered, or “unsubscribes,” meaning the recipient wants you to stop contacting them, almost always indicates a problem. These numbers are available from your email provider and can be benchmarked against sources like Mail Chimp’s industry list.
  • Tend the List. If someone wants to join the list, add them. If someone wants to leave the list, remove them. Do it in real time, when you can. Ignoring these requests makes people think you don’t care.
  • Cull Your List. Every list has people who do not engage at all. Culling your list regularly—at least once a year—to remove inactive email addresses, fake email addresses, duplicate records and subscribers who are completely inactive is a good idea. It keeps your analytics accurate.

To Embrace Solid Email Practices, Don’t…

  • Send Too Much Email. The quickest way to anger your audience is to send too much email. It shows you don’t respect their time. How much is too much? That will vary at each organization, but most advocacy programs are sending at least one email a month and very few send more than one a week.
  • Add People Without Opt-Ins. Everyone on your list should have a reason to be there. Either they opted in directly or through an event sponsored by your organization, such as a webinar. Adding people without any consent or connection will almost certainly hurt the performance of your list. 
  • Keep the List Bloated. While it may be tempting to leave all names on the list to be able to brag of higher numbers, the inactive addresses on there will eventually lower key metrics like open rate and click rate. 

Module 3

What's Included:

Video Course(s): 1

Article(s): 2

Download(s): 3

Module 3

About Module 3

[Course] Building and Maintaining an Audience ➡️
Understand how to grow support for your advocacy initiatives.

[Article] Advocacy List Management ➡️
Learn more about the do's and don'ts of advocacy list management.

[Article] The Vital Role of Super Advocates ➡️
How do you lift up your biggest supporters? Learn about the role of 'super advocates' and how to engage them.

[Downloads] Module 3 Assets ➡️
Templates and downloads to support the Module 3 learnings.

[Events] RSVP to Coaching ➡️
Connect with expert leaders and fellow nonprofits getting involved in advocacy.