Ep. 197: Why Sending 3+ Emails on the Final Day Can 2X–9X Your Campaign
EPISODE 197
Why Sending 3+ Emails on the Final Day Can 2X–9X Your Campaign
About the Episode:
I recently got an email from a development manager telling me I send too many emails. She's not wrong for feeling that way, but that feeling is rooted in one of the most expensive beliefs in nonprofit fundraising. And that's exactly what I'm unpacking in this episode.
Today, I'm breaking down the data behind email frequency, what it actually costs your organization when you hold back, and why the inner monologue of "I don't want to bother people" is quietly limiting your mission. I talk about what the M+R benchmarks report actually shows about how many emails high-revenue nonprofits are sending, why campaign-based intensity is where your revenue is sitting, and what happened when one development manager followed the Easy Emails For Impact™ process and 9x'd their typical campaign results, without a single new donor on the list.
P.S. Easy Emails For Impact™ enrollment is now open with 50% off. Go to splendidcourses.com/email for all the details.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
Why "you send too many emails" is rooted in one of the most expensive beliefs in fundraising
What the M+R benchmarks report actually shows about email frequency and revenue growth
The difference between sending more emails and sending more emails at the right time
Why holding back during a campaign window is limiting your mission, not protecting your donors
How one development manager 9x'd campaign results by staying in the conversation longer
Why you're not building your strategy around your donors
Why email revenue grew 16% last year, and what that means for organizations not tapping into it
It’s not your stories—it’s how you’re telling them. If your amazing work isn’t getting the attention (and donations) it deserves, it’s time for a messaging shift. The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide guide gives you 10 done-for-you donor prompts to make your message impossible to ignore. Get it for free here!
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“It's about sending more emails at the right time, more high-quality emails at the right time, campaign-based intensity.”
“If you want a big result, you've got to water it.”
“What's more expensive, a few unsubscribes or donors who would have given if they had seen one more email?”
“33% of donors say email is the tool that most inspires them to give.” - 2025 Online Donor
“Email revenue grew 16% last year; that means revenue per subscriber jumped from $1.87 to $2.40.”
“About 50 emails are being sent per subscriber per year.”
Episode Resources:
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
Easy Emails For Impact™ - enrollment opening on May 7, with 50% off the course
Double Your Donations - Raise More From Your Laptop Without Chasing Grants or Galas
Donations on Demand: Build a $5K Email Campaign System in 30 min/week
Connect with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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*Links may be affiliate links which means I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Christina Edwards 0:53so I recently got an email from a development manager who said, basically, Christina, I Love your work, but you're sending a lot of emails, and I want to talk about that today, because she's not wrong for feeling that way. But we're going to name that feeling a little bit more specifically, because that feeling is rooted in a very specific belief, and it is one of the most expensive ones in nonprofit fundraising,
Christina Edwards 1:29
that's what we're going to break apart today. So when somebody says, hey, this feels like too many emails, they're usually reacting to one or two things, one, their own personal preferences or to their own mindset Blocks around email, meaning I wouldn't send this many emails, so you shouldn't either, but we don't apply that standard everywhere. You know. You don't apply that standard to Old Navy or Jersey Mike's right, telling them to slow down. You're not like dear AT and T you send too many emails. What do you do instead? You might just delete the ones that are not for you. You might skim them. You engage when you're ready. So already there's a disconnect. There's a disconnect with how you react to certain consumer emails and how you react to maybe your own nonprofit emails, other nonprofit fundraisers, or maybe other small business owners like myself.
And maybe you've been thinking, well, actually, we have kind of been stair stepping our frequency. Christina, we actually do send more emails than we used to. But let's talk about just what's really, really common in this sector, and why change feels so slow because it is nonprofits. Don't just flip a switch and say, now we've got this new marketing plan, or now we have this new frequency for email. It feels a lot like turning around a cruise ship. It is slow. So as you are increasing your frequency, there may be board approval in the way executive leadership approval, hesitation. There's the, are we allowed to do this question internally that's coming up. So we're at a tipping point right now where people are starting to see, maybe you're starting to see that like, my gosh, we can raise money, a significant amount of money online, specifically through email, but we totally have some hesitation on really going all in on email. You haven't stepped fully into it yet. You're sort of turning around that cruise ship, right? Because you've got your toe over here in events, you've got your toe over here in social media, your toe over here in direct mail, and you're nervous to really hit the gas on a full fledged email strategy that propels you forward, because it's going to be different than what you historically have done.
