More and more people are simply ignoring email all together these days. Considering we all use email (and email is not dead) that can be a pretty big problem. Yet we still send a ton of email and we need folks to reply. Anyone that’s managed a mass email campaign can attest to the fact that the biggest challenge is getting folks to just open the darn email. It’s all about the Subject, right! Yes.

Of course there is no shortage of advice out there on how to get your marketing emails opened but what about personal emails? You know, the ones from your personal email address to a colleague, family member or friend. Well here are some tips that I’ve learned over the years on using the Subject field to make sure you get a reply or at least their attention.

Use the Persons Name in the Subject

This is a great attention grabber. The first time I saw this used on me I realized how valuable it was. It immediately caught my attention and now I use it all of the time. Include the recipient’s name and what you want them to do and you’ll get results. For example:

Acknowledge That They are Busy in the Subject

This is a good one to use when you’ve tried to reach someone by email before and have yet to get a response. We all prioritize our email and we often simply ignore emails that aren’t urgent or important at that time. It’s not that we don’t want to reply, it’s just that we’re busy. So if you’ve sent one or two emails already and not had a reply, then shoot them an email with the following subject and I bet you’ll get a reply!

Use a 1-word Subject

Perhaps nothing is more catchy than a 1-word subject in an email. It always grabs my attention and I am sure to open it. I am on one particular email list and every email they send has a 1-word subject. It may be time sensitive or just a catchy word. Here’s a few examples of words that they’ve used in their 1-word subject:

worst, heard, #1, mission, 2012, but, invite

and my personal favorite:

Perhaps your preschool, church or nonprofit has some room to improve communication efforts in 2012 and you’re wondering if MemberHub can help. Well, now is the time to get started with our big end of year coupon.

It’s really simple…start a FREE 30-day trial with us in December and when 2012 hits save 50% off the first 3 months with the coupon below! That’s a $150 savings on a Large plan!

Use the blue button to the right to start a free trial ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

If you’ve already got a trial going then just select your plan asap and use coupon code: DEC11PROMO

“Oops! I forgot to give you that…” The infamous words from your child’s mouth that describe the devilish disappearing act in which the school book bag performs weekly. A distant cousin to the sock-eating dryer, the book bag is a deep and dark hole where endless papers, newsletters and forms fill its void. But is the book bag really to blame? Is it the child, or is it the school?

This is certainly not a condemnation of little Johnny, but an eight-year-old is clearly not a reliable vector for his medical form, or at least that is what history tells us. Let us recognize the necessity of a steadfast means to communication.

The ‘Go Green’ movement that has swept the world seems to have yet to saturate the school system; perhaps it’s blinded by the delusive book bag monster. Of course there are weapons the can battle our infamous opponent.

MemberHub offers a safe and private internet communication portal, perfect for schools of any size. Whether you need to communicate amongst staff, parents or both, emails, text messages, discussion boards, sign ups, directories, and photo sharing are combined into one simple tool. MemberHub runs on the efficiency of a large corporation, but provides the support of a mom-and-pop shop.

To get some help with our marketing content, we asked a teacher that’s currently using MemberHub how she thought we could best demonstrate the benefits of our software. She suggested asking some rhetorical questions:

 

• Did you find that important note you sent home to your student’s parents crumpled in the bottom of his backpack?
• Are you frustrated with the time it takes to e-mail a large group of parents and wait for replies?
• Do you spend alot of time answering questions that were already addressed in that note you sent home?

So what are your answers to those questions? Together we can put an end to the terrible book bag monster and all that is ineffective communication. Sign up for a free 30 day trial today. We’re here to help, and can’t wait to speak with you soon. :).

Back in 2007 Mashable put together a post where they listed 60+ collaborative tools for groups. That’s a lot of different tools to help your “group” get organized and collaborate. Notice how I said “group” and not “groups”. That post was almost three years ago and today there are plenty of online solutions where “a group” can go online to have discussions, share files and photos, and sync up on events. But for organizations with lots of groups, all these options don’t necessarily mean that you have a better chance of your teams getting organized. What it might mean, instead, is just the opposite of what you need. All these software choices might mean that you have disparate groups all using a different tool AND that you are not effectively managing those interactions. This is where group management software comes to the rescue.

Here are 5 areas where group management software differs from typical private group and online community software.

