Online fundraising for NPOs via email marketing – A critical success factors analysis in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

Harken, Sonja; Mertins, Vanessa; Urselmann, Michael Article — Published Version Online fundraising for NPOs via email marketing – A critical success factors analysis in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing Provided in Cooperation with: Springer Nature Suggested Citation: Harken, Sonja; Mertins, Vanessa; Urselmann, Michael (2023) : Online fundraising for NPOs via email marketing – A critical success factors analysis in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, ISSN 1865-1992, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, Vol. 21, Iss. 2, pp. 511-538, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-023-00391-5 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/307528 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Vol.:(0123456789) International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing (2024) 21:511–538 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-023-00391-5 1 3 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritical success factors analysis inGermany, Austria, andSwitzerland SonjaHarken1 · VanessaMertins1· MichaelUrselmann2 Received: 13 February 2023 / Accepted: 19 November 2023 / Published online: 8 December 2023 © The Author(s) 2023 Abstract This study aims to empirically determine success factors in the email marketing as a sub-discipline of online fundraising of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Hereby, it responds to the gap of knowledge as existing research has not in detail touched nonprofit email marketing. To explore success factors in NPOs’ email marketing, a detailed structural equation model, in which email marketing success acts as the final endogenous variable and the nine potential success factors function as formative latent exogenous variables, was developed. A quantitative survey was conducted with employees of NPOs from German-speaking countries. For data analysis, which was carried out with the software SmartPLS, 153 responses were utilized. Using aggregate and disaggregate analyses on the developed model, various critical success factors in NPOs’ email marketing could be empirically identified. Furthermore, an importanceperformance map analysis allowed the identification of the most crucial measures for increasing success, as a low performance of the NPOs faces a high total effect on email marketing success. From the results of the importance-performance map analysis, it was possible to derive specific practice-relevant action recommendations regarding measures in which NPOs should prioritize an increase in performance. Therefore, in addition to its theoretical relevance, the study also has a strong practical value. Keywords Digital fundraising· Email marketing· Online fundraising· Nonprofit marketing· Structural equation model· Importance-performance map analysis· Critical success factor analysis * Sonja Harken [email protected]echta.de Vanessa Mertins [email protected] Michael Urselmann [email protected] 1 Faculty ofEducation andSocial Sciences, University ofVechta, Vechta, Germany 2 Faculty ofApplied Social Sciences, TH Köln – University ofApplied Sciences, Cologne, Germany 512 S.Harken et al. 1 3 1 Introduction Email marketing is one of the most important digital marketing tools. It is the oldest digital marketing tool (Singla etal., 2021), but still highly relevant. Email marketing is especially effective in terms of the return on investment (Hajarian etal., 2021; Tien etal., 2020). Studies prove the importance of email in for-profit marketing: 76% of Swiss and Austrian online retailers consider email marketing to be at least “somewhat relevant” as a marketing tool for their online stores (Zumstein etal., 2022a, p.40); for 83% of Swiss companies, email marketing is a “rather relevant” or “relevant” marketing technology (Zumstein etal., 2022b, p.13). European NPOs are increasingly using email marketing to reach donors and other stakeholders (Nonprofit Tech for Good, 2019). Online giving is growing and will be growing more in the future, and so are the digital marketing components in the fundraising mix (Chung & Hair, 2021; Sargeant & Shattuk, 2017). NPOs need to make use of digital marketing in order reach fundraising goals (Krueger & Haytko, 2015). In general, the internet provides NPOs with various opportunities to conduct fundraising without much effort or cost (Purwandari etal., 2022). In a study of success factors in online fundraising, Reichenbach (2020) identifies email marketing as the most important online fundraising tool with the strongest contribution to success. Email marketing can be used to pursue various fundraising goals, both monetary and non-monetary. Previous research related to digital fundraising has not looked in depth at nonprofit email marketing. Individual aspects of email marketing have been studied, including success factors, but the present authors are not aware of any study that can claim to provide a comprehensive overview of the success factors in email marketing, especially in the context of NPOs, let alone give specific action recommendations. Notable exceptions include Haq (2009), who examined consumer attitudes toward email advertising and found that the content and the frequency of advertising messages have the greatest influence of any factors on consumer attitudes. Hartemo (2016) presents a systematic literature review of various email marketing and consumer empowerment studies and argues for email marketing that actively engages consumers in the communication process and whose content is relevant to recipients. Garland etal. (2016) found a higher adoption of technologies and online activities of the recipients correlates with a more positive attitude towards email advertising. Lorente Páramo etal. (2021) propose a model for measuring the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns, which is based on the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) model. Goic etal. (2021) evaluate the effectiveness of triggered email campaigns for sales and inter alia found that triggered emails are associated with larger revenues and that the implementation of triggered emails influences the effectiveness. The present study investigates the critical success factors in NPOs’ email marketing. By doing so, it contributes to the existing knowledge in two ways. Firstly, it adds empirical evidence to the discourse on nonprofit email marketing as a part of digital fundraising. Thereby, it fills the theoretical gap, as in the existing literature, there is no empirical holistic overview of success factors in the email marketing of NPOs. Secondly, the findings provide valuable insights for NPO practice on how to improve 513 1 3 Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritica… email marketing to achieve greater email marketing success. Hence, the study is relevant for academics as well as practitioners as it complements the current knowledge on nonprofit email marketing with empirical evidence on its’ success factors. We use a structural equation model with email marketing success operationalized via an index, which is used as the final endogenous variable. The potential success factors, derived from a systematic literature review, act as latent exogenous variables and are made measurable by their indicators, which represent specific steps. The model allows us to empirically determine the critical success factors. With the help of an importance-performance map analysis, we identify those steps that are critical for email marketing success and where a performance increase is most vital. From this, we derive practice-relevant action recommendations which NPOs can use to improve their email marketing as part of their digital fundraising. 