This article about the Obama campaign's email strategy gives us the thrill of a peek at their top performing subject lines. It also has some important takeaways:
1) They asked actively. The bulk of their online money came from email solicitation.
2) They tested relentlessly. Subject lines, formatting, messages, graphics, tone.
3) They adopted what worked, not what they liked. Ugly played a part.
4) Even the best emails had a life. They didn't work forever.
Best line of the article -- "We were so bad at predicting what would win that it only reinforced the need to constantly keep testing."
(A nod to Rob Walker for being the first to share... and Anne Ibach for being the next. Great fundraising comes from sharing ideas and making them work for you.)
I actually printed out that line, "We were so bad at predicting what would win that it only reinforced the need to constantly keep testing" and tacked it up over my desk!
ReplyDeleteA great reminder that it's not about what I like, it's about what works!
Anne