so let's zoom out. Let's look at the data. So I'm going to reference back to the MNR benchmark study that came out recently, and it shows that about 50 emails are being sent per subscriber per year, about 50 emails. I'm curious if that surprises you or not, right? You may be like, that's a lot more than we send, and of that 50, about 31. Of those were fundraising appeals. Had fundraising asks in them. Okay? So if you think about it, that's almost an email a week, right? 52 weeks in a year, almost an email a week, and then over half of those had a fundraising ask. Okay, so that's really important to look at. So what does that mean for your organization? Well, it means that you should not be sending 50 weekly emails, and then just trickling out fundraising asks in those 50 right? Most likely what that looks like for most organizations who are using this model, who are who are contributing to this study, is they're doing these pops, these short bursts. I call them sprint campaigns, where you have an influx of emails going out in a short period of time with a fundraising ask attached to them, right? And you're rolling off, the fund, on the fundraiser and off. So you're going on to a short, condensed period of asks, and then you're rolling off. That's what it looks like. And not surprisingly, nonprofits sending more emails year over year. That means we're seeing more emails, the increase of volume of emails being sent year over year. And what's happening next, revenue is growing along side of it. So the more emails that your organization sends, the more revenue your organization will bring in. And that may be like simple math, because it is simple math, but what's underneath that is a lot of trepidation, right? Of like, well, let's just, I don't know, but think about it this way, more sends, more chances to be seen, more opportunities to give that's a very direct high ROI relationship. So the idea that sending more emails is the problem, it just doesn't hold up. Just doesn't hold up. It doesn't hold up for me and my business. It doesn't hold up for our clients, and it certainly doesn't hold up. Doesn't hold up in this benchmarks report.
The more emails you send, we are seeing an increase in revenue. And if we refer back to how I started this episode, there's some fear around it, right? There's some beliefs around it. Well, I don't want to be annoying, I don't want to bother people too much. I don't want to turn people off, right? And I get that, we just closed out our biggest sprint launch of the camp of the program ever, an incredible sprint launch. And that's when I received this, this email, right, which is totally valid, somebody saying, hey, you've been sending a lot of emails lately, and I'm nodding along, like, Uh huh, and I'm supporting more nonprofits than ever. The two go hand in hand, right? So it's really important to look at, do I want to stay in my comfort zone where I'm not really like bothering people? I'm not ruffling any feathers everybody's happy with, like homeostasis of our frequency, and I have the results that I kind of can plan on year over year, hopefully, kind of plateaued. Or do I want to take a big old step forward, a big old leap forward, and really double down the stories that I'm telling, really doubling down on the invitations to give, really double down on the heart of our campaign like this, feeling like I ran, I sprinted right, I didn't give up, and I helped more people because of it. I impacted more people because of it. That's what I want for you. So hopefully you're starting to see that through this data. So let's talk about where your revenue is actually sitting. So here's what I see across organizations, working non stop, but under communicating during the exact moments when donors are ready to act. That gap is where your revenue is sitting. It's not about sending more emails all the time. Hear me on that. I'm not just saying send more emails in perpetuity, forever and ever, right? It's about sending more emails at the right time, more high quality emails at the right time. Campaign based intensity. So if you're live in a fundraising window, stay visible, and that's the moment that most organizations completely miss, because that inner monolog is like taking the wheel that's steering the ship right that inner monolog of the what ifs, you know, I already sent three emails. That should be enough. I don't want to bug people, so most people go quiet right before so many donors are ready to act. So that's why I do the opposite in my business, multiple emails, especially this in particular, was the day that enrollment closed. You're going to hear from me more than once. I assume you lead a very busy life. I assume that you have questions that I'm receiving my inbox from 10 other organizations, and why not answer them for you too? I assume that you forgot. I assume you didn't read the emails that preceded it. I'm not making assumptions that are negative, I'm making assumptions that are positive. What if you did the same thing for your campaigns and your donors, because when we do the opposite, we hold back. We don't give people agency to decide, right? You don't give people agency to make the decision, because maybe they missed the two emails that what came before it. So I want to tell you about a development manager that came into my course easy emails for impact., they knew things were stagnant, same audience, kind of, same mission. They knew they wanted to, like, jazz things up, but they weren't exactly sure they were new to their role. They knew that there had potential. They had some ideas, but, like, really no, definitely no process in place for emailing and everything was like starting from scratch. So he came in, he followed the easy emails process. He 9x his campaign. 