Summary

  • Across 29 clients, our end-of-year series had an open rate average of 35.73% and a click rate average of 3.89%.
  • While some early reporting shows end-of-year giving may have decreased in 2023, we saw a 50% improvement over 2022’s conversion rates.
  • Across clients, election-focused messaging performed well based on opens, clicks and conversions.

Introduction

Twenty-nine BlueLena publishers opted to use our end-of-year reader revenue campaign, Our News Is, as a standalone campaign or in conjunction with NewsMatch messaging. The Our News Is campaign included 11 distinct email campaigns over the course of five weeks, beginning with a pre-Thanksgiving “thank you” message and ending with a New Year’s Day wrap up.

When creating this year’s campaign, we considered many learnings from 2022’s end-of-year messaging, like when to send your most aggressive campaigns if the last day of the year falls on a weekend. (Our 2022 data led us to conclude that the Friday before the final weekend is the best time to send.)

Most BlueLena clients used the full 11-part campaign, though some chose specific emails to send, or opted for all 11 emails plus additional custom messages. The metrics below reflect data collected across all clients.

The value of open rates and click rates

While Apple’s MPP has meant that open rates are less reliable and not as valuable as other email metrics, we’ll still consider open rates during the end-of-year campaign as a soft point for subject line evaluation. Because the Our News Is campaign was divided between general contribution appeals (e.g. those that revolved around value propositions, mission statements and general local news statistics) and topical appeals (e.g. election coverage, education reporting and solutions-oriented stories), it can be helpful for future planning to know which type of campaign performed better.

Based on data from all 29 BlueLena clients who participated in end-of-year campaigning, the average open rate was 35.73%.

More importantly, and more helpfully, the average click rate was 3.89%, well above reported standards for end-of-year giving and fundraising in general. This means that readers were not only opening emails, they were reading and acting. And because our end-of-year messages encouraged minimal or no links to pages other than contribution landing pages, this click rate proves that readers had a strong response to the support CTAs.

This leads us to the next question: with high click rates, how did campaigns perform in terms of contributions?

Show me the results

The Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP)’s Q3 2023 Report noted “a continued steep decline in donor counts, with a Q3 YOY drop of 7.6% after late data adjustment.” This decline began in 2021, after donations peaked during the first year of the pandemic in 2020. It’s too soon to say what we’ll see across industries, but at BlueLena we saw a 50% improvement over 2022’s conversion rates. No doubt there are many factors involved, but it suggests audiences are still willing to support news.

A new metric we tracked closely this year was MRR, monthly recurring revenue. MRR calculates the amount you can anticipate bringing in each month, based on memberships or subscriptions. BlueLena end-of-year reader revenue campaigns increased MRR by an average of $1,180.

A lesson learned about unsubscribe and opt out rates

Each client who participated in the end-of-year campaign included an end-of-year opt out in the footer of their emails. These opt outs offered readers the opportunity to stop receiving emails about the end-of-year campaign without unsubscribing from the full list. 

Across clients, we saw a 0.22% unsubscribe rate and a 0.06% opt out rate. While this saved many users from unsubscribing from the full list, next year we’ll recommend a bolder opt out with more specific copy (e.g. “opt out of our end-of-year fundraising campaign” and “unsubscribe from our full list” or “never receive emails from [ORGANIZATION] again.”

Messaging that works

Across all clients, the campaign “Are you ready for the 2024 election?” performed well based on opens, clicks and conversions. Readers find value in local, independent election coverage, a point that should be emphasized throughout messaging in 2024.

Giving Tuesday was not the highest performing day for most organizations. As Giving Tuesday continues to grow — and expand to the days around it — conversions continue to decrease. But the impact of this trend could be beneficial. It means we can build a narrative with our end-of-year campaigns rather than focus entirely on Giving Tuesday.

Messages to current donors asking for additional support had high open and click rates. When asked intentionally and thoughtfully, donors are likely to read your message and consider making an additional contribution.

Interested in launching a reader revenue campaign using these metrics and learnings? BlueLena offers a wide variety of ready-to-be-customized templates for all reader revenue models. Or, opt for a custom message tailored to your publication’s needs, from a one-off campaign to a week- or month-long series.

About BlueLena 

BlueLena creates a sustainable future for independent local media with strategies to build audiences and tools to support journalism funding models for long-term success. Today, over 200 brands leverage our audience management platform, strategy consulting and marketing services to accelerate their digital transformation.

BlueLena is founder-funded and backed by investment from Automattic (owner of WordPress), Local Media Association and Old Town Media, a New York-based firm that has supported The Colorado Sun, Block Club Chicago, Chalkbeat and Medium, among other successful media-related projects. Visit us at bluelena.io.