ONLINE PLANNED GIFTS MARKETING STUDY. An analysis of , web, mobile and social media analytics for planned gifts

Transcription

1 2013 PLANNED GIFTS ONLINE MARKETING STUDY An analysis of , web, mobile and social media analytics for planned gifts Authored By: Crescendo Interactive, Inc. Download this report and infographic at

2

3 Dear Reader, At Crescendo Interactive, our mission is to assist charities in achieving their planned giving goals. For over 30 years, our company has helped planned giving officers understand, illustrate and market planned gifts to their donors. It is our pleasure to release the very first Online Planned Gifts Marketing Study. Planned gifts marketing is continually evolving as nonprofit organizations adopt a multichannel approach using new technologies to reach their donors. This study is based on analytics covering the period from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013, and utilizes data from over 32.5 million planned giving s sent by a broadly represented group of 1,026 nonprofits that market planned gifts to their donors. The results for planned gifts online marketing are impressive! Here are just a few highlights. With a 14.8% overall open rate for planned giving s, is the most cost effective way to reach planned giving donors. This represents an impressive 4.7M annually or nearly 390,954 planned giving s opened on average each month! s effectiveness was reinforced by the fact that 34.5% of visitors arrived at planned giving websites via enewsletters. WEB Last year, visits to planned giving websites increased 30% and there were more views of donor stories than any other web pages other than the organization s homepage. The most effective planned giving websites exhibited custom branded pages with compelling photos and personal donor stories. MOBILE A 72.3% increase in mobile device browsers accessing planned giving websites points to rapid growth in online marketing and its impact on planned gifts fundraising. Essentially, your donors now expect your website to be mobile friendly. SOCIAL MEDIA 89% of planned giving organizations are using some form of social media, 12% actively post on planned giving topics and over 13% plan to post regularly in the coming year. It shows a trend that a nonprofit organization cannot afford to ignore social media marketing any longer. We would like to thank the following individuals for their contribution to this survey: Zandro Diaz and the Crescendo technology team for producing and reviewing volumes of analytics from Crescendo servers; Heidi Lundgren and the Crescendo design team for designing the book and cover; and LeighAnn Foreman and the GiftLegacy marketing team for collecting and compiling social media data. Thank you for taking the time to review these results. We hope that the information provided in these pages is helpful to you as you evaluate your planned gifts marketing activities for the coming year. Very Best, Kristen Schultz Jaarda, JD, LLM Senior Vice President Christopher Jaarda, JD Vice President

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 7 WEB 13 MOBILE 19 SOCIAL MEDIA 22 GLOSSARY OF TERMS 25 STUDY METHODOLOGY ONLINE MARKETING SURVEY

5 INTRODUCTION The results are in! A review of blind data for GiftLegacy s marketing and user online activities over two previous years has produced some impressive and unexpected results. Here is an overview of our findings and the information that should inform your planned gifts marketing for the coming year. continues to be the most important online method for reaching donors and achieving responses million s were sent from Crescendo servers last year with 90% of these s sent to donors. The open rate for planned giving s sent at regular intervals was nearly 15%. That s 390,954 planned giving s opened on average each month! For the year, that is 4.7 million opens! The opt-out rate for planned giving s remained low at 0.20%. Last year, was a significant marketing driver with 34.5% of visitors to planned giving websites arriving via enewsletters. Planned giving websites saw a 30% increase in web visits over the prior year. The most popular pages in order of interest to donors were: The organization s planned giving homepage; Donor Stories; Personal Planning articles; Gift Options; and the popular Savvy Living column that appears on many GiftLegacy websites. One of the most interesting pieces of data we uncovered was the growth in use of mobile devices to access planned giving websites. From July 2012 to June of 2013, use of mobile browsers to view planned giving sites rose 72.3%. Nearly 16% of visitors to planned giving websites used a mobile device with iphones and ipads representing the largest share ONLINE MARKETING SURVEY

6 Social media usage continues to grow among nonprofits offering planned gifts. 89% of planned giving organizations use social media. As of July 2013, the average number of Facebook Likes was 23,417 and Twitter followers 8,872. Social media helped drive planned giving website traffic since 82.30% of social media links to planned giving web pages came from Facebook, 11.70% from Twitter and 4.60% from LinkedIn. According to the results of our informal User survey, 12% of nonprofits are actively posting/tweeting on planned giving topics. 32% are thinking of using social media for planned gifts, and 13% have already included social media in their planned gifts marketing plans for the coming year. The effectiveness of marketing, increased use of mobile devices, and a growing application of social media in planned giving are all positive trends that point to significant future growth for online planned gifts marketing. The data also demonstrates that a multichannel approach continues to be the best planned gifts marketing strategy to cultivate donor relationships, and for employing primarily online marketing combined with traditional print marketing to reach seniors. To be certain, the data underscores that the largest potential for growth for planned gifts marketers will be through online methods ONLINE MARKETING SURVEY

7

8

9

10

11

12

13 WEB Planned giving websites continue to be the hub of online marketing for nonprofit organizations maintaining most of their planned giving resources on web home, secondary, and landing pages. Here is a run-down of the most significant results for website data this year. OVERVIEW QUALITY VISITS Planned giving websites had a 30% increase in web visits over the prior year. PAGES The most popular pages in order were: the organization s homepage, Donor Stories, Personal Planner, Gift Options and the Savvy Living column that appears on many GiftLegacy websites. GIFT WEB PAGES The most popular gift/asset pages on planned giving websites in order related to: gift annuities, bequests, stocks and bonds, IRA rollover, land and real estate gifts. DONOR STORIES The most popular planned giving donor stories in order related to: capital gains tax bypass, bequests, deferred gift annuities, fixed income for retirement and tax-free sales. GIFT ILLUSTRATIONS The most popular planned giving illustrations in order were: gift annuities, annuity trusts, deferred gift annuities, unitrusts and sale and unitrust plans. LITERATURE DOWNLOADS The most frequently downloaded print literature pieces on planned giving websites in order related to: wills and bequests, gift annuities and charitable remainder unitrusts. WEB

