The Client
The Michigan Humane Society (MHS) is a private, nonprofit organization which cares for over 100,000 animals each year, while working to end companion animal homelessness, provide the highest quality service and compassion to the animals entrusted to our care, and to be a leader in promoting humane values.

The Problem
MHS has experienced consistent growth in their email list, donor base and site traffic since using Convio. In all of these areas, the organization has met or exceeded the year-over-year growth benchmarks of other Convio animal welfare clients. However, MHS wanted to find an effective way to cultivate new registered constituents into donors as quickly as possible, and maximize retention rates.

How We Solved It
After years of sending the basic registration response of one "welcome" email, MHS worked with Convio Services to design and implement a three-part welcome series of emails that welcomes new registered users, informs them of the organization’s work, and introduces them to the president of the organization. Included in each of these messages are opportunities for the constituent to take three actions: adopt, volunteer and/or donate.

The Outcome
Convio compared six months of results of those individuals who received the single "welcome" email from MHS, with those who received the three-part welcome series. There was 10% higher retention rate for those who received the welcome series. Additionally, the average gift of welcome series recipients was, on average, $2.17 higher per gift than the non-welcome series group. There was also an increase in the number of gifts per donor for the welcome series recipients, who donated nearly $60,000 more than the recipients of the single welcome email.

Convio products used: Email Marketing, Fundraising