How Often Should You Send Advocacy Emails?

How often should you email your advocacy volunteers? It’s a question I receive from lots of organizations. Let me provide two answers.

ANSWER #1: At least twice per month

Advocacy volunteers want to take action. Unlike fundraising or general marketing lists, advocacy volunteers typically have to opt in to receive advocacy emails. They’re making it clear that they want to hear from you and be given opportunities to act on the issues they’re passionate about. Two emails per month, even in slower legislative times, ensures they stay connected to your campaigns and mission, and are primed to pounce the next time a need arises. During highly active campaign times, it’s not unusual to email volunteers weekly or even several times per week. 

ANSWER #2: When you have something relevant and compelling to share

While I know my first answer is what you were truly seeking, I can’t pass up an opportunity to get on my ‘relevance’ soapbox. The top criterion for deciding to email your volunteers is that you have relevant content. And, to be clear, I mean relevant to them, not just to your organization. If you are always sending content they want, then how often you do it is less of a concern.

AND REMEMBER: Not every volunteer cares about every issue you work on. Analyze your email performance and action-taking data to understand what each volunteer wants to hear about and what they don’t. When I work with organizations that have diverse issue portfolios, we segment volunteers into groups based on issues they’ve taken action on or expressed interest in. Every volunteer shouldn’t receive every email.

THE KEY: Every organization’s list is different. Track your performance data to understand the proper email pacing and segmentation for your volunteers.