It’s that time of year again when many organizations are focused on their end of year fundraising and holiday giving campaigns. Most recently it was Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday, all of which were focused on raising donations and increasing sales. However the holidays can be an especially helpful time for nonprofits to organically build their email lists as well. Here are 11 easy methods to do that and incorporate your organization’s list building objectives into any existing campaigns you are running.

1. Giveaways

Your nonprofit may choose to offer something valuable in your email signup form to your website visitors. These giveaways could include an email series, ebook, video, private blog content, early access to new content and other creative sneak peaks. Hubspot, who is especially known for this list building technique, suggests starting with two offers for email list growth; one that is educational such as a white paper and one that allows potential leads to talk with a member of your team, such as a free consultation. This is great for businesses, but non-profits can mold this suggestion into something more relatable to them by creating offers that both educate and lead people to take actions outside of email sign ups. Perhaps your organization is having an offline event or is looking for donors. Giveaways that inform and teach can inspire your new signup to want to do more. So the second offer should give them a chance to take more action in an effort to make a positive change for your campaign’s cause, encouraging them to attend your event or donate during the holidays.

2. Make Clear Website Calls to Action (CTAs)

You may think it’s possible to “overdo it” but many nonprofits have found list building success by adding more than one Call To Action on their website. Buffer Blog explains why you should “give readers infinity+1 opportunities to subscribe”. Keep in mind that CTAs can be for multiple things, including growing an email list and increasing donors, as Cause Vox points out in this article about how to craft a compelling fundraising CTA. However, the same CTA can be executed in various ways and in differing language so that your message doesn’t overwhelm your website. Mix up your CTA’s in multiple places with multiple but clear asks. One could be a header asking visitors to sign up for updates, another a petition in the sidebar. In order to get the most out of your calls to action, use a CRM that allows you to follow up with your new contact or lead with an automated response that either reinforces your first ask with a second ask or gives them an opportunity to tell you more about their interests in your campaign.

3. Showing Social Proof

There are several ways to show potential supporters that they have an opportunity to join a large and/or reputable group of existing supporters. From listing testimonials from well known organizations or celebrities, to showing in real time how many people around the world or in their local community have already joined to cause, the possibilities are endless. Perhaps your organization can create a holiday themed graphic centered around giving for the holidays along with thousands of other supporters! Here is an example of a simple social proof email list building tool from Convince and Convert.

4. Text To Join/Scan to Join

In an increasingly mobile optimized marketing world, list building via mobile techniques can be great for nonprofits. Consider running a holiday mobile campaign that makes it easy for people to join a list via text or smartphone scan. This campaign could be combined with a giveaway or other incentive of some kind. These could be event notifications for the 2016 calendar year, inside information or a limited edition product. Constant Contact notes how Cool De Sac used a QR code on table tents in their restaurants to promote a special email offer, which resulted in 350 people joining the Cool De Sac email list.

5. Contests

If you are partnering with a company or product this holiday season, a contest can be a great way to build your email list. In exchange for email information, offer a chance to win an exclusive or limited edition product. You can also offer these in exchange for people sharing the offer with their friends and network. The more they share, the higher the chance they will win. Constant Contact gives a great example of how KonaRed ran a contest that asked for emails in exchange for product.

6. Facebook Social Connect Login

Often times people want an easy way to sign up for a list or offer. After potential contacts are convinced to fill out the necessary name and email fields in a normal sign up form, they are more likely to follow through if they see a quicker method to do so. Use Facebook Social Connect Login so that they have the option to sign up for special offers through their Facebook account, making it easier to give and capture information. Lucky Voice saw a “40% increase” in signups using Facebook Login.

7. Pledges and Petitions

This option is a double win for your organization because it shows the support your campaign’s cause has while also building your email list. Create a pledge or a petition that will support your non-profits campaign issue, helping to inform new, potential supporters and capturing emails from those most passionate about it who are also most likely to be active and engaged members of your email list. Carol Buckheit shows how Share our Strength combines social proof , by showing exactly how many people have taken the pledge, with a call to action for potential pledgers to do the same. All of these techniques were combined into one pledge to increase list growth.

Earthy Day has one pledge campaign with multiple pledge actions that captures people’s information when they choose a pledge.

8. Email Social Share Buttons

This is a no brainer. If you are want to boost your email list, make it easier for your existing list to share the content they are receiving from you. Add social share and ‘Email to a friend’ buttons in emails to your current supporter and donor lists. Social Fresh notes that emails with social media share buttons “generated a 115% better CTR (click-through-rate) than emails with no options to share the message.” Here is an example from the NYC based company, Fancy.

As the Social Media Examiner points out, these icons can also be effective in email headers or integrated into the email messaging.

9. Webinars and Online Events

Build your social following and email lists through live online programming like twitter chats or or livestream events. Here’s an example from Amnesty USA that also leverages a new audience through a partnership with Marie Claire.

Hubspot created a campaign around a live webinar that garnered 25,000 signups and 10,000 attendees. Marketing Sherpa did an in-depth overview of the campaign and its components which included:

1) Developing a topic that would draw in a large audience/ A/B testing events to see what content is most attractive to bring in attendees
2) Promoting the webinar on their blog and on social media
3) Conducting a segmented and tested email campaign to promote the webinar
4) Funnelling attendees through a lead nurturing program

10. Referrals and Tell-A-Friend Campaigns

11. Survey or Quiz

Current and potential donors may not have much time to read campaign emails, but if they have a chance to have their voice heard, they may answer a few questions (the completion rate tends to drop as the survey becomes too long) that will give your organization more insight into your following. Yazamo highlights the success stories of several websites and blogs that increased their email lists through quizzes and surveys.

Which organic list building methods have you used this year? We want to know more about them! Email us at [email protected] to share what you learn.

This blog post was written jointly by Abigail Ahoude and Cammie Croft, Senior Consultant with the support of Ben McNully, our Digital Media Intern.