How To Automate Emails, Save Time, AND Engage Your Community
The Top Line
These days, many volunteer programs are running very lean, with a small paid staff serving the needs of many. Volunteer leaders can quickly feel overwhelmed trying to build relationships with every current volunteer and prospects while meaningfully communicating important information timely.
And without the right tools in place, it becomes all too easy for communication and relationship-building to fall by the wayside. It is possible, however, to provide high-value information to your volunteer team, with a personal touch and at just the right moment, when you automate emails through an email service provider.
Read on to Discover:
The Basics of Email Service Providers
Automate Emails to Save Time (AND Build Relationships)
The Software Needed For a Successful Drip Campaign and Automated Emails
Setting Up Automated Emails
5 Kinds of Automated Volunteer Drip Campaigns
The Basics of Email Service Providers
Using email service providers like Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign, or ConvertKit might feel a little intimidating, but these tools help you save time by managing your data more effectively, automate emails through “drip campaigns,” and segment your audience so that individuals only get the information that’s relevant to them.
You can use these platforms to fully manage the process of subscribing to your newsletter, requesting more information about your organization, and even sending recruiting and fundraising appeals.
Equally vital: these platforms provide immediate data and overall trends in subscriber growth, open and clickthrough rates, unsubscribes, and other key performance indicators to help you learn what messaging resonates with your audience, what doesn’t, and what to lean into even more.
Automate Emails to Save Time (AND Build Relationships)
At the core of every email service provider is the ability to build “drip campaigns.”
When you’re managing hundreds or even thousands of volunteers, it’s impossible to send each person individual emails at every stage of their volunteer lifecycle. Automated drip campaigns help you to stay in touch, nurture relationships, and even weave requests for time and cash contributions.
Simply put, drip campaigns (also known as drip marketing, nurture sequences, automated email campaigns, lifecycle emails, autoresponders, marketing automations, and sales funnels) are an automated series of emails scheduled to go out at a pre-determined time (either a specific date and time or at specific intervals), depending on how you set them up.
In the marketing world, drip campaigns are used to nurture a prospect and ultimately make a sale. In the volunteer world, they can be used to automate and simplify volunteer email communications and reinforce beneficial behavior on the part of your volunteer supporters.
As opposed to individual personal emails or group email “blasts,” drip campaigns are fully automated. Once you design a campaign, you can set it and forget it. Your readers then complete an online form and/or are “tagged” in your email system. Once a contact is tagged, the email series begins.
Typically, a series should be about 5-6 emails that are sent a few days apart. There are instances where emailing is more frequent, even multiple times a day, especially if there is an impending deadline you don’t want your audience to miss.
The Software Needed For a Successful Drip Campaign and Automated Emails
The only way to fully automate emails is to have an email service provider that can initiate campaigns based on tags and web forms.
While some platforms can range in the thousands of dollars per year, there are a few low-cost options for smaller group sizes.
At VolunteerPro, we use ConvertKit and are very happy with the functionality, ease of use, and low price point as compared to our previous platform. Furthermore, we found the tools within ConvertKit to be so helpful, we partnered with the company as an affiliate to recommend to our audience!
You can learn more about ConvertKit and even start with their free plan HERE. As an affiliate, VolPro may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Setting Up Automated Emails
Setting up email automation campaigns takes an investment upfront time, and requires little maintenance afterwards. You can either run campaigns indefinitely, on an evergreen basis , as long as your audience still engages with them. Or, you can send special “one and done” campaigns.
Your system can also be set to add or remove tags (and this will then determine whether specific emails are sent).
Let’s say you are sending reminders for an upcoming volunteer training and don’t want to nag people who’ve already registered. You can set the system to send to everyone, and once someone clicks on the RSVP, they are removed from the campaign.
Also, if you decide you want to make future adjustments to your campaign, it’s easy to do in the system without losing any of your contacts.
Finally, all systems have tracking analytics. So, you can easily see if your volunteer emails have been opened and clicked, should they include a call to action. And you can end special offers and asks to people who have completed your campaigns because they now know and trust you better.
5 Kinds of Automated Volunteer Drip Campaigns
Automated volunteer email campaigns should always be designed to bring about a specific result. Examples include application completion, training attendance, shift sign-up, or volunteer opportunities invitations to friends.
Since the general public only opens an average of 25% of emails generated by nonprofits, you need to send more than one email to get your messages heard.
Some marketing circles follow the “rule of seven.” In other words, it takes an average of seven impressions before your audience will act. So, in some cases, it makes sense to combine your email campaign with other channels like social media.
There are many themes or actions you can develop a campaign around.
