Using personalized communications to reach more donors is certainly not a new concept in the nonprofit sector and there is proven data that makes a powerful case for custom messaging. According to a  Constant Contact study, personalized emails sent to smaller targeted lists based on certain behaviors lead to an average open rate of 55%. With Panorama's engagement tools

Segmenting your donors to create tailor made communications might sound a little daunting but with software like Panorama’s Peer-to-Peer fundraising solution, that has custom email functionality built right in, it’s easier than you might think. And If you’re a Panorama customer and haven’t used the custom email feature, you may be missing out on the opportunity to increase your fundraising.

What donor groups should you target?

There are so many ways to segment your donors to help you personalize your appeals, it can be a challenge to determine the best approach. The answer really depends on what you want to accomplish with your messaging and fundraising. For example, you can segment by donor behavior and reach out to that list with an encouraging message and a “get started” checklist for fundraisers who’ve signed up to participate but haven’t started yet. You can even target fundraisers, who have raised a certain amount, with tips that will take them all the way hitting their goal. Additionally, looking at donor engagement can help you customize your emails. For instance, if a donor just gave to your year-end holiday appeal, then you might want to skip asking them to participate in your winter gala and auction rather than risk donor fatigue.

Where should you start, if you are a Panorama customer?

Panorama makes it easy to create custom email templates and send emails directly from your fundraising hub. In fact, you can have a custom email campaign up and running in just four simple steps.

Step 1: Use Panorama’s smart list functionality to create your segmented list based on whatever donor behavior you’d like to target (i.e. participation and engagement rates, fundraising progress, past participation, etc.)

Step 2: Choose the event you wish to focus on and select the “Emails” option from the left navigation menu.

Step 3: Create and save your personalized communication with custom content, images, links, and attachments.

Step 4: Fill in the “Field”, “Condition”, and “Value” fields to set your email parameters for participants you’d like to reach. For example, if you would like your email to be sent to all participants that have raised greater than or equal to $100, set “Field = Participant Total”, “Condition = Greater Than or Equal” and “Value = 100. You can even customize the date and time your email will send and set up automated sends If you would like your email to go out to any new participants that meet these conditions.

It’s just that easy to generate and send personalized emails within Panorama’s Peer-to-Peer fundraising solution, but if you are a Panorama Client and have more questions about the process you can check out this article for more details and tips. Now that you are armed with information about the power of personal messaging and know how to get started, we hope you will be able to use the comprehensive features in Panorama to help you boost your fundraising and engage donors like never before.

Interested in learning more about how Panorama can help grow your organization? Schedule a call! If you are a current Panorama customer and have questions don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team.