RELEVANCE. I have conducted dozens of trainings on how to write highly effective emails, and relevance is always the star of the show. It’s why I love Pixar’s Storytelling Rule #2 as it demands that a writer focus on their audience, not their own self-interests.
Far too often, organizations assume that volunteers care about anything the organization has to say. They also expect their volunteers to be as excited about internal-focused achievements as they are (i.e., an anniversary or industry award). For most, one look at the data will make clear just how mistaken they are. And it’s those types of misguided assumptions that lead to a huge percentage of their list becoming inactive.
Your volunteers and members subscribe to your advocacy list for a specific reason, and it’s different than why they joined the main organizational list. Your digital team’s job is to create narratives and use data to understand the interests of each volunteer, segment them properly and feed them content they will find relevant and compelling.
Send your volunteers emails they find relevant and they will reward you with engagement and action. If you focus on your own interests, then you’ll still have a big list, but only a small number of actual volunteers.