2 Theoretical framework 2.1 Fundraising andfundraising success For NPOs that rely on donations, fundraising plays a crucial role (Burnett, 1995). Fundraising can be defined as “the systematic analysis, planning, implementation, and control” of activities to raise resources for public benefit organizations (Urselmann, 2018, p.1). This includes the recruitment of donors as well as forming a relationship with these donors (Sargeant, 2005). There are different layers to successful fundraising, and different goals are pursued in fundraising. A good image is a foundation for successful fundraising (Urselmann, 1998). According to information economics theory, a good reputation is important for reducing uncertainty, and it acts as a signal for high performance (Saab, 2006; Shapiro, 1983). A positive image can be a prerequisite for donors to decide to donate to a focal organization, as there is less uncertainty. According to the so-called donor pyramid, donors pass through the prospect stage before donating (Urselmann, 2018). NPOs must attract prospects in existing donor target groups as well as approach new target groups. Digital fundraising allows to recruit donors, who are not reachable through other methods (Reddick & Ponomariov, 2013). From transaction cost theory and information economics, it is clear that recurring transactions, instruments of customer orientation, and a long-term relationship lead to a reduction in transaction and control costs, as well as a reduction in uncertainty and the limitation of opportunistic behavior (Bruhn & Meffert, 2012; Gregori, 2006). Thus, from the perspective of new institutional economics, it makes sense to increase the number of donations per donor and to strive for high donor satisfaction. Furthermore, according to the multiple constituency approach, the interests of the donors must be considered. In general, organizations always should aim to increase the revenue from donations generated, as well as the profitability and cost efficiency. Even in for-profit companies, the various sales and marketing measures are expected to be cost-efficient, while in the case of NPOs, the economical use of resources is particularly important: after all, as much revenue as possible should be directed to the purpose for which the NPO exists (Reichenbach, 2020). 514 S.Harken et al. 1 3 2.2 Email marketing success Email marketing plays a vital role in nowadays digital marketing mix. Email is an effective and important instrument for the communication between businesses and consumers, and fosters marketing relationships (Almeida & Casais, 2022; Hartemo, 2016). Email marketing is a versatile tool as it can be used for branding, to stimulate sales, or growing the relationship with consumers (Bathia, 2021; Kingsnorth, 2022). Email was one of the first communication tools to be used broadly in the early phase of e-commerce (Goic etal., 2021). Over time, email marketing has progressed from untargeted text-form messages to a visually polished and highly target-oriented form of communication (Garland etal., 2016). Furthermore, email marketing allows to transmit relevant information to the recipients while evaluating the messages’ impact and learning what is relevant to the consumers by analyzing and interpreting tracking data, which is generated (Almeida & Casais, 2022; Goic etal., 2021). Compared to other digital channels such as display advertising or retargeting ads, email marketing allows more control for the sender regarding the timing of the distribution as well as the displayed content (Goic etal., 2021). To develop a measurement of email marketing success, we first define the constituents of email marketing success. In economic terms, success means profit, sales, return on sales, cash flow, growth, or profitability (Bruhn & Meffert, 2012; Krummenerl, 2005; Reichenbach, 2020; Urselmann, 1998; Wirtz et al., 2003). Non-economic goals include such things as market share and customer satisfaction (Evanschitzky, 2003). To conceptualize email marketing success, we consider two approaches that are widely used in the management and nonprofit literature (Fritsch, 2007; Fritz, 1992; Reichenbach, 2020; Urselmann, 1998). The goal approach is based on the assumption that organizations pursue explicit or implicit goals whose degree of achievement represents success; success is thus the degree of achievement goals the organization sets for itself (Cameron, 1980; Fritsch, 2007; Wirtz etal., 2003). The advantages include the high operationalization potential and the possibility of referring not only to the organizational level as a whole but also to sub-levels (Fritsch, 2007; Krummenerl, 2005; Wirtz etal., 2003). A problem with the goal approach is that organizations that achieve the wrong goals, or whose goals are set too low, are, de facto, not successful (Cameron, 1980). In addition, goals can change over time, and not all organizations practice goal setting, so it is not always possible to determine whether goals have been achieved (Reichenbach, 2020). According to the multiple constituency approach, success is defined by the degree to which the interests of external and internal stakeholders are met (Staehle, 2014). Since NPOs have to satisfy the interests of various stakeholders, the approach is particularly suitable for NPO-related issues (Fritsch, 2007; McFarlan , 1999; Moss Kanter & Summers, 1994; Reichenbach, 2020). Especially if there is no dominant exchange relationship with an actual trade-off of a product or service, as in the case of a corporate sales performance, the needs of the relevant stakeholders, e.g. donors, have to be considered equally (Urselmann, 1998). The goal approach has been criticized for insufficiently considering the interests of stakeholders, and the multiple constituency approach does consider the stakeholders, but leaves unanswered the question of their potentially conflicting objectives (Fritsch, 2007; Reichenbach, 2020). 