Karen Matheson and Eve Fox of M&R Strategic Services ask, "Are you one of the many email fundraisers, organizers, advocates or marketers who view their online statistics with a sigh? Do you fantasize about sky-high open, click-through, and response rates... a list with zero unsubscribes?"

If you fit the bill and need to figure out how to get your open rates up and your op-outs down, you should check out Matheson and Fox's new report titled "Do Email Silences Matter?" The crux of the report is that "on-again, off-again conversations" -- inconsistent email campaigns with long gaps in communication -- cause supporters to lose interest in campaigns.

According to M&R's study, conducted from November 2005 to October 2006 and following the email campaigning practices of four major nonprofit groups, click-through and response rates went slightly down after a one month gap in communication; after two to three months of no email communication those rates decreased even further.

The solution? To maintain a healthy relationship with your constituents, email them regularly! Matheson and Fox suggest maintaining a "comprehensive cross-departmental email communications schedule" that keeps diligent track of the date and content of email campaigns. You can see and example here.

Of course, this is kind of discovering the obvious, but it doesn't hurt to have hard numbers to prove what common sense suggests: the longer you take to get back to someone, the less likely they'll remember you.

The full report can be viewed on the web or as a PDF.

Tags: email campaigns

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