Online fundraising: figure out the big stuff first

Do you sweat the details, like what hour of the day to send emails to your supporters?

Don’t. According to the Emailvision blog, Campaign send time isn’t important.

In a variety of studies, the time of day an email was sent had little or no impact on its effectiveness. There’s not much point aiming to blast those e-appeals at 9 a.m., 2 p.m., or any other exact hour.

Why would I bother telling you that some minor metric is not important?

Because I’ve noticed a lot of fundraisers really zoom in on the small metrics, especially when they’re doing online fundraising.

But the small metrics are just small. They make little difference — often none at all.

Focus on the big stuff instead. Spend your time and energy on questions that can make a difference. Like:

• Do our messages talk about things donors care about?
  
• Does our fundraising offer resonate with donors?
  
• Is our website easy to navigate and use?
  
• Are we making it easy for direct mail donors to give online?
  

These are big-money questions. Asking and answering them can turn your online fundraising into a powerful source of revenue and support.

The little questions, like what time of day to send emails — the time to think about those is when the basics are humming along at optimum level. But not before.

Thanks to Be Relevant! Email Marketing Blog for the tip.