Lyris Home } Knowledge Center } Case Studies } AFA

AFA Appeals to Family Values with Lyris ListManager

Company Background

When the American Family Association was started more than 25 years ago, organizers got the word out about their cause — originally, protesting violence, profanity and sexual imagery in family television shows — the old-fashioned way, with envelopes and stamps.

Today, the AFA still sends out over 100,000 printed newsletters, and also maintains several issue-oriented Web sites, a network of 200 Christian radio stations, a syndicated Christian news feed, and even a faxing network. But with 1.5 million members and some 25 opt-in mailing lists, email now makes up the largest outreach vehicle for the conservative Christian activist organization.

Goals and Challenges

Like most grassroots efforts, AFA's initial email program began as a pretty basic operation. Buddy Smith, executive assistant to AFA founder Donald Wildmon, recalls that he used to send out AFA email alerts using his personal Microsoft Outlook email client.

The organization eventually switched to a free open-source mail delivery application and list management tool that could handle higher email volumes, but by 1999, AFA had outgrown even that solution. "Managing subscriptions was a nightmare," recalls Smith. "And then there were some security issues we were concerned about."

The Solution

Switching to Lyris ListManager was a big financial commitment for the budget-conscious nonprofit organization, notes Smith, but it's a commitment that AFA has renewed every year now for four years.

"We needed something that could keep up with our growth, speed requirements, and complexity, and ListManager is a great product," explains email list administrator Paul Chaney. "But at the end of the day it's all about service. We have a small IT staff and limited resources. What sets Lyris apart is their willingness to stand behind their product and really support it. Lyris' support is absolutely phenomenal."

AFA runs a variety of separate campaigns, each with its own target audience, membership, and Web site. For example, OneMillionMoms.com gathers support from mothers to protest violent and sexual content on television, while WePledge.com organized supporters of a constitutional amendment to protect the Pledge of Allegiance.

Each corresponding email list has different email templates, contributors, and approval procedures — and ListManager's content and list management tools are critical for keeping them all coordinated. For example, automatic response messages and list access permissions can be tailored differently for each campaign.

AFA also makes scrupulous use of ListManager's double opt-in subscription features, ensuring that lists stay clean and list members stay happy.

The Results

AFA now sends from 10,000 to one million messages per week across its different lists. Goals vary depending on the email campaign, but expanding the AFA network of supporters is always paramount. On that front, the email program has been tremendously successful, with subscriptions growing at 10% monthly.

Although AFA does take advantage of some of ListManager's marketing features — for example, using segmentation to test different subject lines to see which delivers the strongest open rate — the email content doesn't get too fancy. Messages are usually text-oriented, plain-spoken arguments with very clear calls to action. Nearly every mailing invites the reader to forward the email on to other potential supporters. It's a simple but highly effective strategy.

In fact, the organization was recently profiled in 99 Cows, by best-selling web marketing guru and entrepreneur Seth Godin. Godin offers 99 examples of "truly remarkable" products and services, highlighting AFA for its effective use of email in issues marketing.

"It's the vibrant single issues that mobilize people to take action," writes Godin. "[AFA founder Wildmon] can use a petition drive to build an email permission list, which he can use to fuel ideavirus campaigns about other issues. Each piece supports the other."

AFA goals also include fundraising; the group's infrequent fundraising appeals yield between 2 and 10% conversion rates. But the ultimate success metric is prevailing on the issues: for example, AFA members have successfully prevailed on several family-oriented advertisers to withdraw sponsorship from controversial television shows.

Future Plans

Since AFA's success depends on members helping to spread the word, Chaney is enthusiastic about the Forward Tracking feature in ListManager 7.5. "That's something we can definitely use — we want to better understand which emails are forwarded, and how often."

AFA will also continue to share its expertise with other organizations on how to get started with email activism. "ListManager does a great job with keeping your lists clean, reporting, and backend management. The interface is also easy to use," he says. Investing in a commercial email program is a hard decision for a nonprofit, acknowledges Chaney, but, "You need a robust engine if you're serious about growing."