9x their typical results, nine times now, not because his donor lists change, not because they had some, some wealthy donor come in, and 9x no because he stayed in the conversation longer, and he was willing to expand and try something new, his bravest, most, boldest self, right? And he showed up differently when it counted during that campaign, that short burst. Now, the cost of holding back one more email is not as neutral as you think. Think about it. You may think I've already sent three. We're good, like I've already sent insert your internal threshold. I've already sent four. I don't need to send one more. I thought about it, but I'm not going to you think that's neutral. You think you could or you couldn't, totally fine, but the people you serve don't get reached when you pull back, the funding that could come in doesn't because you decided not to send that lost email. The momentum never builds. This is huge. We want to see momentum built, and we can't do that when you are sprinkling just a handful of emails. I'm in Atlanta, and we haven't had a lot of rain. Like, remember April showers bring May flower like, that hasn't happened. It's just been no rain. And I want you to think about this idea of like, it drizzled yesterday. It drizzled like the plants were like, I mean, this is better than nothing. Some plants will be fine for that drizzle, the ones that are really rooted, and some of the the newer plants that aren't totally rooted in our yard, or some of the seeds we planted, they're like, that is not enough, that ain't it. We need more. And the same thing is happening with your campaigns. Like, if you want a big result, you got to water it. Like, you've got to be willing to water it so that momentum never builds. You're not protecting people, you're actually limiting your mission. And that's one of the biggest things that I hope you get from this, is you're in your own way. When you have this mindset that, like, you know, don't want to bother, don't want to bug, like, like, I'm willing. And this is taken, you know, being in business for almost two decades, I'm willing to have a few people be like, hey. Kind of a lot of emails not into it, so that a lot of people can double their next campaign, can serve their mission faster than they ever imagined. Can help their communities. Help more people. Like, I'm willing for a few people to be like, I don't like that, so that a lot of people who have been dreaming about impacting more more lives, impacting their community greater, now have the support inside one of my programs to do that. And it's like anyone who's like, I don't know if this is right for me, and I can send another email and say, here's who it's right for. It may not be, but here's what works and here's what here's what it looks like when you join and really go through that process with them in more than three emails, right? It's worth it. It's worth it all day, every day. So the reframe here is that your donors aren't reading every email. I know you think they are, or maybe you're worried they might be. They're skimming, catching one here, one there. You're not flooding them. You're increasing your chances to be seen. You're increasing your chance of your organization, your mission being top of mind for your donor. Don't forget, you're not the only mission that they subscribe to. They receive other emails from other organizations. Want you to think about this. What's really happening when organizations hold back. They're worried about upsetting somebody, and it makes sense, unsubscribes looking like they're doing it wrong, but they're building a strategy around a negative projection their most reactive, least aligned person. Think about Dan. We're going to call him Dan. Dan thinks you email too much, and now you're making decisions for 1000s of people based on Dan. Dan is the one who's like, kind of grumpy. Dan doesn't get it. Dan wasn't planning on giving anyway. Meanwhile, there's this whole group of people over here who are curious, interested, warm, but not quite there yet. Leadership means some people will be drawn in, some people will opt out. And if no one is ever pushing back, you're not at capacity, you're playing it safe. It's a big symptom. If you don't have one person who's like, you know, I'm subscribing here or there, or we're. Responding or giving you a little bit of a quote, unquote helpful suggestion, right? Then you're literally ruffling no feathers, right? So I find that it's actually a good it's a good litmus test of, am I stuck in my comfort zone to the detriment of my goals? If, like, no one's really responding, so you're gonna have these campaigns. Are gonna have these moments where you can lean in and go, I can handle a few dance and what's, what's amazing about the dance of the world, as the dance of the world are gonna respond and be like, hey, that's kind of a lot of emails. And you have an opportunity, even in that point, to connect with Dan and get to know him better. Guess what? Dan may be the kind of person who loves a text he loves a direct mail piece, like, you get to know his preferences better. You can segment him out in the future. If anything, it's like a connecting builder to get somebody who's like, kind of grumpy in your inbox to be like, Tell me. Tell me everything, Dan. Let's hop on the phone. What are you interested in? I want to know more about you, like, even in that instead of, it's this opportunity to lean in, instead of, like, run away, while also, I want to honor like, when somebody has even anything like, neutral to negative to say in your inbox. Of course, it feels like, immediately you feel maybe defensive or nervous or something like that. That's normal. But then if you just kind of get curious and you're like, Okay, what's his experience? What's his experience? Have I been nurturing enough? Have I been telling enough stories in the in between the non fundraising activities, right? The