Building Your E-Mail Base

Something that many of my clients overlook is the opportunity to collect email addresses - and permission to use them - from their supporters.

Most of my clients have a list of emails they've gathered from donors and event sign-up sheets over the years, but very few have a consistent strategy for either adding to that list, or keeping their existing list current.


Can your organization answer yes to the following questions?

1. Does your website have a prominent email collection box that's visible on every (or almost every) page?
   
2. Do emails that you send to your current list have both a "forward to a friend" button as well a "sign up for our newsletters" button - making it easy for your current supporters to recruit new supporters?
   
3. When you collect emails addresses at events, do those new people receive a welcome message from you within one week?
   
4. Do your printed mailers include an "update your information" section - pre-printed with the information you currently have - to make it easy for people to notify you when their information changes?
5. Do you regularly purge invalid emails from your list?
   

If you can't answer yes to all of these questions, you aren't optimizing your organization's email strategy. Your email list is one of your most valuable assets - make every effort to treat it accordingly.