515 1 3 Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritica… We combine the two approaches explained above for a more holistic measurement of email marketing success. Email marketing – like other sub-disciplines of digital fundraising – requires the setting of goals. However, each NPO will weigh the importance of each email marketing goal differently. Following the goals approach, we understand success to mean the degree to which established goals have been reached, and we investigate the topic by querying goal achievement. Following the multiple constituency approach, we take into account the necessity of including the individual weighting of goals for each organization, and we investigate it by querying the importance of each goal. The inclusion of a multiple constituency understanding of success compensates for the weakness of the sole focus on the focal organization in the goal approach and enables a realistic understanding of success as a flexible and organization-individual bundle of goals with monetary and non-monetary objectives. To operationalize email marketing success, we developed a specification to measure the indicators of success. Regarding the type of goals, a focus on purely economic goal variables does not seem reasonable. An NPO that is just starting with email marketing as part of their digital fundraising may have low turnover from it, but still be successful in more indirect ways. Nonetheless, economic goals are important in fundraising and must be included. As a marketing approach, fundraising is not only about raising money, but also about developing a relationship between the organization and the supporters (Burnett, 1995; Haibach, 2019). In general, non-economic goals can be a means to an end for economic goals (Meffert, 1994). Thus, there is a need for a multi-dimensional goal construct for email marketing success that combines economic and non-economic goal metrics. Regarding the origin of the data, internal sources must be used, as no secondary data exists that could serve as a basis for investigating the email marketing success of NPOs in the German-speaking region. Only subjective indicators come into question, since there are no generally applicable objective indicators for email marketing success, and the difficulty of comparing existing key figures must be assumed.1 Consequently, email marketing success cannot be measured with objective indicators. We, therefore, use the subjective judgments of NPO employees. Objective indicators generally have greater validity, but even with objective data, interview partners may, intentionally or not, make false statements, which cannot be detected without another competent interviewee (Fritsch, 2007; Helm, 1998). Nevertheless, various studies have shown that subjective judgments provide valid information (Baumgarth & Evanschitzky, 2009; Venkatraman & Ramanujam, 1987). We measure email marketing success with a success index. In principle, it would also be possible to measure success by considering several objective variables in isolation, or by a global measurement that combined them all. However, the danger of an 1 It can be assumed that NPOs define key figures differently. For example, some include personnel expenses in the calculation of the Return On Investment, while others limit the calculation only to the direct costs of a measure. In addition, the need for different temporal references makes comparability difficult. For example, profit is usually calculated over an accounting period of one year, but there are factual interdependencies over a period of time that require a cross-period view of profit (Schröder, 1994). If a NPO makes investments in its email marketing, the profit and thus the profitability of email marketing will be low in the corresponding calculation period. It can be assumed that such an investment will have a positive effect on cost efficiency over several calculation periods. 516 S.Harken et al. 1 3 arbitrary selection of objectives and the unrealistic premise that all organizations pursue identical goals with the same weighting are reasons against an isolated consideration (Böing, 2001; Krummenerl, 2005; Schröder, 1994). The lack of comparability of the results due to the absence of a consistent measurement rule, the lack of transparency because the indicators used by the respondents to measure success are not disclosed, and the high demand on the respondents to aggregate the respective levels of importance of various goals and achievements independently, among other things, oppose a global measurement (Böing, 2001; Fritsch, 2007; Krummenerl, 2005). Using a success index, as we do, makes it possible to consider several variables in an integrated manner. The importance and achievement of the individual goals are multiplicatively linked to degrees of goal achievement; these are added up to form a weighted index value. The resulting success index is high if important goals are achieved to a high degree (Fritz, 1992; Urselmann, 1998). A success index assumes a bundle of objectives with different weightings, as well as the multidimensionality of success, and is, thus, a realistic and differentiated way of measuring success (Fritz, 1992; Krummenerl, 2005; Reichenbach, 2020). Condensing the goal dimensions allows the comparability of the investigated organizationsobjects of investigation (Böing, 2001). Following the constructed success measures of other success factor studies (Fritz, 1992; Urselmann, 1998), the success index EMMSk is calculated by the following formula: EMMSk email marketing success index for NPO k Ijk importance of goal j for NPO k Ajk achievement of goal j by NPO k m number of goals in this study: 10 With regard to the different layers of success in fundraising, which are explained in the previous section, email marketing success can be divided into three dimensions. Initiation success consists of non-economic and pre-economic goals. Its goals include the initiation of donations as well as relationships with donors and potential donors. The goals that address the relationship with supporters, are united under the dimension of retention success. Generally, email marketing plays a crucial role regarding the maintenance and growth of relationships (Kingsnorth, 2022). The dimension of economic success includes the direct monetary objectives in email marketing. An advantage of email marketing for fundraising and for acquiring new donors is that it is less expensive than other acquisition measures (Table1). 