Advocacy Email from the American Cancer Society

I received an advocacy email from the American Cancer Society entitled “Thank you for helping us fight cancer.”  I felt immediately drawn to the issue- appreciated, acknowledged for my efforts, included in the conversation and a participant in the fight for a cure.

This email did several things I thought were very effective. The words to catch the reader’s eye is:  “forwarded to a friend” –a great way to expand your base as news gathering is becoming increasingly social; “[h]alf of Americans say they rely on the people around them to find out at least some of the news they need to know.” (http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/understanding_participatory_news_consumer)

The following is the only text that appears in the email : “Please enjoy this issue of Fighting Back to learn more about the people, programs, and services that are saving lives by helping people stay well, helping people get well, by finding cures, and by fighting back. You make a difference in the fight against cancer, so we hope you find this e-newsletter informative and inspirational. We welcome your feedback atfightingback@cancer.org.”

This short text gives the reader 5 different interactive ways to get involved and to continue to support the campaign.  Again, a productive addition here would be to say we welcome your feedback and your input on at fightingback@cancer.org and or through our social media channels, on Facebook, Twitter…….

Also highly effective, on the right hand side of the email, appears a list of choices that readers can explore to show their support in a variety of ways.  The list includes:

“This month, chose to create a world with more birthdays;” “American Cancer Society Programs and Services Help Cancer Patients in Need;” “Be a part of Finding Cures:  Enroll in the Society’s Cancer Prevention Study- 3;” “Breast Cancer Survivor Fights Back through Volunteerism;” “Protect Your Skin on Don’t Fry Day and Every Day.”

These are highly effective  “calls to action” and the cover a board spectrum of emotional appeals. The links enable readers to choose (choice is a key component) ways to participate in events, participate in research, use proactive measures to help themselves, donate money, and read empowering stories of those who have made a difference.

I believe this campaign could improve by making their email campaign more reader-friendly.  The campaign also needs to plan for the possibility/likelihood that many of those reading the e-mail will do so on a mobile device.  Already, this email is very slow to load due to the number of links and pictures embedded in the text.  Not all of the content even loaded when I accessed this on my PC.  It seems that the organization knows this is an issue because in the very beginning, there is included:  “having trouble viewing? – click here for our webpage”.  The campaign should think about creating this email in a way that appeals to mobile viewers, decreasing barriers for mobile device viewers.  The content should be more accessible and more “reader friendly.”