You might be curious about how frequently your donors engage with your email messages - are people more likely to donate using the link in your email blasts? Are people opening the email right after it's been sent, or is there a delay between them arriving in an inbox and when they're reviewed?
In good news, there's an easy way to track these metrics for each email blast you send. Below, we've provided an easy explanation on how to set up your email blast to include that tracking - and how to understand those metrics after the message has been sent.
Preparing your Email Blast
In order to track how many donations result from a particular email blast, you'll want to make sure that the email blast has a link to your donation page.
When creating an email blast, you'll want to make sure you add a "button" from the "Content" options, and include a link to your donation page when setting up that button.
We also recommend limiting the other links that you include in your email blast, to avoid any confusion for your donors.
Viewing Your Email Blast's Metrics
Once you’ve sent your email, you should see it appear in the list of sent messages under the “Email Blasts” tab within Donor Management. Each email blast listed will also show you the “open rate” and “click rate” of your message at-a-glance.
You can also click on the “View Results” link below the email blast’s open rate to see a more detailed breakdown of your email blast’s statistics.
You can also use the “status” button to narrow down specific results of your email blast – such as which emails were opened, or which ones bounced.
To see how many donations have been collected directly as a result of your email, you'll want to review the "Raised" metric.
Email Blast Metrics - Key Terms
Open Rate - the percentage of recipients who actually opened your email blast.
Click Rate - the percentage of total recipients who opened your email blast AND clicked a link found within the body of your message.
Bounce Rate - the percentage of emails that weren't able to be delivered on the first attempt. (This percentage includes both "hard" and "soft" bounces, which are further explained below.)
"Hard" Bounce - an email that was not delivered, due to the email no longer accepting messages or being typed incorrectly.
"Soft" Bounce - an email that was not delivered, due to the recipient's inbox being full, or the recipient receiving a high volume of emails at once. Donor Management will attempt to send an email that has "soft bounced" three times before considering the email a "hard bounce."
Not Seeing Donations from the Email's Metrics?
As we mentioned before, it can take some time for those metrics to update - it depends on when individuals actually open their emails, as well as when a donor's email provider has provided us with those metrics. We recommend checking back periodically to see how those metrics update and change over time - especially within the first 24 or 48 hours.
If you're still not seeing any donations coming in, you may also want to double-check the URL that you included in your email blast's "button." For example, you will need to provide the full URL to a page (including the "https://...) for it to work successfully.
It's also possible that a donor's browser may prevent you from seeing if they've clicked the link; if an email recipient has blocked "third-party website cookies" on their browser, that information might not be available for you to see.
Finally, once a donor clicks on that button in your email and lands on your donation page, they must complete the donation in the same "web session" for the donation to be attributed to the email. (A web session last for four hours.) If a donor clicks on the link for your donation page, but leaves the page without donating and then returns after that four-hour window has passed, the donation that they've made won't be attributed to your email blast.
To learn more about email deliverability while using Donor Management, please click here.