Groups Index Page

For the majority of online group collaboration tools the concept is to have a place for that one group or community to get organized. Usually the concept is to create an “online” space for the members to get organized and while there might be a place to create “sub-groups”, they often contain a “sub-set” of the features too. In comparison, a group management tool will have a dedicated page, tab or screen to actually view and even edit multiple groups at the same time. And each online hub is it’s own private place for the members of that group to communicate. The model is quite obvious if you you think about the organizations that you’re affiliated with. Churches have multiple ministries, not “sub-groups”. Nonprofits have multiple committee’s. Group management means you have a tool that focuses on lots of groups and a place where you can see all of them at once.

Easily Move People Around Groups

What are some things that happen when you have a lot of groups? A very common need is to move people around between teams, committees and ministries. Leaders of member driven organizations are constantly looking for ways to empower their members to get organized and contribute. Providing private online “spaces” for those committees, teams or ministries is the answer and the easier it is to place people into those online groups then the easier it is for them to get plugged in. Got a new volunteer? Place ‘em in existing online group and their instantly connected. Speak with another volunteer who’d rather serve somewhere else? No problem, effective group management software should let you easily remove that person from one group and place them in another.

Ability to Track Group Involvement on People

Hopefully it goes without saying that group management software lets people be affiliated with multiple groups. The most active people in your organization are likely a part of 2 to 3 groups. And of course there are also a lot of other “volunteers” and members that aren’t plugged in at all. Another responsibility for group management software is to help administrators get an idea of where people are currently plugged in and where to plug new volunteers in. “What is Charles helping with this fall?” Find his record and see what groups he’s in!

Aggregate Data Across Groups

As an administrator, you can see what Charles is involved with, but what about Charles, what does he see? Well if he’s part of the 20% that does 80% of the work at your church, school or nonprofit then he’s likely serving in multiple capacities. Group management software needs to give Charles a place to login and see a combined calendar of events across all his groups. He needs an activity feed that shows him important file uploads, comments and announcements from across all the groups. Every person that’s part of your organization should have an online dashboard that aggregates all the activity across all the groups that they’re contributing to.

Communicate to Select Groups

Lastly, a group management tool should make it easy for an organization to communicate with a select set of groups. For example, let’s say a school needs to cancel a field trip for all the Kindergarten classes. You should be able to send an announcement to only those parents and teachers that have kids in a kindergarten class. In other words, this shouldn’t have to be a message that hits the entire organization…just the classrooms that it effects.

So those are 5 key aspects of a group management tool. Does your organization need one? Can you think of other features that a piece of software should contain if its purpose is to help manage lots of online groups? Please leave a comment!

In Part 1 of our 5 Keys to Effective Group Communication Online we considered that group members need to acknowledge when they understand others, get to the point fast, give examples, re-state your points and know when to take things offline. Here are five more ideas to help group communication flourish online.

Appoint a Group Leader

In many cases, your real-world group will already have a leader. Sports teams have a coach, classrooms have a teacher and ministries usually have an appointed leader. Usually it will be up to this person to serve as a moderator to ensure that messages stay on topic and encourage positive communication. However, in some cases, it might be necessary for someone else in the group to be appointed the online group leader. The point here is to establish who will participate and how. In addition to monitoring the conversation, this person can be responsible for actually using the technology, spurring on productivity and getting the most out of the tool. In some cases it might be the more technologically savvy person to help lead the efforts of the group with regards to it’s online communication.

Actually Use the Tool

You may have heard this said around here before. “If no one uses it, then no one will use it.” Another responsibility of the group leader is to make sure that everyone is plugged in and knows how to use the software. Quite often it’s the leader’s responsibility to start discussions, upload seminal documents, add events to the online calendar. But if someone in the group doesn’t start using the tool, then everyone will resort to whatever they were doing before; which usually results in more time and wasted communication efforts. If group members start using the features then others will see it and start using it too. Then, effective group communication can be cultivated.

Centralize all Group Communications

Once someone in the group starts an online discussion then people will reply and others will be encouraged to start discussions.  Communication will begin to flow. But don’t stop with just messages. Most online groups tools have more to them than just a messaging system. For instance with MemberHub, each hub has a calendar, a files repository, a place to store photo albums and a collaborative feature called whiteboards. Each tools has it’s own communication advantage and when used properly your groups will really excel at group communication. So go ahead and store your files and forms in there and use the calendar and create signups lists. When everything is centralized, then everyone knows where to get the latest information and logistics come easily.

