In conjunction with Nonprofit Marketing Guide, Bloomerang recently surveyed a group of small-to-medium-sized nonprofits ($5 million in revenue or below) in the US and Canada, to see how they may be segmenting their audiences when it comes to email marketing.
Highlighted by Hubspot, the data offers some pretty valuable conclusions that should provide nonprofit marketing teams some insight into how to optimize their current email efforts. Not just if, but how, they should be segmenting their audiences.
Data showed that 64% of nonprofits are doing some sort of email segmentation.
According to the report, while 80% are aware of what email segmentation is, only 64% are implementing it. So for those that are aware, but not putting thought into action, what are the biggest barriers?
Those that do segment, however, appear to have bought into it in a big way, with 25% of nonprofits claiming to have 5 or more segmented mailing groups:
Finally, most appear to be consistent in the segment types, with more than a third segmenting email recipients who have made a donation into their own list, but less than one-tenth choosing to segment by age – which would seem a key segmentation trait:
It appears that while nonprofit marketers have made significant headway in segmenting their audiences effectively, there is still a long way to go.
For example, a recent Gallup report suggests that age and net worth should be utilized more when communicating specific messages to a nonprofit audience. Similarly, Bidding for Good data implies that gender may be worth focusing more on, with 62% of men donating $500+ a year to charity compared to only 46% of women, according to their reports. This Nonprofit Marketing Guide and Bloomerang report indicates that nonprofits currently do not focus on any of these with any real significance.
With so much opportunity, the future should certainly be met with optimism by nonprofit marketers. But over to you – how do you segment your email communications? Any tips of tricks you’re able to share?
