According to the survey, the most significant email marketing challenges for nonprofit organizations are growing and retaining contacts (38% of respondents), integrating email with other systems (38%), and integrating email with other tactics (38%). By far, the main barriers to overcoming email marketing challenges are inadequate resources and expertise (71% of respondents).
"E-marketing is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways a nonprofit can build stronger relationships with its supporters," said Krista Endsley, senior vice president and general manager for Nonprofit Solutions at Sage. "Some of the challenges faced by organizations are a direct result of their use of the wrong email marketing solution. Stand-alone e-marketing services and email tools are not always as good of a fit for not-for-profits. Nonprofits need to strongly consider services, such as Sage E-marketing, that can easily transfer data from their donor management system."
The Sage Nonprofit Insights, Q4 2011, survey also revealed that:
- The top tactics for growing email lists are website registration (62% of respondents), newsletter registration (60%), and "email to a friend" (55%).
- Although most organizations (83% of respondents) are actively working to grow and retain email contacts, 74 percent indicated their list has grown at a slow pace over the past 12 months.
- A large number of organizations are taking measures to improve email deliverability by removing hard bounces (49% of respondents), followed by regular data cleansing (44%) and removing inactive contacts (38%).
An executive summary of the Sage Nonprofit Insights, Q4 2011, survey and results are available at the following link: http://bit.ly/Ab0DAY. The online survey was conducted among Sage customers in the U.S. and Canada during December 2011. The survey had a total of 361 respondents, 192 of which are involved in their organization's email marketing strategies. The margin of error on the overall sample is +/-5 percent (greater for sub-samples) at a 95 percent confidence level.