Lay Ground Rules

It can be really good for some groups to lay ground rules with regards to interactions. As is the case with most social media tools, once it’s said, it’s out there and the message is sent. Electronic communication can make it tempting for some to say things they may not in person. Whether it be something destructive or something as harmless as an inside joke when conversation gets off-topic or is otherwise irrelevent to the group it’s easy for others to become annoyed. One clear way to combat this is to list some rules and guidelines in an obvious place inside the online group. Keep the rules positive and encouraging…in other words, don’t make it a list of DO NOT’s. Rather make it really clear what the online group is for and how to use it best. Simple 1, 2, 3 lists can go a long way toward encouraging members to stay “in-bounds”.

Keep It Organized.

Laying ground rules can definitely help with keeping the group on topic but what about staying organized? Most groups go through seasons. For example a sports league team may have a fall league and spring league. When there are new documents or schedules, make sure that they are clearly posted and that members cannot accidentally consider out-dated data. Clean up old announcements that are no longer timely and make sure the latest information is easy to find.

Certainly there are more. Leave a comment with your ideas!

There are plenty of choices available today for groups to communicate online. Everything from simple discussion boards and forums to complex real-time collaboration tools. Regardless of the platform it is imperative that people understand how to work in an online group if effective communication is going to take place. Here are some keys to make sure that your groups communicate effectively with online tools.

Acknowledge That You Understand Others

How many times have you been speaking with your spouse, co-worker or colleague and felt like he/she didn’t understand where you were coming from? When you’re face-to-face, you can at least use body language to signify that you understand what the other person is saying. But when you’re online that’s a bit tricky (unless you’re using a video conferencing tool). When you’re having a group discussion online and particularly during a disagreement of some sort it’s imperative that you state what you understand the person to be saying before you make your counter-point. This, above anything else, will help ensure that the conversation will remain positive in the group.

Get to the Point Fast

One of the key things I’ve learned from reading email myself is to state the most important information first. Supporting content (or fluff sometimes) is good, but it needs to come after your main point. Especially with online group communication, you should deliver your key message in the first few sentences then back it up. If it’s important enough then people will read the rest of your message, but don’t beat around the bush. Our natural tendency is start telling a story to help frame the argument. In group discussions there’s not usually time or space for story telling. People already have a inbox that’s growing by the minute and an information stream that’s passing them by.

Give Examples When Explaining Yourself

Another one that’s important with in-person communication, but even more so with online communication is to provide examples when you explain something. Let’s say that your group is debating whether a Mac is better than a PC. You state that Mac’s are indeed expensive but they save you money over time. Don’t stop there! Give an example of how. “Well macs come with native software for email, contacts and calendar so you won’t have to shell out for Microsoft Outlook”.  See there’s an example of me giving an example. Without telling part of a story or giving an analogy, your comments don’t have any legs and they’re just opinions.

Say it a Different Way

When you do post that long message/reply/comment make sure that you summarize it. Throw in a “In conclusion…” at the end or even a few bullet points. Particularly if someone has read a long message online then they need a re-cap. This will give you an opportunity to re-state your points and increase the chances of the group understanding what you mean.

Know When to Take it Offline

Sometimes the best solution for online group communication is to take it offline. Perhaps it’s best to just schedule a…meeting. I know, meetings are toxic according to some, but there will always be times where communication breakdown is bound to happen unless you get the group together in the same room. On the same account, sometimes you need to pay a visit to a person in the group. Don’t always hide behind email. If there’s any doubt in your mind that you need to speak with the group in person then do it.

There’s More…

I’m sure you’ve been a part of an online group. What were some of the keys that you experienced with those groups that communciated well? What about the ones where communication didn’t take place?

In the last year, many people have claimed that email is passe. Often, the main argument is that the use of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are growing so fast that eventually everyone will just use those tools and their mobile phones to communicate. Others have argued that email is just an inferior communication protocol. While it’s curious and interesting to entertain such a massive shift in the way the world communicates, I think it’s an outrageous claim. Here are 5 signs email is here to stay for while.

1. Email is Too Ingrained In Our Every Day Life

Email is dead….really?…really? The entire world communicates through email. There is so much business infrastructure around email and years and years of data that it just seems ludicrous to suggest that email is even dying. Did the T.V. kill radio? Has the mobile phone killed the land line? Just because there are new ways to communicate doesn’t mean that the tried and true email is going bye-bye. Email may die one day, but the biggest factor that would contribute to its demise would be time…and a lot of it.

2. Google Failed to Replace It

Last week, Google announced that they “don’t plan to continue Wave as a standalone product”. If you know anything about Google Wave you’ll know that Google had grand plans to create a “better email client”. But that’s just it, it wasn’t email. It was totally different. Kudos to Google for trying to change the world, but if Wave had sent emails (like most other technologies) it would have had a better adoption rate. As it was, it was just another “inbox-thing” people had to check. That brings me to my next point quite nicely.