2.3 Success factors inemail marketing ofNPOs We derive nine success factors based on an extensive literature review: quality of planning and controlling, general donor / relationship orientation, individualized donor / relationship orientation, trust building, conversion focus, communication EMMS k= m ∑ i=1 Ijk ∙Ajk 517 1 3 Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritica… instruments / lead generation, quality of content realization, and quality of technical realization. We discuss each below. Fundraising, by definition, is “the systematic analysis, planning, implementation, and control” of activities to raise resources for public benefit organizations (Urselmann, 2018, p.1). Planning and controlling has proven as an important success factor in previous studies (Reichenbach, 2020; Urselmann, 1998). Fundraising is relationship building. This ties in closely with donor-centricity. The need for donor-centricity, i.e. aligning fundraising with the needs of donors, is echoed in numerous definitions of fundraising (Gahrmann, 2012; Haibach, 2019; Urselmann, 2018). Targeting the motivations and needs of donors increases not only their satisfaction, but also the effectiveness and efficiency of fundraising (Buss, 2020). Consequently, it can be assumed that email marketing success can be increased through appropriate orientation for donors. We distinguish between two types of donor and relationship orientation: general and individualized. Those measures, that are comparatively easy to implement and do not require comprehensive data sets or marketing automation, are part of general donor / relationship orientation. Meanwhile, online fundraising via email marketing offers numerous possibilities for individualized, need-oriented relationship building. Email marketing can be aligned with the needs of recipients so that each message meets their interests (Bathia, 2021). Therein lies the strength of this digital fundraising instrument, because email marketing can unfold its full potential if it is wisely adapted to the target groups (Prescher, 2020). Customization has become important in marketing (Almeida & Casais, 2022). The donors to an organization and the recipients of an organization’s marketing emails are not homogeneous target groups. Each has different subject affinities, their giving dispositions differ, and the relationship between NPO and recipients is at different stages. It stands to reason that different audiences should be targeted differently within email marketing. Organizations can improve their performance by tailoring marketing information to the individual characteristics and inclinations of customers as part of relationship management (Lewis etal., 2013). Table 1 List of email marketing goal dimensions and goals The Authors Goal dimension Goal Initiation Success Image improvement Winning prospects (subscribers to the organization’s marketing emails) in existing target groups Winning prospects (subscribers to the organization’s marketing emails) in new target groups Retention Success Conversion to repeat donors Conversion to regular donors Improvement of donor satisfaction Economic Success Winning new donors Revenue growth of email marketing generated donations Profitability and cost efficiency of email marketing Increase the number of subscribers 518 S.Harken et al. 1 3 An important prerequisite for successful fundraising is a trusting relationship. The reduction of information asymmetries can establish trust. The more trust can be established and the more the risks associated with transactions can be reduced, the more successfully transactions can be conducted (Mitchell, 1999). The provider part needs to reduce the high information assymetries and uncertainty of trust goods, e.g. donations. In addition, legal requirements have to be met for email marketing in the European Union (Heukrodt-Bauer, 2021). It can be assumed that failure to meet the legal requirements will lead to a loss of trust. Marketing emails can pursue various conversion goals, that is, converting recipients into first-time, repeat, or permanent donors. For online fundraising as a whole, conversion orientation has been shown to have a significant positive impact on success (Reichenbach, 2020). Goic etal. (2021) found that repetition of emails is an additional soure of revenue. One goal of email marketing is to increase subscribers (Kreutzer, 2018). Naturally, NPOs want to reach as many people as possible who are interested in their work and, ideally, willing to support it monetarily (Reichenbach, 2020). Accordingly, lead generation needs to be pursued: Potential email recipients must be made aware of the possibility of receiving an e-newsletter and/or other email communication, and the email addresses of the willing must be acquired. As email advertising is a permission-based marketing tool (Garland etal., 2016), the consent of the recipients must be formally obtained. The content of email marketing must be relevant to the recipients. If it is not, “empowered consumers” can and will seek relevant information elsewhere, and opt out of email marketing (Hartemo, 2016, p. 222). Emails are to be found useful by the recipients and not focus on the needs of the NPO (Sargeant & Shattuk, 2017). Furthermore, non-relevant content negatively affects brand perception and marketing effectiveness (Kingsnorth, 2022). Haq (2009) demonstrates that the degree of entertainment and the information content are both highly significantly positively correlated with the advertising value that users attribute to email marketing as well as with the attitude that users have toward email marketing. The subject line is imperative for suggesting interesting content (Kingsnorth, 2022). An eyetracking experiment showed, that especially the beginning of the subject line is absolutely important, as recipients focus their gaze on the first three words (Hudák etal., 2017). Sahni etal. (2018) found that adding the respondent’s first name to the subject line can increase the opening rate by 20%. Almeida and Casais (2022) found that two name personalization, where the first and last name of the recipients are integrated in the subject line, generates the highest opening rates. Another study moreover finds that the use of a question mark enhances the opening rate (Conceição & Gama, 2019). The average time spent reading a brand email is about 10 s (Litmus, 2021). This calls for a clear layout with headings and subheadings, so that the reader can easily scan the content. Images and videos are helpful for an appealing visual presentation of the content. Visuals should be representative of the brand (Kingsnorth, 2022). A study shows that image-heavy emails receive higher click-through rates than more text-heavy versions (Lewis etal., 2013). Chittenden and Rettie (2003) also find that emails with many images receive better click-through rates than emails with few images. Yet, newer findings suggest that less designed emails might be better in some cases. An experiment with two email versions revealed, that the pure text 525 1 3 Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritica… Table 4 Summary of results from disaggregate and aggregate analysis The Authors ** two-tailed test (one-tailed test) * p ≤ 0.05 with two-tailed test Success factor Disaggregate analysis Aggregate analysis Path coefficient Explained variance Hypothesis VIF f² Path coefficient p value** Hypothesis Quality of planning and controlling 0.521 0.271 Confirmed 2.787 0.002 0.085 0.539 (0.267) Not confirmed General donor / Relationship orientation Not confirmed Not confirmed Individualized donor / Relationship orientation 0.562 0.316 Confirmed 2.536 0.05 0.273 0.002 (0.001) Confirmed Trust building Not confirmed Not confirmed Conversion focus 0.36 0.13 Confirmed 1.624 0.002 0.086 0.572 (0.282) Not confirmed Communication instruments / Lead generation 0.496 0.246 Confirmed 1.6 0.041 0.078 0.012 (0.006) Confirmed Quality of content realization 0.501 0.251 Confirmed 2.082 0.023 0.083 0.043 (0.021) Confirmed Quality of technical realization 0.234 0.055 Confirmed 1.408 0.000 0.074 0.817 (0.410) Not confirmed Organizational framework 0.480 0.232 Confirmed 2.030 0.016 0.090 0.127 (0.065) Confirmed R²corr 0.387 Q² 0.265 526 S.Harken et al. 1 3 the endogenous latent variables, fields of action can be identified in an importanceperformance matrix, and recommendations for action can be prioritized (Höck etal., 2010; Reichenbach, 2020). First, the performance values collected on the sevenpoint Likert scales must be rescaled to a value range from 0 to 100, which makes it possible to interpret the performance in percentage (Hair etal., 2018; Höck etal., 2010).3 Everything else remaining constant (ceteris paribus), increasing the performance of a construct by 1% point would increase the performance of the target construct by the value of the (unstandardized) total effect of the influencing construct (Ringle & Sarstedt, 2016). The higher the total effect of a construct/indicator, the greater the leverage for performance improvement. An IPMA can be performed at both the construct and indicator levels (Streukens etal., 2017). An indicator-level analysis allows for a more specific identification of areas for improvement. Thus, especially in success factor studies, the indicator level should be considered, since the formative indicators are the specific measures that influence success (Reichenbach, 2020). In the importance-performance matrix, performance (rescaled values of latent variables) is shown on the y-axis, and importance (unstandardized total effects) is shown on the x-axis (Ringle & Sarstedt, 2016). The importance-performance matrix can be used as a basis for management decisions regarding priority setting and strategy development (Martensen & Gronholdt, 2003). The further to the right a construct/indicator is located in the matrix, the higher is its total effect and thus its importance for the target variable. The importance-per- formance matrix can be divided into four quadrants, which can be used to determine which areas should be prioritized (Ahrholdt, 2010; Hair etal., 2018; Martensen & Gronholdt, 2003; Martilla & James, 1977). In the Low Priority quadrant, performance and importance are both below average, so that the corresponding action areas are not to be prioritized, since an increase in performance would not lead to a substantially increased value of the target construct due to the low total effect. For constructs in the Possible Overkill quadrant, with above-average performance but low total effects, maintenance of the measures may be pursued but should not be prioritized. In some circumstances, it may be appropriate to transfer resources in these action areas to other areas that have higher importance. The Keep Up the Good Work quadrant is where the strengths of the investigated organizations lie. The constructs located here are levers for success and should be maintained in all cases. The Concentrate Here quadrant contains the constructs with the greatest potential for improvement. These constructs have high importance but below-average performance scores. Improving performance in this area will result in a greater increase in email marketing success due to the high total effects. Firstly, improvements in this area are the most effective. Secondly, it is generally easier and more cost-effective to implement improvements here than in areas where performance is already high. Consequently, the expansion of measures in this quadrant should be prioritized. The 3 The formular for the rescaling is as following; where xi represents the i-th observation of an exogenous variable; Minscale and Maxscale are the minimal/maximal variable values, here 1 to 7 (Höck etal., 2010; Reichenbach, 2020): x rescaled i= x i −Minscale[x] Maxsclae [ x ]− Minscale [ x ] ⋅ 100  527 1 3 Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritica… delineation of the quadrants results from the mean values of the total effects and performance indices. A modification of the importance-performance matrix was presented by Slack (1994): The different areas of the importance-performance matrix are not divided into four quadrants, but into four less rigid zones: Improve, Excess?, Appropriate, and Urgent Action. We integrate both the original and the modification into Figs.1 and 2. Our IPMA indicates significant total effects for four constructs. The three constructs for which no significant effect on success could be demonstrated in the aggregate analysis also have no significant total effects in the IPMA and are left out of the interpretation. Figure1 shows the importance-performance matrix at the construct level. The mean lines drawn as auxiliary lines in the coordinate system refer only to the values of the indicators with significant total effects. The performance values of the individual constructs range from 26.56 to 49.36%, with an average of 38.82%. Overall, email marketing cannot be considered professionalized with these performance values. For professionalized email marketing, an expansion or improvement of various areas is necessary. The constructs Organizational Framework and Quality of Content Realization are in the upper left quadrant with above-aver- age performance values, but below-average total effects. However, performance is above average only in relation to the performance mean; it is below 50% for both constructs. An interpretation, according to the quadrants of Martilla and James (1977), raises the question of whether an allocation of resources to other measures would be appropriate. The inclusion of the zones according to Slack (1994) allows a more differentiated interpretation: With a total effect of 7.59 and Fig. 1 Importance-performance matrix on construct level. Source: The Authors 528 S.Harken et al. 1 3 a performance of 49.36, the construct Organizational Framework is located in the Appropriate zone, far from Excess. Accordingly, it cannot be assumed that a disproportionate number of resources is being used. Rather, the results indicate, that the aim should be to maintain performance. Although