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Email marketing has become a staple within the museums communications world. It’s an effective way to regularly ping updates and information straight into follower’s inboxes and make meaningful impressions. Rather than the one quick graphic and condensed caption that social media allows, email marketing provides an opportunity to curate a specific message, or messages accompanied by several graphics, even videos that speak directly to potential supporters in one-to-one environment.
In this article, we will talk about how to incorporate digital fundraising into your existing email communications as well as a how to create impactful targeted appeals and measure their success. If your museum isn’t yet using email marketing, now is the time to jump aboard! Check out this article covering the importance of email marketing as well as how to get started by MuseumNext.
Have you heard of the marketing principle, “The Rule of Seven”? Simply put, it states that a prospective customer needs to see or hear a marketing message seven times before taking action. This mantra of consistent impressions applies to digital fundraising as well which should be woven into all museum communications.
Make a habit out of including an appeal section at the bottom of every mailer that spells out your museum’s need for the reader’s support and what they can do to help. This can be done in the form of masterfully crafted call to action text, a graphic, or even a GIF showing visually what their hard-earned money will support. Check out this MuseumNext article on how to create eye-catching marketing graphics and video for inspiration.
Another great thing to include at the bottom of all mailers in your “support” section, is how readers can help your museum to reach funding goals by making some small, but impactful changes. For example, PayPal Giving Fund connects donors and charities by making it easy for potential supporters to connect their PayPal accounts with eligible charities and then handing over any accumulated funds directly to the organisation sans pesky transaction fees. After supporters donate using PayPal Giving Fund, a little helpful tickbox will appear for donors asking for a one-off donation to support your museum with subsequent transactions – and those can add up over time! eBay for Charity also offers buyers and sellers the choice to add on a donation during checkout or to donate a certain percentage of their sales to an eligible charity.
Take advantage of these programmes if your museum is eligible and weave them into your marketing plan by using the rule of seven. It’s likely that audiences that are signed up for your regular communications like email and social media want to support you, they just need to be trained on how to do so. Schedule in those regular reminders about platforms like these that supporters can take advantage of without disrupting their regularly scheduled programming.
Email provides the opportunity to engage with people in a one-to-one environment – no one gathers all of their friends around a computer to read an email! Whether it’s on a phone, computer or tablet, there is that moment (often just a few seconds) in which your message can resonate with the reader. The most successful marketing and fundraising campaigns take that intimate moment and make the most of it. Here are our top tips for creating dynamic appeal emails:
Once you’ve followed all of the tips and tricks above to create a stellar appeal email, you’ll want to be sure your museum does due diligence by tracking the results in order to evaluate success. Email marketing platforms like MailChimp, Constant Contact, SendinBlue and Moosend all offer campaign insights which provide valuable information on how many people engaged with your email and took your message to heart by following through on clicking links etc… The following email marketing metrics are the most important to review post-campaign:
We’ve highlighted the basics of email marketing analytics here but be aware that there is a whole wide world out there and many other important metrics to monitor. Investigate the campaign insight capabilities of your museum’s email marketing platform and you’ll begin to pick up on patterns and trends which can all be really helpful for benchmarking your campaigns and setting you up for digital fundraising success.
Not only is this our way or wrapping up the article, but also how we touch upon a very important final appeal email tip – including an impactful conclusion. It takes great skill to weave in powerful call to action language while also letting readers gently know about the consequences of them not acting (e.g., without your support our museum programmes won’t be able to continue…). Setting the tone for appeal emails is incredibly important and culminates in putting together a powerful closing which makes donors feel heard, valued and empowered.
Just as we are so grateful for you taking the time to read this article, but sure to thank your donors in advance and remind them of why their contribution matters to your museum. Email provides an intimate space to speak directly to donors of the past, present and future. We hope the advice and tools above can be helpful to you in crafting an engaging and empowering appeal email. Time to go forth and fundraise!
Devon Turner is an Arts & Culture Writer. She has worked extensively in arts marketing for both the visual arts and performing arts in the US and UK. Now living in London, Devon works in the arts and culture sector and enjoys traveling to visit museums.
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