Content Audits and Strategy

Get the knowledge needed to create email and content that converts.

Is your email reaching the right people? Is it raising enough money? Is your list growing?

Does your content bring joy, reach new people and keep people involved?

Do your campaigns convert?

Our digital content audit answers these questions.

Your content is so important.

Your online content consumes a huge chunk of your communications, fundraising, marketing and organizing budget and staffing.

  • Your blog and every other page on your website.
  • Everything you send by email. That includes fundraising, advocacy, organizing and marketing email.
  • Every bit of social media.
  • Your videos – wherever they may end up – and even your audio, photos and charts and graphs.
  • All your online advertising – banners, google ads, Meta and more.

You may have some questions about all these emails, web pages, posts, videos and more.

  • Is our content reaching new subscribers and donors?
  • Are new subscribers getting the attention they need?
  • What about new donors?
  • Is our email list getting the clicks, actions and donations we expect? We need?
  • Should we invest in new or different content? New audiences?

We have developed an email and content audit program to provide a rapid, clear and actionable analysis of how your organization’s content, email and fundraising programs are functioning together to meet revenue, program and other goals.

What you get

We aren’t going to take months to give you a 50 page review of every web page, search query and email ever sent. Your team is going to shove that thing in a folder, never to be seen again. And they probably should as most of it will be outdated as soon as it’s delivered.

We provide data and recommendations that will guide common decisions about email, audiences, content strategy and fundraising.


You’ll have a view into what’s working, what opportunities you have, the content that’s worth creating and what you can stop worrying about.


You’ll have information on the support and training your team may need – even what kinds of roles may need to be filled in the coming year.

Cost

A digital content audit costs $5,000.

We don’t overbook audits. You get our full attention.

It takes four weeks.

Value

A new donor is typically worth $80 to $150 per year. On average. It depends. A newsletter or email campaign that engages 100 new donors could be worth $8,000 or $15,000 in just the first year.

News organizations and nonprofits we work with often focus on monthly recurring donors. This makes sense. Finding 50 new $20 monthly donors is worth $12,000 per year.

Maybe those current donors are current one-time donors giving $80 per year. Fifty $80 donors are worth $4,000 per year. Converting them to monthly donors could be worth $8,000.

Looked at another way, the cost of creating 100 pages of new web content or 10 ads that don’t reach an audience can be far more than $5k. And you’re putting your team to work on content that works for people. That’s fun.

These are just some of the problems we’re trying to solve with digital content audits.

Want more? Larger and deeper audits may include broad content reviews, focus groups and surveys are possible. Let us know what you’re thinking about.

You Have Questions

People have questions and we have some answers. The best way to ask other questions and find out more (and even get started) is to get in touch.

How long does it take?

An audit project usually takes three to five weeks. We aim to present our report to your team four weeks after starting the project.

What data will you look at?

What we use depends in part on your programs, the data you can provide and the depth of the project. But we typically look at these items:

  • Email messaging, deliverability and list health data.
  • Email content review.
  • Search data – not just where traffic is coming from and why but what connections exist between your content, search, engagement and conversion goals.
  • Google Analytics and/or other web data.
  • Website behavior analytics.
  • Social platform data.

We also want to talk to you and your team. Only you can show us what concerns and questions you have and what your goals are.

Our larger audit projects may include user surveys or focus groups. Larger projects also tend to go deeper into the data, look at custom data sources, look at competitors and more.

What do you need from our team?

We’ll need some time to talk with you and access to data and content. We’re also looking for honesty, humility and a burning passion for your mission, supporters and staff.

Have you done this before?

Here are some the organizations we’ve worked with on email, fundraising and content audits:

  • Earthworks
  • Clean Water Action
  • Defenders of Wildlife
  • Chava Communications (Cleveland Scene)
  • California Budget and Policy Center
  • Human Rights Campaign
  • Demos
  • Case Foundation
  • The Wilderness Society

What do the deliverables look like?

You’ll receive a project brief with topline results and recommendations plus the data used to create them.

The primary deliverable is a presentation to you (and/or your team) with a slide deck and data to show findings (the data) and opportunities (our takeaways on what’s possible).

We’ve seen everything – pages that don’t convert, forms that need testing, welcome journeys that need updating (or just creation), places where newsletters could help, audiences that should be reached, overlooked list segments, brilliance in your content that isn’t getting to the right readers.

Everything is on the table and final deliverables will be certainly be custom to your organization.

How do we get started?

Reach out to Ted by email at ted@brightplus3.com or drop your inquiry into the form here. Let us know what questions you have and what your timeline looks like. That helps us plan our availability so you have our full attention. These are fast-moving projects and we don’t overbook our time.

We’ll get going with a questionnaire for you and your team, set up time for one or more conversations, and request access to various data.

We’ll check in by phone or zoom weekly, deliver initial findings a week before completion and set up a time for a final presentation.