Keep in touch.
Some of your emails will go unopened--that's totally normal! Of course, you want to increase your open rates because an email can't lead to a donation unless your donor reads it and takes action on it. Resending emails gives you a second chance to get your content in front of your donors. Here are some things to consider when creating a resend strategy.
Resend to Non-Opens Within One Week
Most people open emails within a few hours (or minutes!) of receiving them. After a few days, it's unlikely that you'll get many more opens on a sent email. A few days after you send the email, resend it to non-opens.
Here's how to do that in MailChimp:
When you go to "Send to a new segment," fill it out to say:
"Subscriber activity" "Did not open" "(name of the email campaign)".
When you fill that out, MailChimp will filter for the people who didn't open your email. It makes resending so easy!
Resend to Opens After a Full Week
After a week, you'll want to resend your email to people who opened the initial email but didn't take action. Your goal here is to get a few more conversions.
When you do this, you may want to make a few minor changes to the email. Consider changing the subject line and the primary image (if you used one). You may also want to make the body copy a little more concise and to the point. Keep the call to action clear!
Try Forwarding the Original Email
Forwarding, or including the "FW:" is a way to personalize your email and give people the impression that you've singled them out for the email. When you resend, include the original message as a forwarded email, but add a personal invitation to the email recipient asking them to answer the call to action of the original email.
For example, if your original email invited people to attend a fundraising gathering, your resend email could be you forwarding the original email and, in the new text, include a personal message, "Hello (first name), This is going to be a great event and I don't want you to miss it. Please let me know if you can make it."