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GC Outreach Tips & Tricks

Updated

Maximizing Your Fundraising Outreach with GC Outreach: Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices

GC Outreach is a powerful tool designed to enhance your institution's communication strategies, enabling personalized and effective engagement with your community - all integrated within your GC Online Giving and Event Solutions. To maximize its potential, consider the following tips and best practices:

1. Building Engaging Emails

  • Utilize the rich media editor in GC Outreach to craft visually appealing emails.
  • Add pre-made snippets for structured content and incorporate merge tags for personalization.
  • Ensure merge tags correspond to available recipient data to prevent blank fields.
  • Keep email designs mobile-friendly, as many donors check emails on their phones.
  • Use compelling subject lines to boost open rates; keep them under 50 characters for impact.
  • For best delivery rates, we recommend keeping your email short, your imagery professional and your call-to-action clear

*Check out our brief Email Builder Tips & Tricks walkthrough video!

*Or check out this extended version for a step by step guide to building your emails! 

2. Managing Recipients Effectively

  • Loading in a Custom Segment (saved recipient list) or One-Off Recipient List
    • From your Outreach > Recipients tab you can load in a one-off recipient list for that specific email
    • Within your Segments section > New Segments > Create Segment, upload a recipient list that you can save and use in various emails 
    •  Upload a CSV file containing "external_id," "first_name," "last_name," and "email_address" to ensure accurate recipient data.  Here is a template to get you started
  • Leverage existing segments within GiveCampus, such as event registrants or campaign donors, to target the right audience.
    • From your Campaign/Giving Form Manage Gift section or your Event Registrations section, there is a ‘Create Outreach’ button. This will auto-populate those donors/registrants into an Outreach 
  • Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or incorrect addresses, reducing bounce rates and spam flags.
    • Double check your alumni email addresses or pull out any email addresses you know aren’t accurate before you send 

3. Configuring Relevant Settings

  • Validate your institution’s domain (e.g., @[yourschoolname].edu) to ensure emails appear credible and avoid spam filters.
  • Import institution-approved Google Fonts for consistent branding.
  • Create Unsubscribe Topics to better manage your communications and opt-outs
  • Save custom Snippets to have your branded Headers, Footers, and more ready to drop into any outreach

4. Utilizing Smart Segments (included in Outreach Premium)

  • Take advantage of GC Outreach’s pre-built smart segments powered by GC Intelligence models, such as:
    • Highly Likely to Make a Recurring Gift
    • Highly Likely to Become an Advocate
    • Highly Likely to Make a Leadership Gift
  • Ensure donor data is up-to-date to improve segmentation accuracy and engagement rates.  
  • Check out this article to set up the right data in the importer to drive predictions using GC Intelligence on your constituent base and their giving history.

*Learn more about Smart Segments in this quick video walkthrough 

5. Creating Custom Query-Built Segments (included in Outreach Premium)

  • Build custom query built segments using specific conditions within GC Outreach > Segments > Custom Segments.
  • Define criteria based on donation history, engagement levels, or past advocacy.
  • Choose between "static" segments (manual updates) or "dynamic" segments (automatic updates based on criteria).

*See Query Built Segments in Action in this video walkthrough

6. General Best Practices for Educational Fundraising Email Marketing

  • Personalization is Key: Use the recipient’s name, reference past giving history, and tailor content to their interests.
    • Learn how to create personalization links and easily embed that link in your upcoming outreach email here!
  • Storytelling Matters: Share impactful stories of how donations make a difference in students' lives.
  • Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Make it easy for recipients to donate, volunteer, or share your campaign with prominent, action-oriented buttons.
  • Optimize Send Times: Research suggests that mid-week mornings (Tuesday-Thursday, 8-10 AM) yield the best open rates for nonprofit emails.
  • Follow-Up and Stewardship: Send thank-you emails immediately after donations, followed by updates on the impact of their contribution.
  • Compliance and Deliverability: Follow CAN-SPAM regulations by including an unsubscribe link and sender details. Monitor email performance metrics (open rates, click-through rates, and conversions) to adjust strategies as needed.
  • Need some communication strategy inspiration for an upcoming initiative? Check out our Ultimate Flexible Marketing Plan with sample language and guidance! 

By implementing these strategies, your institution can harness the full potential of GC Outreach, fostering more personalized and effective communication with your community and driving greater engagement in fundraising efforts.

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