Communicating With Volunteers: Emails They’ll Want to Open 

A lot of the work that you do as a leader of volunteers is communicating with volunteers at varying levels. And much if it is done using good old-fashioned email. 

But how do you make sure volunteers open, read, and respond to your emails? 

At VolunteerPro, we send a lot of email, too. We’ve spent years researching and sharing best practices in communication both for our own company, but also sharing what we’ve learned with audience members like you.  

Communication, whether it’s recruitment messaging, social media, or just staying in touch with your team, according to this Penn State University paper, is “one of the most important elements of the relationship that is formed between your nonprofit and the volunteers who serve it”.  

In this Tobi Johnson & Associates blog post we discussed how, as a leader of volunteers, you become the architect of experience for your organization and in your volunteer program. That experience can be improved through the effective use of communication, too.  

For email communication to be effective, your recipients need to open and engage with your messages. We’ve got a few pointers for getting that to happen with consistency. 

Communicating with Volunteers:
Remember Your Why  

In her trainings on reducing volunteer turnover, Tobi discusses “communicating from the inside out.” This means leading with emotion, rather than data or facts. It’s about sharing your big why, and remembering to craft a message that has meaning for your recipients. 

It’s the same when planning an email. You should have a specific intention when messaging your volunteer team, as well as bearing in mind the action you want your reader to take.  

The first important aspects of an effective email are a well-planned message and outcome. Before writing your email, decide what result you’re seeking and the best way to motivate your reader to take action.  

Specify Your Audience 

Before composing your message, it is also important to ensure you’re targeting the correct audience. Is it all volunteers or volunteer leaders?  It is volunteers who have not completed your survey yet, or everyone? 

Make sure your message is going to people who are best suited for taking action. This may mean just limiting the recipient list or using appropriate segmentation, if you have that technology available. 

Having the right audience makes your messaging more effective at relationship building.  It also reduces the number of unnecessary or irrelevant emails volunteers receive from your organization.  

For example, sending requests for advanced roles to beginners might be off-putting, as would sending a newcomer’s message to a well-seasoned volunteer. So be sure you are appropriately segmenting your recipients and addressing them with subjects for which they’re ready. 

Combining your big why with the correct audience for your message really shows that you are thinking about the recipient and putting their needs front and center. It demonstrates that you value their participation as well as their time. If they feel valued and not taken for granted, they will be more likely to open that email. 

Subject Matters 

Next, when communicating with volunteers, determine what strategy you’re going to use to get your email opened. Typically, if you already have a strong relationship with the recipient, they’ll want to open the email just because it is from you. If you haven’t yet established that kind of bond, you’ll need to employ other methods. 

A great way to get your emails opened is to have a compelling subject line. However, what is compelling to one may not be for every recipient. Read here all about subject line formulas that are proven to work.  

You’ll then have to decide what to deploy based on the circumstance and the relationship you’ve developed with the reader.  

Below is a list of ways you could make your email subject stand out: 

• Be visually different – try [brackets], CAPitaliZATION or “a quote“ 
• Reference a project that you’re working on together 
• Mention a mutual acquaintance  
• Use urgency by pointing out deadlines 
• Use time- or benefit-oriented words such as:  
  • alert  
  • news 
  • video 
  • win 
  • daily 
  • weekly 

Some of these can be combined to make the subject more immediately understood and relevant. For example, you could use: 

• “One question about [name of project]”  
• “Your input needed by Friday about [project name]” 

Either of these helps your reader understand that the message is pertinent to them and that you’re seeking a response. Knowing this already, they’re more likely to actually read your email. 

By the same token, avoid words that might flag your email as spam.  Avoid using ALL CAPS or the word “free” for starters. 

Communicating With Volunteers: The Message Itself 

Once opened, the effectiveness of your email can be enhanced using many of the same features as we suggest for a successful recruitment message. You will want to: 

Personalize 

Your volunteers are busy people and, as most of us do, probably get more messages in a day than they have time to read. Much like when crafting the perfect volunteer appreciation letter, show them you respect their time and attention by crafting a well-written message designed especially for them.  

You can insert their name in the salutation and subject line, but avoid overdoing it by placing their name in multiple spots in the email. Instead, try using the automation of their name just once or twice. You can add to the personalization of the message by including a special greeting, like: “Hello, my flower-loving friend.” 

You might also want to sweeten the message with a sincere line of gratitude. If your team has recently completed a big project, congratulate them, or thank them for all the effort they put in. That way, the current message isn’t one more reminder of policies or request for service.  

