Give a great reason why members and donors ought to subscribe. What’s in it for them?
Simply having a box to type in an email address on your website isn’t enough. Our in-boxes are overflowing with email – whether they’re newsletters or something else. You need to give potential donors and members like me a darn good reason why I should add to the volume.
And just because I’m a member of your association . . . or just because I have an interest in your charity and may have even made a donation is NOT enough of a reason. I didn’t join so I could get a newsletter. I didn’t donate so I could get a newsletter.
Give me a reason WHY. Give me an incentive for revealing my email address to you. What are the benefits to me? What exactly will I learn and how will that help me? How can I help make the world a better place by giving you my email address and reading your newsletter? What is the VALUE of the content you’re going to send me in the newsletter?
What I find the vast majority of the time are “you-centered” as opposed to “donor-centered” invitations. Here are examples of how NOT to invite someone to subscribe:
Click here to receive our newsletter
Sign up for E-News
Receive updates on our work when you subscribe to our newsletter
Sign up for XXXXX’s email newsletter
Subscribe to newsletter
Join us
XXXXX e-News
Enter email … Sign Up
Oh, and those phrases you just read are taken verbatim from charity websites. That’s 100% of the info provided about the newsletter. In fact, I can’t even be certain all of them apply to newsletters. They may only be collecting email addresses for other uses.
Now, what typically happens on association websites is a little different but often just as vague as charity sites. Many associations, for example, have more than one newsletter. You’re taken to a generic sign up page where you fill in your email, then check the boxes for the newsletters you want to receive.
But there’s no member-centered copy on what they’ll find in each of the newsletters. Apparently the title alone is supposed to be compelling enough to get me to subscribe.
And many times associations simply have a sign up box. Here are a couple examples pulled from association websites:
Register for XXXX’s weekly e-newsletter
President’s monthly e-newsletter
In some cases there will be a few past issues to look at. This does give the potential subscriber an opportunity to look at the content in detail. But in my mind it doesn’t replace 2 – 5 sentences describing the content to expect and the benefits of that content.
Describe the VALUE your readers receive through the newsletter. Do this very well and more people will subscribe to your newsletter. Get more help, including nonprofit newsletter sign-up examples, here.
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