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Need advice on mass email project for a nonprofit org

by BitterXwife
7 replies
Please help me think this through.

I'm involved with a nonprofit group. We had a booth at an expo and people who are interested in learning more about the group signed up for a prize drawing and checked off "Please contact me with more info about your group."

Now I have this stack of email addresses of people to contact.

I know that it WILL NOT work if I sit down with our nonprofit's email (gmail) and put several of these email addresses into the "To:" field at a time and send them messages.

Should I use Google Groups to send this email out?

I've looked at iContact and Constant Contact, but we were hoping to do this project without spending money.

Also, how do most people handle their media lists? I have tried sending press releases out about our group to all of the media in the region, using the gmail account, and even though I AM NOT putting a bunch of email addresses into the "To:" field at once, gmail thinks I'm spamming and all of the emails bounce and never make it to their destinations.

Should I set up my media lists using something like Google Groups, iContact, or Constant Contact?

Thanks!
#advice #email #mass #nonprofit #org #project
  • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
    Let me ask how many names to you have to put on your list?

    My next question, does the non-profit have a web site?

    I'll explain why when there are more details.


    Until later.


    Joe Mobley
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    • Profile picture of the author BitterXwife
      We have maybe 150 names to add to this mailing. It's just a mailing to thank them for stopping by and remind them about our monthly meeting a couple of times. It's not a long-term IM strategy.

      For people who are members of our group, we use Yahoo Groups and it serves our purpose just fine. If any of these people in the new mailing end up joining our group, they will be moved to the Yahoo Group.

      We do have a web site. It's set up in WordPress on our own hosting account.
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      • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
        Well, if it were me...

        I would use PHPlist from your web site. Free. But a bit of a learning curve.

        My next option would cost about $20.00. I'd outsource the project on oDesk.com.


        Hope this helps.

        Joe Mobley
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  • Profile picture of the author HiAbby
    Have you considered using an autoresponder like aweber in the future? Might make situations like this more convenient in the future.

    Just a thought.

    Abby
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    • Profile picture of the author BitterXwife
      We thought about it, but the expo center was charging $25 for wi-fi for an event that lasted 8am - 4pm. We weren't going to pay that since we're a nonprofit and on a tight operating budget.

      If one of our members had happened to have had a wi-fi card, we would've gone that route.

      Although, I would truly hesitate before offering my own computer for an event like this. People are strange. I mean, you set out a basket of candy in your booth and you end up with people acting like they're starving and can't afford to feed themselves. People were scooping with both hands. It was ridiculous.

      And people couldn't even follow basic instructions when we said, "These slips go to this basket's drawing, and the basket over there goes for that basket's drawing." Kept them separated and STILL people would grab whatever and throw things in the wrong places.

      And then there is the mentality of people who want something for free and do not care what it is. They would stop at the edge of the booth and hand me their sticky mailing address labels from one of those charities. They didn't care what we were giving away. They just wanted to shove their stickers at us, scoop up a pound of chocolate, and go on.

      We had two drawings to weed people out, though. If they were REALLY interested in our nonprofit's mission and wanted to be a part of our group, they were putting their info in the more targetted basket.

      I'm just still amazed at the way people act in public at these things.

      Anyway... I'd be afraid the crowd would hurt a computer or steal it. It would require even more manpower at the booth than what we had that day and, still, we ended up with some stuf stolen from our booth.
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  • Profile picture of the author BitterXwife
    Any ideas?
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    • Profile picture of the author drmani
      Originally Posted by BitterXwife View Post

      Any ideas?
      For many years when I first started with email marketing,
      I ran my email newsletter with a list in a text file which
      I'd paste into the BCC field and send on my email client.
      (way back in 1997, not possible today!)

      But my point is, you can start with the house list you've
      built on paper by contacting each address individually,
      and inviting them to sign up to an autoresponder - and
      if you like, qualify them in some way (survey, quiz, or
      anything else, to see if they are really interested in your
      mission).

      To incentivize them to opt-in again, you could offer a gift
      (a report, digital product etc.) which ties in with your
      non-profit and subtly drives home some message related to
      it at the same time.

      While you won't get all 150 to sign up, you'll very likely
      weed out those tire-kickers and end up with a list of folks
      really interested in supporting your mission. Even if only
      10 out of the 150 end up being on it, you'll have won - BIG!

      Also, I would send at least 3 reminders before tearing up
      that person's email submission - each at intervals of 4 or
      5 days. That's because many people won't check their email
      daily, and might delete the first note as something they
      don't remember. Send the 1st email NOW (sooner than 48 hrs
      from when they gave you the info is best, so you're 'top of
      mind'), and then the next 2 reminders to those who didn't
      respond at 4-5 day intervals.

      Hope this helps.

      All success
      Dr.Mani

      P.S. - A tiny word of advise.

      Even if you ARE disappointed at the way prospective
      volunteers/supporters behave at an event, NEVER display it
      in public, on a forum like this!

      These are people who VOLUNTEER to help your cause. They
      have no obligation to. Accept how they behave, or do something
      different next time to avoid this (e.g. keep away the chocolates).

      In the long run, it always pays to respect, cherish and value your
      sponsors, donors, supporters and evangelists - and to never put
      them down. This is a lesson from nearly 14 years of fund raising
      and cause marketing, btw

      .
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