By tying in prior success, you’re adding to the good feelings associated with your organization. A show of appreciation makes whatever comes after it a more welcome relationship-building message. (For more on volunteer appreciation strategies, check out our chapter on the topic in our Essential Guide to Managing Volunteers.) 

Write in the way that you would speak. Of course, you want to be aware of grammar and spelling. (Learn all about email etiquette here.) But use language that’s suited to your recipient. A message that inspires action among seniors volunteering in a literacy program will sound different from one addressing young adults volunteering to play music at a children’s event. 

Stop Them in Their Tracks 

There are many ways you might get readers to stop scrolling and focus on your message. This can be with short, to-the-point sentences, comprising a very short email. Or it could be a great story that stimulates an emotional response. 

You will have to judge for yourself what is appropriate to the occasion and your audience. 

You might translate this as enticing readers by using a GIF or other visual component. This is similar to the idea of using a scroll-stopping image in social media to capture your readers’ attention. The image doesn’t even have to be directly related to the message contents, just something to capture your reader. Have fun with it! 

Be Specific 

Your email should have one single purpose. It may serve as one small part of a more complex campaign. However, in order to avoid confusion and be most respectful of your readers’ time, each individual email message should have one single purpose.  

This may seem to imply that the body of your emails should be short. This isn’t necessarily the case. At times, like when reviewing important procedures, or conveying that emotionally compelling story, mentioned earlier, you may need to take up some space with your message.  

What you don’t want to do is always be the sender whose emails take up too much time. A long email, where we have to read to determine how it applies to us, tends to trigger a reaction that makes us say, “I’ll come back to this when I have time.”  

If you train your readers that your emails contain value, make effective use of their time and serve the mission for which they’re volunteering, you have some wiggle room on message length.  

So, whether it is to make an announcement, provide training, or get feedback, focus your message on one thing. Doing so consistently makes it more likely that your emails will be read. 

Address Main Concerns 

To gain readership of your emails, make sure they earn a reputation for being informative and efficient. Include details that address the most common objections. These typically come in the form of who, what, when, etc.  

If your message is about a mandatory training session, you will probably naturally include where and when.  

Imagine all of the information volunteers will need. A truly helpful message will also let readers know that there is transportation available and how to schedule a ride. 

When volunteers know that our emails will likely include concise, important next steps they will be more likely to open your sends. 

Call Them to Action 

When your message seeks or requires the reader to do something, it cannot be stressed enough that you need to tell them to do that thing with some kind of “Call to Action.”   

This can be as simple as, “reply to this email with yes or no”. Or, if you want them to fill out a form, spell out for your reader that they should “click on this link to complete the form”. 

Don’t overlook the second part of the call to action, which is to let them know next steps, Will they be receiving a confirmation email? Tell them so. Will they hear from a member of staff via a phone call? Let them know to “expect a call from Deb next Wednesday or Thursday.”  

To make things crystal clear, let the next step be part of your call to action. 

Close the Loop 

This important phase of your messaging is often overlooked. In addition to specifying next steps, as mentioned in the previous section, you will make your reader feel included and empowered by sharing how they fit into the larger picture.  

Including, “we’re sharing this message with our most-seasoned volunteers so that they can support this year’s new volunteers in learning XYZ…” makes recipients feel like they’re really part of the team. 

When collecting feedback, let respondents know how the information will serve the organization, using something like: “Answers to these questions will help determine which artwork appears on our Annual Report. You can see which artwork won the most votes when results are published in the October newsletter.” 

Knowing the purpose and results of their participation makes the volunteer more aware of their place in and value to the organization’s work.

Communication That Builds Relationships 

When you stick to these guidelines regarding remembering your why, specifying your audience and using best subject line practices, you will very likely increase the rate at which your volunteers open your emails. By then following to the pointers offered here in composing your message, readers will begin to recognize your messages as being valuable to them. 

People are busy, and they very well may be receiving more emails in a day than they have the time to read. When you are communicating with volunteers in a way that is respectful of your team members’ time, it helps reinforce their belief that your cause and the work they provide toward it are a good fit for them.  

So, include some thoughtful personalization, a positive reference to or shout out for work they’ve done recently. and then, succinctly make your statement or ask. These are the basic components of the feel-good stuff that will have your volunteers looking out for your next message. 

When you have volunteers that believe in your cause and are looking forward to your next email, you’re building a powerful relationship.