non fundraising emails, what does that look like? Where can I connect with Dan? we don't need everyone to stay on your list in perpetuity. Some people will grow and stay there for a very long time. Some people will leave and will come back. But when you're like so tight, it's almost like this idea of your donors, like so tight on the 50 or the 100 or the 1000 donors that you need every single one. It doesn't give you any room to grow. It doesn't give you any room to expand, to be creative, to innovate, to add another I have several clients who are like, let's do another appeal letter each year, this year. So normally we do four, let's do five this year. It's like, yeah, do you think that maybe there's a percentage of their audience, a small percentage might be like, it's a lot of appeal letters, maybe, but I think there's a large percentage of their audience. They have a strong direct mail program who are going to be like, What a great story I had no idea. Or another opportunity to give, or another opportunity to for that organization to stay top of mind. I think it will be very, very strategically positive for them, and that's like Worth doing, worth exploring. But you can't do that when you're held so tightly around those numbers, when you're making, again, those decisions for 1000s of people based on Dan. So a couple of important nuances. This isn't about just blasting your list, fire, hosing your list. This is where people can get it a little wrong. I'm not just talking about volume. And the MNR benchmarks report is not just saying 50 emails. That's the magic number. What's right for you is going to be different for somebody else? Right? We have different audience sizes, different missions, there's structure, there's timing, and there's story. What is inside the emails matter so much. That's why it really is the intersection of art and science, and that's how I built easy emails for impact. Is that intersection of you get to color outside the lines, right? You get to use our curriculum and go, here's what we're going to do. Here's what we're going to do. There's somebody that recently said, like, what's the right time of day to send emails? As if I appreciate the question, there is one answer. If there was one answer, then you and I would go to Barnes and Noble, and there would be one book called fundraising and one book called Marketing. And that's all we'd need, right? So
Christina Edwards 19:00
is an art and a science. You have to try and see what works for your audience. You have to be willing to fail forward, to get back up. That's the work. That's the work that this requires. So when questions fill my inbox during campaign, I don't answer them quietly. I turn them into emails. I turn them into emails. I turn them into content. If one person is asking, it's easy that 100 people are thinking it. And I wonder for you, what are the questions people have, or the hmm, like the thoughts they have about your about your stories when they're on the fence, they're thinking about donating to your next campaign, but they haven't yet, right? What is that opportunity? What's one more email you could write? So if you're worried about the unsubscribes, yes, some people will leave. But what's more expensive, a few unsubscribes or donors who would have given if they would have seen one more email. That's way more expensive. If you're thinking, we don't have enough to say, you definitely need to be in these emails for impact. But. You're not out of content, I promise you're not out of content. You're just not trained to see it yet. And that's a skill, and it's very learnable.
Christina Edwards 20:21
Or maybe you're like, listen, Christina, our donors are different. Okay, this doesn't work for our donors. I would push back on that and say, What if they're not as different as you think? Or, my favorite, our donors don't like email. Did you decide that for them? Is that your personal preference? I know we talked about that in the last episode, because 33% of donors say email is what inspires them most to give more than social, more than your website, definitely more than your website. They are waiting send another email.
email revenue grew 16% last year. That means revenue per subscriber jumped from 187 to $2.40 that's significant. So if you are not tapping into that, you're just leaving money on the table. And that's why I bring it back to this isn't an email problem. This isn't a list problem, this isn't an audience problem. This might be, probably this a courage problem. The courage to stay visible, the courage to repeat yourself, takes guts, the courage to send one more email, because that's exactly where the donations are. One more step. What's one more thing I can do? And that's exactly the moment where a lot of organizations stop, so don't build your strategy around Dan. You're not flooding your donors. You're not fire hosing them. You're increasing your chances to be seen. If you want to know exactly how to structure an email, literally from content to design, when to send it, how campaigns actually convert. That's what we teach inside of easy emails for impact and the purpose and profit club now enrollment for easy emails for impact. That is my signature, most popular. Course, everyone has gone through it. Absolutely loves it. It is perfect for small shops. It is amazing for large, established organizations. So we've had people go through it who are like, we have 100 email subscribers. We have people go through it who are like, Christina, this is really important. We have 50,000 email subscribers. This process works both scenarios. You're sitting on an untapped gold mine. Enrollment is now open, so I want you to click the link in the show notes or go to splendid courses.com forward slash emails for all of the details and 50% off the course. See you next time go. Send another email.