The Right Way to "Echo"

The term “echo e-mail” has a negative connotation for some, and for a reason: The Urban Dictionary defines it as “when you receive copies of e-mails that you previously received because those people who were cc'd on the original send them to you thinking you never received the first one.” The dictionary adds, “very annoying as it needlessly floods your inbox.”

That’s a far cry, however, from Pentera’s “echo” strategy, which works particularly well with potential donors of planned gifts. We developed the planned giving marketing approach several years ago, and the industry has followed suit. Our most successful clients send donors an attractive print postcard and follow it up two weeks later with an e-mail version with the identical short message, color photograph, and client logo. Statistics from our client Web sites show that traffic climbs when the print postcard is received … and climbs even higher with the follow-up e-mail. Some of those visitors are repeaters from the print postcard response, while others are visitors who did not respond to the print version.

Marketing studies have long shown that familiarity breeds connection (not contempt!). Recipients who recognize a picture, slogan, or logo are more likely to respond.

The echo strategy works best within specific parameters, however. The e-mails need to be short: No one wants to receive a treatise that already came in the mail. And you don’t want to “echo” too often: We recommend quarterly. When seeing a marketing piece more than once there can be a fine line between a response of “oh, yes!” and a response of “oh, no!” Pentera will help make sure your pieces are on the positive side of that line.