the total effect (12.44) of the construct is just below average, NPOs should strive to improve their Quality of Content Realization performance (48.19), but not with the highest priority, due to the positioning in the Possible Overkill quadrant and the Improve zone. In contrast to the Organizational Framework measures, it is easier to improve the performance of this success factor: The content of the emails can – at least in part – be controlled by the responsible employees themselves, and adjustments do not generally require additional resources. The IPMA on the indicator level will show that the relevance of content is one of the most important levers, which NPOs should emphasize to increase email marketing success. The success factor Communication Instruments / Lead Generation has the second highest importance value (15.42) and the lowest performance value (26.56). With an improvement in performance of just 1% point, NPOs can increase email marketing success by an effective 15.42 points. As with Quality of Content Realization, performance improvement should be comparatively easy to achieve, as the expansion of many communication activities does not require a large investment. NPOs should prioritize performance improvement to avoid jeopardizing success. NPOs should expand communication measures to promote their email marketing and increase its success. An IPMA on the indicator level will show which particular communication instruments NPOs should focus on. The construct Individualized Donor / Relationship Orientation has the strongest total effect (16.84) on email marketing success. With a value of 31.18, the Fig. 2 Importance-performance matrix on indicator level. Source: The Authors 529 1 3 Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritica… performance of the NPOs surveyed is below average and there is a lot of room for improvement. Improving the performance of this construct is the most effective way to enhance email marketing success. Therefore, improvement here should be highly prioritized – first, to ensure success, and next, to increase it. The IPMA at indicator level allows the derivation of specific recommendations for action regarding the individual measures. The analysis shows 13 negative total effects, all of which are not significant. Table5 shows the total effect and performance values for the indicators with significant total effects. In the importanceperformance matrix (see Fig.2), only the indicators with significant total effects are reproduced. Table 5 Comparison between the total effect and the performance values of indicators The Authors Total effect Performance Collaborations 6.42 13.40 Relevance content for recipients 5.98 29.52 Technical analysis of user preferences 4.94 32.68 Management donor journey 4.80 19.50 Integration email marketing 4.26 54.47 Employees 3.95 33.44 Promotion repeat donations 3.84 37.26 Integrated data management 3.42 39.87 Clear design/usability 2.44 73.20 Visual editing 2.36 74.95 Social media 1.80 39.00 Personnel resources 1.80 40.31 Financial resources 1.69 44.55 Analyses + evidence-based planning 1.68 27.07 Storytelling 1.62 58.39 Signup form on content pages 1.55 56.10 Download for email 1.45 13.18 Sender name + picture 1.44 38.02 Popup 1.24 22.11 Dialogue channels 1.08 38.13 Signup at events 1.04 39.43 Professional email marketing software 0.81 69.15 Testing 0.68 21.46 Qualification employees 0.66 57.84 Operational control 0.62 41.94 Written goals 0.38 23.53 Strategic control 0.26 25.16 Unsubscribe option 0.21 93.46 Personalized salutation 0.12 66.45 Mean value 2.16 42.19 530 S.Harken et al. 1 3 Only three of the 29 indicators with significant total effects are in the Keep Up the Good Work quadrant. Both the interpretation by quadrants and the interpretation by zones, according to which these three indicators are in the Appropriate zone, suggest that these measures should be maintained or even expanded. There are seven indicators in the Possible Overkill quadrant. Five of these measures are in the Appropriate zone, so maintaining them seems advisable. The eleven indicators in the Low Priority quadrant are mostly in the Improve zone. Consequently, these measures with below-average performance scores should be improved, but not with the highest priority. Rather, a cost-benefit consideration of improvement efforts seems reasonable. We place the focus of our interpretation on the indicators, which our analysis has shown to be in the Concentrate Here quadrant and the Urgent Action zone, as this is where the most important recommendations for action can be derived. The measures located here have the greatest and most effective potential for improvement due to their low performance values contrasting with their high total effects. NPOs should prioritize the expansion of these measures to enhance success. Regarding Individualized Donor / Relationship Orientation – which, in the construct-based IPMA, appeared to need strong improvement with a high total effect – integrated data management should be improved, promotion of repeat donations should be intensified, technical analysis of user preferences should be expanded, and, especially, management of donor journey via email marketing should be strengthened. Although it is generally assumed that performance improvements in the Concentrate Here quadrant can be implemented easily and cost-effectively, improvements in integrated data management and management of donor journey are likely to pose greater challenges for NPOs. This is because improvements in data management generally require the introduction and/or consolidation or connection of different software systems and can develop into larger IT projects. However, it is not only email marketing that benefits from appropriately powerful and linked data management. If data from different systems flows together or is even centrally controlled via one system, this can result in improvements in various fundraising areas. An improvement in this indicator is needed for an increase in email marketing success – but the investment can be expected to be beneficial beyond email marketing. Integrated data management should also be prioritized because the availability of well-maintained data is also a prerequisite for other measures, especially within Donor / Relationship Orientation, e.g., management of donor journey. Improvements in management of donor journey are unlikely to be easy to implement, since the use of marketing automation is required – at least if it has not been previously used. The initial implementation of automation requires systematic and comprehensive preparations. Though the initial effort is complex, the maintenance of existing automation is less so. An initial investment can therefore create a foundation for a subsequent, less complex realization. Cross-channel donor journeys, which include more channels than email marketing, are likely to have a positive impact on overall donor retention and lifetime value, and thus contribute to an overall improvement in online fundraising success. Also, as the IPMA shows, improving management of donor journey will arguably improve email marketing success. 