Action Network Email Tips
You're probably quite comfortable sending and checking emails in a personal, or professional capacity– but sending mass emails using a digital campaigning tool is a different kettle of fish entirely, and so here are some tips on sending mass emails in Action Network.
Timing Is Important
Send Your Emails At A Sensible Time
When sending an email it's important to get the timing right. There's no exact science to this, and you may need to experiment a little to see when your emails typically perform better. As a general rule though you should avoid sending emails late at night, as you're unlikely to get as much engagement. Instead of sending your email immediately, why not schedule it for a more sensible time. These guides might help:
Don't Leave It Till The Last Minute
You’re probably used to emails being sent instantly when using your own personal email address but when sending emails to hundreds, or thousands of recipients things can be a little slower. Therefore it's usually a bad idea to send an email ten minutes before an event to remind attendees as some may receive it after the event has already started. Try scheduling reminder emails to go out between 30 and 60 minutes before the event itself.
Use The Correct Query
When planning your email you should have an audience in mind. Is your email aimed at Members, Supporters, Local Residents, or a combination of these groups? Make sure you choose the right Query, and double-check it before sending. If the number of recipients doesn't look right then go back and check the Query. If you're not sure how to target your email there are some suggested Queries here: Useful Queries To Make Campaigning Easier.
Double Checking & Email Buddies
We've nearly all experienced the pain of triple-checking an email, hitting send, and being hit with an onslaught of responses pointing out a mistake in the email. To prevent mistakes make sure you have someone else check over the email before you hit send. Whenever possible ask them to check the email in Action Network and have them send a test email to themselves. Forwarding your own test email won't guarantee the correct links have been used. If you need help just check this guide: How To Send A Test Email From Action Network.
Damage Limitation
Stop Sending Your Email
If you have an oops moment, and realise you've sent your email to all Activists, or have targeted your email incorrectly you can stop sending the email. After you hit Confirm & Send you will see a button marked Stop Sending This Email just below the subject. Simply click on this button to stop your email sending.
After a few seconds, you'll be able to refresh the page to see how many emails were sent. This can help you decide what to do next.
Identifying Who Received Your Email
If you want to see which Activists were sent the email before sending was stopped you can create a report based on the Emails Filter. Simply include the email that was sent in error.
Should You Send An Apology?
It's up to local parties to decide how they choose to handle any mistakes in sending email. However, there are some things to consider.
If your email reached the right audience, but included an error that impacts on the recipients it should go without saying that you should include an apology in your correction email. Examples of a recipient-impacting error would be sending an incorrect voting code, Zoom link, or Action Day location. Spelling mistakes, and other minor errors don't usually warrant a follow-up unless their inclusion changes the meaning of the email text.
Accidentally sending an email to far more people than you intended to may cause annoyance to a handful of people. Will a second email to apologise make things better or worse? In cases where emails have been sent to large groups (in the thousands), it is typical to see a significant number of unsubscribes and spam complaints driven by the original email. What may be slightly less expected is that any subsequent apology email, or correction usually prompts a similar number of spam complaints.
If you do target your email incorrectly you should consider if this is a GDPR issue. For example, if someone has opted out of fundraising emails and they're targeted in a fundraising email.
If you do decide to send an apology, try to avoid sending it to everyone. You could try targeting your apology email to:
- Those who shouldn't have been included in the email targeting initially. If some people were supposed to receive it, it's only going to cause confusion to include them in a subsequent apology.
- Only those who opened the email. You can target these using the Email Openers filter in the Query Builder.
Stop Emailing People Who Aren't Reading Them
Don’t email activists who aren’t reading your emails. It’s a waste of your time and theirs. Perhaps check if they’ve consented to calls and you can give them a quick call to check their email address is up to date.
Use A Valid Reply-To Address (And Monitor It)
It's important when sending emails from Action Network that you use a Green Party email address as your reply-to address. This will reduce the likelihood of emails landing in recipients' spam folders, or vanishing into the ether. It's also an important step in reducing your GPDR risks.
Make sure the email address used is appropriate, and regularly monitored to ensure activists can get in touch easily.
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