Best practices for development workflows

Your development team may also find Workflows helpful for keeping first-time donors and recurring donors engaged throughout the year, instead of just when they need to make the “ask.”

Your development team may want to create different workflows for:

• Events 

• Engaging first-time donors

• Re-engaging previous donors

• Engaging all donors long term

For general donor engagement, workflows will be set up similarly. Once someone donates, you'll want to be sure they get un-enrolled from the workflow.

Basic setup

• Number of suggested emails: Work with your timeline of getting the donation. We don’t suggest sending more than two emails per week and recommend sending one every 7-10 days until you’re in the final crunch time.

• Branching logic: Build email paths based on email opens and clicks.

• Timing: Send emails anywhere from 1-2 weeks apart, depending on the timeline you have for the fundraising event or deadline. Once you get closer to the deadline, sending an email twice per week is OK in the short term.

Content suggestions

• For workflows engaging new donors:

  You first need to sell them on “why” to donate. Create a series of 2-3 emails that explains the “why.” Consider where donations go, how their dollar makes an impact, and so on. Once you’ve shared the “why,” you can follow up with another 2-3 emails that make the “ask.” Keep in mind that, if they have not opened the emails selling the “why,” you should remove them from the workflow using branching logic.

• For workflows engaging previous donors:

• Email 1: Thank them for their donation last year. You may want to segment lists by how much they donated.

• Emails 2-4: Next, you’ll still need to sell them on “why” to donate. Create a series of 2-3 emails that explains the “why.” Consider where donations go, how their dollar makes an impact, and so on.

• Emails 5-7: Once you’ve shared the “why,” you can follow up with another 2-3 emails that make the “ask.” Keep in mind that, if they have not opened the emails selling the “why,” you should remove them from the workflow using branching logic.