14

15

16

17

18

19 MOBILE The big news this year is significant growth in mobile browsers and devices used to access planned giving information online. The upward trend points to the need for more mobile and mobile-compatible planned giving websites. OVERVIEW Here are the numbers to know: WEB BROWSERS 13.60% of planned giving websites were accessed with mobile browsers last year. MOBILE BROWSERS 72.3% growth in mobile browser use to access planned giving websites over the year. MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEMS 15.7% of visitors accessed planned giving websites using mobile operating systems. The rapid rise in mobile will demand that nonprofits upgrade their technology to accommodate increased usage of smartphones and tablets as a way to obtain planned giving information. Internet Explorer is still the most popular web browser for accessing planned giving websites with a 40.70% share of the market. Next in line is Safari with a 20% share. Mobile devices were a surprising third place finish. Their unexpected presence points to the overall growth in mobile usage and the need to make planned giving websites mobile-friendly. MOBILE

20

21

22 SOCIAL MEDIA Use of social media for planned gifts is growing. Social media is not directly aimed at fundraising. The goal of social media is to build relationships. Organizations are seeing increasing results from connections made through social media pages. OVERVIEW Social media should be viewed as part of a multichannel marketing approach in combination with print, , web and now mobile marketing. Because donors (especially Baby Boomers and Seniors) are posting, tweeting, and checking their feeds on a daily basis, organizations need to also have a presence on social media channels to reach their planned giving supporters. Here are some quick facts about social media and planned gifts: 89% of nonprofits that offer planned gifts have a social media presence % use Facebook, 70% use Twitter and 68% use both. The average number of Facebook Likes is 23,372 and Twitter followers are 8, % of the visitors who come to planned giving pages from social media come from Facebook pages % arrive from Twitter and 4.60% from LinkedIn. 12% of nonprofits are actively posting on planned giving topics. 32% are thinking about it, and 13% have plans to do so in the coming year. SOCIAL MEDIA

23

24

25 GLOSSARY ABUSE/SPAM RATE Percentage of s marked as Spam. BOUNCE RATE Percentage of s returned by an recipient s server as undeliverable. BROWSER The software a visitor is using to access the Internet. USER Typically a nonprofit organization subscribing to the GiftLegacy service and known as a GiftLegacy User. DIRECT VISITOR Website visit by an individual who has accessed the site by using either a short URL or bookmark on their browser. DISTINCT VISITOR A unique visitor to a website. This type of visitor can return numerous times to a site but will only be counted as one Distinct/ Unique visitor. GiftLaw or GiftLegacy enewsletter or special blast sent by the GiftLegacy System to an recipient. RECIPIENT An individual whose address is included in a User s Distribution List for any one or more enewsletters. EXCESSIVE BOUNCE RATE Percentage of s removed from a distribution list after four failed delivery attempts. LINK The method by which a Site Visitor has arrived to a User s Site from the User s homepage or primary website. OPERATING SYSTEM The technology platform installed on the device (computer, tablet or smartphone) used by a Site Visitor to access the site. OPT-OUT RATE Percentage of recipients who have opted out of future s. QUALITY VISIT A measure to quantify how much time or activity a Visitor spent on a website. For example, if a Visitor accessed a site twice in the same day, and visited several pages, this might register as a Quality Visit. SEARCH ENGINE The method that a Visitor used to identify and access the site. Examples of search engines include Google, Yahoo, and Bing. SITE The GiftLegacy website, which is also referred to as a website. SOCIAL MEDIA The interaction between people and organizations whereby participants create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Examples include: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. SUCCESS RATE The percentage of s verified as sent but which do not Bounce. This means the recipient s server accepted the for delivery. VISITOR An individual who accesses a User s website. WEBSITE The GiftLegacy website and also referred to as a site. OPEN RATE Percentage of s successfully delivered and subsequently opened by a recipient. GLOSSARY

26 METHODOLOGY This study was based on analytics collected from July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013 for over 32.5 million planned giving donor enewsletters sent by 1,026 nonprofits offering planned gifts to their donors. Study participants represented a broad sampling of Crescendo GiftLegacy marketing Users. Study participants also represented the most common sectors of philanthropy. These included nonprofits in the areas of healthcare, human services, education, community foundations, faith-based organizations, environmental and arts organizations. The reporting for all GiftLegacy website analytics used the Quality Visits/Distinct Visitors model, which eliminated any visitors who were not 100% valid Visitors, such as, web crawlers or web daemons (bots). Based on this methodology, all data reflects 100% certainty that it was a human viewing the websites represented in this study. A Quality Visit occurred when a visitor came to an organization s planned giving website. If this same visitor came back later in the day, it was counted as a second visit. Distinct Visitors were counted as Unique Visitors to a User s website. If a visitor returned to a site multiple times, that visitor was only counted as one Distinct/Unique Visitor. Enewsletter results were based on data collected for enewsletters sent to recipients from Crescendo servers. For purposes of this study, an enewsletter recipient is a person who is on the distribution list to receive an enewsletter from a nonprofit. Overall sent numbers, open rates, Spam rates, opt-out rates and Bounce rates reflected the aggregate of participant data based on enewsletters sent during the study period. Social media data was collected based on analytics for GiftLegacy web visits from social media pages, and public information available on nonprofit Facebook and Twitter pages. Data regarding the role of social media in planned gifts marketing plans was obtained through a survey of study participants ONLINE MARKETING SURVEY

27

28 Copyright 2013 Crescendo Interactive, Inc.