OPTION 1: Opt-In Welcome Campaign
Welcome campaigns are often triggered when website visitors opt into a free download (or what’s called a “lead magnet” in marketing terms). They enter their name and email in exchange for something interesting or valuable.
Once they confirm they want to hear from you by clicking on the link, your system automatically emails them, and the welcome campaign starts.
The best use of welcome campaigns is to introduce what you do and begin to build a relationship with prospective donors or volunteers. Furthermore, you could use the same campaign to build relationships with both. Consider asking them to click on a link that indicates their interest, then segment this into two groups that receive different email campaigns thereafter.
When it comes to creative options of what to use as a freebie for your audience, the sky’s the limit. For an alumni group, it might be a tailgate recipe book. If you are a historic home, it might be an email series with behind-the-scenes tips from docents. Organizations such as a domestic violence prevention agency might employ a tip sheet on educating kids about telltale signs.
At this point, the freebie is not necessarily related to volunteering, but your campaign emails will mention the option as a call to action.
For more ideas on list-building freebies, check out How to Recruit Volunteers by Building a Following First HERE>>
OPTION 2: Volunteer Recruitment Campaign
You can also “daisy chain” your email campaigns together, having one flow from the previous one.
For example, once you’ve developed a relationship with a contact and they are opening your emails regularly (you can set your system to tag them when they do), you can trigger a recruitment campaign to be sent.
This series of emails can be more specific about the results volunteers achieve, the benefits of volunteering, and should include a call to action for your next steps (e.g., to complete an application or RSVP for an upcoming volunteer orientation).
Alternatively, you could set up a campaign to follow up on inquiries that were submitted via a webform on your website to alert volunteers who have applied about next steps and even send them some preliminary preparatory materials.
OPTION #3: Volunteer Onboarding Campaign
Another volunteer email campaign is one to help induct volunteers into the organization. The goal of this series is to provide helpful information while managing volunteer expectations.
If you sent it up correctly, it could act as a mini volunteer orientation, complete with short, embedded emails, downloadable handouts, and links to deeper information.
Our free VolunteerPro [eCourse] Better Volunteer Recruitment in 6 Easy Steps is set up this way. Subscribers are sent an automated series of emails that teach them incrementally in small digestible chunks. This micro-learning design honors the lifestyles of our busy audience members.
The best way to use this kind of campaign is to layer it with in-person learning for a blended learning experience. When you layer information like this, volunteers have a better chance at mastering the skills they need to be successful.
OPTION #4: Volunteer Appreciation Campaign
You can even set up a campaign that acknowledges and inspires volunteers through an email series. This is particularly helpful for far-flung teams that work online. But it is also appropriate for local teams.
When scheduling your campaigns, choose a month or time that has special significance for volunteers. National Volunteer Weeks are perfect. Valentine’s Day or other holidays also work, depending on your audience.
These emails should entertain and inspire, so be sure to include stories, GIFs, and other fun content. You might also include a “gratitude challenge” where you ask volunteers to publicly appreciate a fellow volunteer each day.
Link these to your social media accounts or a private Facebook group for volunteers. Additionally, you can forward your email audience to your social media platform for fuller engagement. In this case, the emails are positive triggers that something fun is going on. FOMO is real, and volunteers don’t want to miss out!
OPTION #5: The “We Want You Back” Series
This series serves well once a volunteer misses shifts or has incomplete training. The goal is to reconnect with volunteers to see if they want to either discontinue or suspend their volunteer participation.
It’s always better to know than to be clueless about the intentions of your volunteers. Why are they not showing up? You can include in one of the emails a quick feedback survey that can help you gather more intel.
Be ready to follow up with upset volunteers via phone. A live phone call is more efficient for rectifying misunderstandings. In contrast, multiple emails can easily misconstrue your meaning.
To set this campaign up for the greatest impact, review your volunteer attrition rates. At what point do you lose the most volunteers? What information or inspiration are they missing at this point? What can you communicate through email that can encourage them to take the next steps or re-engage?
Automated volunteer emails are a powerful tool to keep volunteers happy and coming back for more.
They are key touchpoints when you have multiple volunteers to keep track of. If written with care, you can show compassion, provide encouragement, and keep the conversation going. This series is ideal to maintain community when you don’t cross paths in person often.
For more on this type of email series, check out Engage Volunteers with a Win-Back Campaign HERE>>
Final Thoughts on How To Automate Emails, Save Time, AND Engage Your Community
A good email service provider removes a lot of the remote communication tasks. Consequently, it will free up energy to meet more in-person and face-to-face needs.
This technology allows you more time to focus on strategy, build connections, and engage deeper with your community.
