Sightsavers is an international non-governmental organization, whose aim is to prevent eliminate avoidable blindness and promote the rights of people with disabilities, in some of the poorest parts of the world.
People who signed up to receive Sightsavers’ emails would be added onto their main active segment. The amount and subject of these emails would vary greatly throughout the year, meaning that each person’s initial experience of Sightsavers’ emails could be very different depending on when they signed up. It was also possible that new subscribers could be dropped into a series of emails midway through.
Sightsavers wanted to provide their subscribers with a consistent, engaging and educational welcome program, introducing a balanced view of the different types of work they do and countries they work in. The overall objective of the campaign was to provide new subscribers with a better and more enjoyable email experience – and in turn increase long-term engagement and donations.
The solution was to develop a two-month automated welcome journey, using a combination of new and existing content which had performed well with the main active segment. Sightsavers also utilized behavioral and data filters to tailor how they spoke to their supporters and what they asked of them. After the initial two months, these people were automatically added to the active segment.
Many of the CTAs are engagement-focused, however they have achieved an overall 3% conversion rate once supporters hit the website.
To further personalize the user experience, subscribers are asked their name twice – once in the welcome email and then in a follow-up later in the journey. 27% of those who opened the welcome email went on to provide their name, as did 20% of those who opened the follow-up. This constitutes a 17.8% name collection rate across all sign-ups. The campaign hasn’t yet been running long enough for any longer-term analysis but Sightsavers will be keeping a keen eye on it going forward, optimizing and updating it with fresh content.