531 1 3 Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritica… Promotion of repeat donations, on the other hand, can be implemented easily and cost-effectively, e.g., by increasing the introduction of permanent donation/sponsorship programs and using permanent donation buttons or call-to-actions in emails. A 5% improvement in performance would increase email marketing success by a great 19.2 points. Thus, NPOs can improve email marketing success without much effort by increasing the performance of promotion of repeat donations. Expanding technical analysis of user preferences also does not require much money. With a professional email marketing tool, several key performance indicators are collected by default, and NPOs just need to analyze them. Because of the tracking opportunities, email marketing is a measurable tool and the data can be used to make improvements (Bathia, 2021). Tracking options from Google are also easy to integrate, provided that the necessary expertise is available. There is also great potential here, as this indicator has the greatest total effect within the Individualized Donor / Relationship Orientation construct. An improvement of 1% point in performance would increase email marketing success by almost 5 points. Two communication tools prove to be particularly relevant to success and in need of improvement: lead generation by employees and collaborations. Improvements in the first indicator can be implemented easily and inexpensively, such as by having as many employees as possible integrate a registration link for email marketing in their email signature. Collaborations have the highest total effect of all indicators, and, at the same time, the lowest performance. Collaborations can be implemented in the form of sweepstakes in which the opt-in to email marketing is a prerequisite for participation, or as co-registration, where the registration for email marketing of a collaboration partner also includes registration for email communication of an NPO. However, a negative effect could be assumed here, as such forms of collaboration tend to produce poor-quality leads because there is no primary interest in the NPO and its work. On the other hand, collaboration can consist of advertising the email marketing communication in partners’ newsletters and other publications. In the questionnaire, this form of collaboration was mentioned as an example,4 which presumably led to the fact that the answers refer in particular to this type of collaboration. Thus, being mentioned in the newsletters of cooperation partners has an enormous influence on success. These collaborations for email marketing are probably not a measure that can be implemented very quickly in most cases. Rather, they require more extensive preliminary considerations and a strategic orientation. Nevertheless, this result indicates that NPOs would be well advised to try this form of lead generation. Furthermore, the indicator relevance of content for recipients is in the area of urgent need for action. This indicator has the second-highest total effect. An increase in performance of 1% would increase email marketing success by 5.94 points. The high total effect shows that aligning the content of email marketing with the needs or interests of the recipients, i.e., a high level of relevance of the content, is of outstanding importance for email marketing success. This is an area in which the NPOs surveyed need to catch up, as the performance value of 29.52% is below 4 The phrasing of the question in the questionnaire: “We have numerous collaborations to promote our email marketing and generate email addresses (e.g. mentions in newsletters from companies).” 532 S.Harken et al. 1 3 average. Relevant content can be identified through analyses and/or systematic surveys, among other things. Corresponding insights can be generated from key figures such as click rates and open rates, which are output in professional email marketing tools, or from A/B tests. Email marketing subscribers don’t all consider the same content to be relevant. Thus, ideally, aiming for content relevance means individualizing content. For example, previous donations can be used to base the content on topics for which a person has donated, or by displaying sample donation amounts based on previous donation amounts. Kingsnorth (2022) preditcs dynamic content to become one of the main trends in email marketing over the next few years. Surveys and profile update forms can be used to generate insights into recipients’ content preferences, and email marketing can be aligned to these preferences. Content relevance is closely linked to other measures, as the needed analyses and individualizations require high-quality data as well as a tool that provides the relevant key figures. Consequently, it is not easy to improve content relevance. Rather, resources and upstream measures are necessary. However, the importance-performance matrix shows that efforts in this indicator are important and expedient in terms of increasing email marketing success. 5 Discussion We empirically determined the crucial success factors in email marketing by NPOs and identified those measures that are particularly influential for success. Our research goes beyond previous research approaches, which examine partial aspects of email marketing and email marketing effectiveness. It is essential for theory and practice to examine email marketing on the level of campaigns. Examples for research on email marketing campaign effectiveness are the works of Lorente Páramo etal. (2021) proposing a model to evaluate the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns or Goic etal. (2021) examining the effectiveness of triggered email marketing campaigns. Also, email elements have been studied, such as the research on the composition of the subject line by Almeida and Casais (2022), Conceição and Gama (2019), Hudák etal. (2017), and Sahni etal. (2018) or insights of Chittenden and Rettie (2003), and Lewis etal. (2013) on the design of marketing emails. Yet, existing research is lacking a comprehensive approach to email marketing, which exceeds the campaign level and examines email marketing as a whole, including its’ management, especially in the context of nonprofit marketing. To the authors knowledge, this is the first study to give an empirically validated holistic outline of the success factors in nonprofit email marketing. Our research brings in a broader perspective as it goes beyond looking at factors for the effective execution of email marketing campaigns but evaluates success factors with regard