Fact or Fiction?What’s New Online That Really

Works?

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Paul Habig – Executive Vice President, SankyNet – @PaulHabig

Harry Lynch – CEO, Sanky Communications - @HarryLynch

Eric Muscatell – Director of Philanthropy, amFAR - @amFAR

The Big Facts

• On average online giving grew by 13% in 2011.

• An estimated $23.5 billion dollars donated online last year – 7.9% of U.S. donations now coming online!

• Online giving has jumped nearly 60X in the last decade.

Source: NTEN

Email Accounts for 1/3 of Total Online Giving

The Big

?

TheNonprofit

Perspective

Let’s PlayFactor

Fiction!

When it comes to web search and search engine marketing, Google is the

only game in town.

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction!

• Google does dominate with 68.7% of the search engine market but Bing powered search has grown its share to 28.6%.

• Bing can offer quality impressions, solid CTR and response rates and low CPC.

2010 study by Cowan & Co.

• 79% of 22- to 25-year-olds use Google as their primary search engine, compared to 63% of total respondents.

• Google usage is skewed toward younger demographics, high-income households, users with college and graduate degrees, and mobile Internet users.

• Yahoo (powered by Bing) appeals to 50+ age group. As a home page, it is more “set-up” in advance for its users and doesn’t push or require customization. People over 50 who were “leading edge” Internet users 10-15 years ago set up a Yahoo email account when Yahoo was THE dominant search engine and they still have and use that account today.

• Bing’s highest penetration rate is in the 55-and-over demographic.

QR codes are a great way to get new online

audiences.

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction!

• Our tests so far have seen limited scan rates.

• However, usage is growing rapidly – there was a 119% increase in QR code scans in Q2 of 2012 vs. 2011!

• Exponential increase in smartphone penetration brings the capacity to millions.

• They do provide a smooth gateway to specific online collateral such as campaign landing pages and video!

“Though QR codes have been exceptionally popular among marketers, who enjoy the

simplicity and low cost, consumers are just beginning to take out their smartphones to

scan them.”

-Sam Lambert, QR Code Press, 7/20/12

Will donors follow ?

These days anyone can send an email, right?

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction!

• Getting the technical and design aspects of email right requires serious attention.

• Mobile rendering, coding, alt tags and more all need to be considered.

With Pinterest on the rise, you should put lots

of resources into “Pinable” content.

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction…but keep it in mind!

• Nonprofits with limited resources should focus on Facebook and Twitter.

• However it is important to stay informed about new channels.

• Nonprofits are beginning to test Pinterest but we don’t yet view it as worth a major commitment.

Infographic for Freedom from Hunger Shared on Pinterest

Fact or Fiction?

A website redesign will vastly improve your

organization’s success in online fundrasing.

Fact or Fiction?

Fact…if you redesign with SEO in mind.

Before…

After…

• In FY 2011 the old site saw 59,620 visits.

• In FY 2012 the new site saw 111,870 visits between October 2011(when the new site went live) and June 2012 alone.

• Graph shows traffic for November 2011 – June 2012 in blue and November 2010 – June 2011 in orange.

Lightboxes are so effective that developing

personalized ones is worth the effort.

Fact or Fiction?

Fact!

• We have seen tremendous successes with lightboxes. We will be testing a myriad of new uses in the future!

Food for thought …

• Personalize upgrades at the point of “submitting” an online donation.

• Call for a monthly gift instead of a single donation.

• Nudge visitors on high-traffic, content rich pages toward donating. (“If you find this information helpful

please consider donating to support our vital work. Click here.)

• Time with acquisition drops to reinforce lead story and case.

• Be creative!

My organization’s donors are really old, so I shouldn’t care about

mobile.

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction!

• Studies show that 46% of American adults now own a smartphone.

• 68% of adults with a household income of over $75,000 are smartphone owners.

• Between May 2011 and February 2012 smartphone ownership grew by 10% among those aged 50-64 and by 2% among those 65 and over.

Projections predict that mobile internet usage will overtake desktop as early as

2014.

Email appends are just as valuable a technique

as they were 5 years ago.

Fact or Fiction?

Fact!

• Appends are still a valuable tool.

• Cost remains favorable.

• Despite low open-rates, the volume of email addresses that can be reached makes appends worthwhile.

• One of the best techniques for driving integration of traditional direct mail with online channels.

A Welcome Append Email for Freedom from Hunger

It doesn’t matter how many “likes” you get on

Facebook, no one is gaining serious

donations from it anyway.

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction!

• Building a fan base on Facebook gives you the opportunity to retarget existing fans for fundraising.

• Use targeted Facebook ads to promote a match.

• A campaign we ran saw $12.08 for every $1 spent.

• Increased overall donor engagement.

An ongoing campaign for NEAS linking Facebook ads to a Change.org petition has seen success with 1,935 signatures and 995 email opt-ins.

It’s a good idea to rent email lists for your online acquisition

program.

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction…but keep it mind.

• Up to now such lists have been ineffective.

• However, new companies like MarketFish are providing targeted lists with potential for testing/lead generation.

You should always send a “pre-email” before a direct mail campaign.

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction…but do experiment with this technique.

• In our experience it depends on the both the particular campaign and the organization.

• Pre- or Post-DM emails can work but choose when to use them carefully.

Promoted trends on Twitter are not worth

investing in.

Fact or Fiction?

Fact!

• The cost of promoted trends remains high.

• Can result in spam and negative publicity.

• A McDonald’s promoted trend backfired when people used it to highlight negative stories about the company.

One of many negative responses:

Promoted Account

Promoted Tweet

Moving some offline acquisition budget to

the Care2 and Change.org social activism sites will assist acquisition.

Fact or Fiction?

Fact!

• In our experience acquisition and actions on these sites have led to good long-term value of constituents.

Groupon is a great source

for new donors.

Fact or Fiction?

Fiction!

• Groupon can bring in some quick income…

• …but offers poor long-term donor value.

Thank You!

Don’t forget to visit the Solutions Showcase!

Many of the ideas discussed today are on display at the Solutions

Showcase!

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