3. All Applications Use Email

As of this post Facebook is reporting that people spend over 700 billion minutes on Facebook a month. That’s a lot. But what happens when you o send someone a private message? It sends them an email. In fact go take another look at your Facebook’s notifications preferences. Almost every single thing the application does can and will by default send you AN EMAIL. Like around 100 different email notifications. This type of notifications preferences isn’t unique to the 2nd most active website in the world; they all depend on email.

4. It’s a Nice Alternate to the CONSTANT Steam

People complain about email all the time. They complain about having to empty their inbox and going through 100s of emails. I’m guilty of this too. But the reality is that email is still a great protocol for messages that need to be delivered, but not consumed immediately. Emails are not as disruptive as text messages, but that’s only because text messaging is a relatively new medium to receive messages on. It used to be that when we got a new email we said “Woohoo” I got electronic mail message! Neat. My point here is that just like wedding invitations will always be delivered via snail mail, email provides a great alternative to drinking from the firehose of communication and data that is social media.

5.  Email is a Protocol, Not an Entity

Recently I’ve heard my wife increasingly say to others, “I’ll facebook you.” What does that mean? It means that Facebook is the protocol. It is the medium by which the communication takes place. As inevitable as it may seem, Facebook could be gone tomorrow. The use of Email is not dependent upon the success of a company. Email remains.

What are some other signs email is NOT dead?

When you adopt a tool like MemberHub as your organization’s primary communication tool you’re essentially telling your members that “this is how we communicate”.  Opening up two-way communication channels and putting your members in touch with each other will result in more informed, more engaged members. This means you get less phone calls and potentially save money on extra staff needed to ensure proper communication is taking place. But “will my members use it”, you ask.

Your members hang out on Facebook all day. You’re likely NOT going to get them to hang out in some other social networking application or communication tool. But that doesn’t mean that you should be using Facebook as your communication tool. And it also doesn’t mean that you need a really cool social tool to enhance communication.

A successful implementation of MemberHub means your members are connected, know how to reach other members, and can take care of the business of being a member (like signing up for an event). There’s no concept of “friends”. It’s not about logging on creating unbelievable online community. Online community doesn’t just happen. Even if you have the best tool in the world, online community only happens will it’s fostered and cultivated by people.

It’s about taking care of the business of being a member so that you can leave time for REAL community when members do gather together; rather than worrying about logistics and planning.

So when you’re considering your communication software needs don’t worry so much about getting members to hang out in the tool all day. Just make sure that you’re using it. Make sure that members know how to reach their group. Make sure that they know where to get the latest information. Make sure that communication can take place. Do these things and you will enhance communication in your organization.

If there is one thing that I’m surprised about as we continue to serve churches, it’s the number of folks that are unhappy with their current technology. Countless times I’ve spoken with customers and church leaders who have a laundry list of complaints with their current “IT” situation.

Many times it’s just about one particular piece of outdated membership management software. Other times it’s simply the challenge that comes with having too many tools adopted. On top of all this is the pressure to get involved in social media and enhance communication among their members.

So what is the silver bullet? What would the perfect church technology tool look like? Is it even possible?

Here are just 5 things that I think churches are looking for in technology:

1. SIMPLE. Simple membership management for example. Less features.
2. Private communication tools; NOT private social networking tools.
3. Technology that enhances real relationships somehow.
4. Tools that empower ministry and group leaders to get organized.
5. Reporting on member activity.

Do you agree? Please add more in the comments!

Last week I put up a post on why nonprofit strategies often fail. The message wasn’t ground-breaking or all that entirely original. It was designed to get you asking yourself a lot of questions. My passion for great communication was refueled this morning when John Saddington challenged technology people to put communication first, technology second.

We’ve had a quite a few posts here about “communication”, but they don’t get as much attention as other posts. Why is that?

Why is it that year after year, nonprofit members list “communication” as the number one area that organizations need improvement. Why is it that something so obvious constantly goes overlooked?  Why do your members constantly tell you that “they didn’t know that” or “that wasn’t in the newsletter” or “nobody told me that”?

My challenge here is this: You’ve got talk to your members/employees/constituents. Get a discussion going. Get their feedback. Make them understand what you’re seeing. Work together. Collaborate. THAT’S what social media is all about. It opens up the channel for people to speak about something so that other people can understand it. It’s less about what tools you use and more about making sure that communication is taking plan.

Even with the myriad of social networking tools available, members still feel in the dark? Why?