Why The First 45 Days Are Critical To Winning Donor And Subscriber Support

KindfulOctober 21, 2019

Why The First 45 Days Are Critical To Winning Donor And Subscriber Support header image

As we mentioned in a previous blog post, the first 45 days are critical to winning donor and subscriber support. But why is that? That’s what we’re going to cover in today’s post.

In The State of Nonprofit Email Cultivation, a free research report we collaborated on with NextAfter, the team explained why that initial 45-day window after someone interacts with your organization is so important:

“…a person’s experience with an organization in this initial time period is critical as the first emails an organization sends often have very high open, read, and click rates.”

Think about your audience’s interaction with your organization like their attention span. They initially are engaged and focused, but over time some people will drift off or stop paying attention all together. That’s why you need to make sure to share your most important information in an engaging way and in a timely manner. If you want them to open, read, and click emails, starting sending them during the first 45 days.

The team also highlighted information from Classy’s most recent State of Modern Philanthropy report:

“We also know people are most likely to make a 2nd gift or even upgrade to become a recurring donor in their first few months after making a one-time gift. And we know that email is a main driver of online revenue – not just in the form of asking for money, but through content, reporting, and cultivation.”

That’s exciting news, right? If you were thinking that donors wouldn’t like to receive an ask or solicitation right after they’ve donated, this proves that’s not always the case. In fact, they might be more willing to give again or upgrade their gift.

That part about email being a main driver of online revenue is key too. If you know most of your donations come through online sources, you can’t afford–literally or figuratively–to not pay close attention to your email strategy.

Now that you know just how important it is to send emails within the first 45 days of someone interacting with your organization, what do you do now?

First, look at how you’re communicating with subscribers and donors after they first engage with your organization. What do you think you’re doing well? What are your areas of improvement?

Next, we recommend downloading the free research report so you can see all the data compiled there.

From there, you can take what you’ve learned and apply it to your cultivation series.

If this feels overwhelming, that’s understandable. Just know you can take this one email at a time. In the end, all that matters is that you start taking advantage of this window to engage with the supporters and donors and win their continued support for your organization.

Schedule a live demo with our partner Bloomerang, and we’ll show you how easy it is to create and automate reports, utilize online and offline fundraising tools, quickly integrate and access all your data, and ultimately create more time to engage your donors.

Filed Under:   Fundraising