Email automation tools aren’t created equal. Before you pick one for your organization, you need to understand why you need one in the first place.

Do you need to send personalized content or create a subscriber list? Are you aiming at conducting A/B tests, or do you prefer to use the tools for analytics?

Regardless of the kind of features you are looking for, you can always find email automation tools to match your needs. The right service provider should offer email marketing services that help your non-profit earn more donations by all means necessary.

However, there are some features that any tools created for organizations in 2020 should have. Here are a few must-have features that can improve your email marketing campaigns:

 

Seamless CRM Integration

You already have access to your customer’s data on your CRM. If you can use this data in the right way, personalizing your emails becomes more straightforward.

Ideally, your audience is more likely to react to your emails’ content if it is personalized. The good thing is that you can use the data you already have about your audience to craft the perfect content.

Having a tool that integrates with your CRM tools like Salesforce will ease the personalization process.

 

In-Depth Segmentation

Offering every potential donor a personalized journey improves the chances that they will contribute to your cause. On the other hand, this means that you need to segment donors into specific demographics.

You can have donors who are new to your organization, those who have interacted with you in specific ways, and those who simply need updates on your organization’s initiatives. The right email automation tools should make the segmentation process easier.

For instance, they should allow you to send specific emails to site visitors who clicked on certain links. Ideally, this will require choosing a tool that has behavioral analytics ingrained in it.

 

Reports and Analytics

It can be counterproductive to launch an email campaign without tracking the results. Assessing the results helps you identify what works and what doesn’t as well as fine-tune your approach.

For instance, you can evaluate whether a specific subject line, article topic, or call-to-action works for your organization. With time, you can refine your approach to capture the attention of your audience.

Look for tools that have reports and analytics features. The trick is to understand the kind of data you need to analyze and pick a tool that will help you with it.

 

Mobile-Friendliness

A huge portion of emails is opened on mobile devices. If you can target your email campaigns toward mobile users, you can increase your click-through rates and donations.

The ideal email automation software should have features that are targeted towards a mobile audience. For instance, it should come with mobile-friendly templates that can work well on different devices.

It should also have call-to-action buttons that rhyme well with the recipient’s screen size. The button should neither be too small to click nor too big to the extent of being an eye-sore.

 

Built-In Design and Spam Testing

You need to ensure your emails look good to your recipient. Using an email automation tool that allows you to evaluate how an email looks is essential.

For instance, you might want to redo any emails whose images appear distorted on mobile devices. The trick is to pick tools that allow you to preview the images, templates, and messages sent out to different inboxes for different devices.

Since there are a variety of laws and regulations that dictate the kind of emails that end up in the spam folder, you need a tool that allows you to assess your emails for spammy content before hitting send.

You took your time creating the content. Why not ensure that the target audience receives it?

 

Conclusion

 

The success of your email marketing campaign is heavily reliant on the email automation tools you use. It should help you throughout your journey, from content creation to success analysis. If you need a tool that will help you generate more conversions from your email campaigns, feel free to check out Predictive Marketing.