to managing email marketing as a whole, proving the factors of Individual Donor / Relationship Orientation, Communication Instruments / Lead Generation, Quality of Content Realization, and Organizational Framework to be relevant for email marketing success in aggregate analysis. Furthermore, our study provides the break-down of these success factors to identify 533 1 3 Online fundraising forNPOs viaemail marketing – Acritica… the most relevant measures for improving nonprofit email marketing success in different aspects of email marketing management. The study reveals that few NPOs are very successful in their email marketing. We identified areas in which NPOs have deficits and measures where they have room for improvement. The most important levers for the improvement of email marketing success, for which NPOs should prioritize a performance increase, are integrated data management, promotion of repeat donations, lead generation through employees, technical analysis of user preferences, management of donor journey, relevance of content, and collaborations. We have formulated concrete recommendations for action, which are derived from our IPMA. NPOs can use these to make improvements in their online fundraising via email marketing and enhance success. Thus, our novelty findings and derived recommendations enable NPOs to align their email marketing in a scientifically sound manner. Knowing the most effective levers to increase email marketing success is valuable in NPO practice, as human and financial resources are often limited and therefore it is important to not exhaust resources on measures with little effect on success. Based on our IPMAs importance-performance matrix, NPOs can prioritize the measures to be improved regarding their email marketing. 6 Conclusion andimplications The study empirically determined critical success factors in NPOs’ email marketing through disaggregate and aggregate analysis of our proposed structural equation model. Our research poses a valuable contribution to previous knowledge on nonprofit email marketing. It fills the theoretical gap of a comprehensive overview of the success factors in the email marketing of NPOs and provides constructive recommendations for nonprofit email marketing practice. This detailed study broadens the knowledge of NPOs’ digital fundraising, more specifically one digital marketing instrument, namely email marketing. The research provides theoretical insights through complementing the current literature on nonprofit email marketing as part of digital fundraising. Our study responds to the gap of existing knowledge, as it is the first study to pursue an in-depth examination of the success factors in email marketing by NPOs in the German-speaking region. It exceeds the campaign level examination of nonprofit email marketing, as it is present in previous research. Consequently, our research can enrich references regarding NPO email marketing as a whole but especially in respect of the drivers of success. Our study can become a basis for future research regarding nonprofit email marketing and digital fundraising. The model for the measurement of success and success factors can be applied in future studies. For NPO email marketing professionals, the managerial implications of our research are to benefit an understanding of the factors to make nonprofit email marketing as a part of online fundraising more successful. Generally, we find a great need for improvement, and, at the same time, high potential, particularly with recipient-centric measures, that is, measures that enable email marketing to be geared to recipients. This finding is in line with previous 534 S.Harken et al. 1 3 findings on online fundraising, according to which measures for donor orientation – such as researching donor and communication preferences, offering segment-spe- cific online donation products, and data mining – have below-average usage values (Reichenbach, 2020). The Individualized Donor / Relationship Orientation construct has the strongest total effect on email marketing success, but a below-average NPO performance score. Six5 of the nineteen measures with below-average performance scores – just under one-third of the indicators – relate to email marketing’s recipient orientation or data-driven approach. Our results substantiate the existing knowledge that email marketing must be tailored to the recipients, and the content must be relevant to them. To ensure this, a data-driven approach is necessary: Data must be collected, linked to existing data, evaluated, and used to target recipients. The availability of data is a major opportunity of online fundraising via email marketing. After all, every email sent with a specific email marketing tool delivers data that gives some information about the relevance of the content and/or the preferences of the recipients. Email marketing offers numerous opportunities to get to know prospects and donors as well as their wishes – without having to ask them, but by cleverly evaluating the available data. However, our research shows that currently, too little data is generated and too little is done with the available data. More data-driven decisions and a more data-based way of working would be desirable. 7 Limitations andfuture research The sample consists of a heterogeneous group of NPOs from the German-speaking region. A more differentiated view of the NPOs in the form of a multiple-group analysis (e.g., division into large and small NPOs) would presumably lead to a greater gain in knowledge, as some success factors may prove to be relevant only to certain groups. In addition, a corresponding group-based analysis would presumably allow more specific recommendations for action to be derived from the data. However, the present sample is too small to conduct a multiple-group analysis; even a division into two groups would not meet the minimum sample size requirements. The study cannot claim to cover all potential success factors. In general, the digital world continues to develop rapidly, so the success factors will also change with these developments. It can be expected that new success factors will emerge as new technical possibilities arise. Thus, the validity of the success factors we have identified is situational, and repeated examinations of the success factors in email marketing of NPOs in the future would be useful. Finally, the study can be a starting point for subsequent studies. Firstly, given the continuous digital developments, our research offers a framework for future examinations of nonprofit email marketing. Secondly, the generated knowledge for the German-speaking regions could be used as a base for research of success 5 Testing, analysis and evidence-based planning, relevance of content for recipients, technical analysis of user preferences, management of donor journey, integrated data management.