Taylor Shanklin

So, you as an organization know why you want constituents to log in to your website.  With CRM e-mail and news opt-in options, analytics and other various relationship-building strategies, you can track behavior, tailor content to fit their needs and interests, and gain a better understanding of what your constituents want to get out of their involvement in your organization.  That all make sense to you on your end of the stick.  But, why would I as a constituent want to log in to your site?  What incentive do I have to hand out my information?

I see a lot of sites that provide a means of logging in, but not a lot of explanation as to why someone should log in to that site.   As an end-user, there have been times when I’ve decided not to provide my information and log in to someone’s site because I simply have not been given an explanation as to how that will benefit me.  Constituents may understand how it benefits the organization.  And even though it may be an organization that they are devoted to and support, they still may not feel that logging into that organizations site is going to engage them anymore than they are already engaged.

What can your organization do to engage those constituents online and share with them the benefits of logging into your site?

There are some simple things that you can do to cut down on constituents' hesitation to log in to your site.  One thing you can do is (in the login box) provide a “why log in” link to a page with information, or a pop-up window, that explains to the constituent how logging into your site can further engage them in your cause.  If you are set up to tailor news or e-mail based on constituent’s interests and needs, a few lines about that could go a long way.  Some organizations also give free swag that motivates people to get involved.  In this day, many people expect something in return for their information.  So, make your constituents feel engaged.  Be creative.  Even a simple explanation on the benefits of their online engagement can go far. 

Just the other night I attended a class on accessibility that was presented by knowbility as part of the 2008 AIR Austin event.  I’m a novice at accessibility standards and have become intrigued by it, so participating in AIR this year seemed like a good way to learn event.

Going into the class, I knew there had to be much, much more to accessibility standards than <alt> tags, which was my basic knowledge.  Last night’s class most certainly affirmed that, as I knew it would. It presented to me a whole world of web design principles that I’d been naïve about. For example, visual disabilities are not the only kind of disabilities that should be taken into account when designing an accessible site. Auditory, cognitive, and motor/physical disabilities can also make it extremely difficult to search the Web. It is so important to make things like video accessible, too, and to make your Web sites accessible to individuals who are not using a mouse. Videos can be made accessible simply by captioning them, yet it is something that I’ve personally not run across often enough.

Another really interesting takeaway from the evening was that assistive technologies/screen readers, such as JAWS, can read in many languages. So it is important to specify, in your code, the language that a site should be read in. Also, I learned that assistive technologies read the heading elements of a page, as a means of navigating. So, it is wise to think more about the structure of heading elements. In regards to images, it is a good practice to name the image file something that makes sense and not simply 12345.gif. And, use alternative text to give a good description of the graphic, yet do not simply repeat what is said in the file name – because that only causes the screen reader to say the same thing twice.

This class was just a beginning for me, in my newfound study of accessibility. However, it provided a great start and I recommend checking out knowbility and the work they do, if you have an interest in learning more about accessibility.

My days were out of control.  I felt as though I was a married to my inbox.  Something had to be done so that I could regain control and have time to just breathe at the end of a long day.  So, about a month ago, I took a class called the Effective Edge .  And, oh, was it effective.

As a sort of continuum of Robin’s Obey My Blog, here is my story. 

What wasn’t working for me was my constant obsession with checking my e-mail.  It ran my day and made it hard to give one project my full attention.  I tried closing Outlook for a couple of hours at a time to see if that helped.  But, it didn’t work in my case.  I just always felt like I was missing something, so I’d find myself constantly opening and closing it – and that just took up a lot of time.

I had high hopes for the class I was enrolled in and I showed up completely ready to learn a new way of doing things.  Here are some of the main takeaway points that have helped me:

• Start your day off with a Mind Sweep – take a minute to brainstorm about all of the actions items that you need to take care of and write it out.  This helps you get it out of your mind
• Use your task list to help manage the action items that need to be accomplished. Create these tasks when you are doing your Mind Sweep.
• Keep your task list open and not always your inbox.
• Turn off that annoying pop up box that alerts you when you have an e-mail – it only serves as a distraction
• Organize your inbox – to make it easier to find certain e-mails when you do need to go back to reference something
• Take breaks to clear your head for a few minutes

I’ve been following this mantra now for a little while and it has made a huge difference in my stress level and my productivity.  I get more sleep at night, my inbox and I give each other our space and I’m getting things done faster.  I have regained control.  I am Master of my domain. 

E-mail is awesome.  It gives us the ability to connect with our constituents on a personal level, through an efficient means.   And, these days we have the ability to build beautiful, eye-catching, awesome-looking e-mails. 

In e-mail design, a couple of things should go hand-in hand.  You want to create something that is both visually appealing and accessible across e-mail hosts. 

There are a plethora of available e-mail tools and hosts such as Hotmail, Gmail, Outlook, AOL, Yahoo, Thunderbird, and the list goes on…. With so many e-mail tools available it is important to keep in mind how your particular e-mail design will function and appear in those various e-mail tools when your audience views them.  After all, you do want all of your audience to enjoy their reading experience.  It seems I've had a lot of recent inquiries about e-mail design best practices.  So, I have compiled some of the handy tips I’ve come across.  Here goes:

• Use HTML tables to control the layout of your e-mail, instead of depending solely on CSS positioning.
• Some common table layout elements include: 1.) A header containing a logo and navigation links – used to reinforce branding and important links such as “Visit Us Online”, “Tell A Friend” and “Donate”; 2.) A body containing copy and links to stories, donation forms, events, and the like, that are on your website; 3.) A footer at the bottom - containing contact information, an unsubscribe link and links identical to the top navigation.
• When using CSS, use inline styles to control elements such as colors and fonts.
• Watch the width of your e-mail.  It is recommended to stay in the 600 pixel width range when designing the banner, or masthead, to be used in the e-mail.
• Pay attention to the plain text version of your e-mail.  Don’t disregard how it is organized or looks.  Remember those in your audience who receive plain text and make sure they will enjoy reading their “plain” version, too.
• Testing, 1, 2, 3, testing…Test your e-mail in several e-mail tools on various browsers, such as Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Firefox, and so on  

At the end of the day, what is important is that your e-mails are clean, professional looking, neatly organized and awesome across various e-mail tools.
 

As Vinay Bhagat (Convio) and Adam Conner (Facebook) have spoken about this morning at the Converging Campaigns panel in D.C., non-profits and political campaigns are using the internet and social networks to empower individuals.

On a quick sidenote, we have found out that not only do Convio and Facebook share the commonality of working to empower individuals online, but they also both have names which spring from a Latin root. Convio means "With Vision" and Facebook translates to "Book of Faces".

Here are some takeaway points that Bhagat and Conner have touched on so far:

•  Non-profits and political campaigns have grown their constituent lists rapidly with viral marketing since 2003 (Bhagat)
• There is a wide use of multi-channel marketing, including: web and email, sms/mobile, websites, integration with traditional media (e.g., direct mail/radio), social networks, video and blogger relations (Bhagat)
• Study on large donors found distinct attitudinal preferences among donors.  On one end of the spectrum are the relationship seekers and on the other end are those on the business side of things (Bhagat)
• Peer-to-peer networking has been found to be most important in political and philanthropic campaigns (Conner)
• Facebook’s use of the social graph: People share information about each other and the people around them.  Facebook maps out all connections of the social graphic, which helps people share information and engage with each other (Conner)

Stay tuned for more coverage!