This customer uses email marketing to unite its members
CMT United KingdomList Size: 1,025
Open Rate: 55.3%
Website: www.cmt.org.uk
CMT United Kingdom is the national support group for people affected by Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, a neurological condition affecting the nerves to the arms and legs, resulting in deformity and disability. Roughly 1 in 2,500 people has CMT, a hereditary disease that can be passed to family members. Given the comparative rareness of the disease, many doctors do not have much experience dealing with it, so patients turn to the CMT United Kingdom group for support and information.
While the challenges for those impacted by CMT are many, the group itself struggles with finding its target audience, says Karen Butcher, a volunteer with the group. There are approximately 25,000 people affected by CMT in the United Kingdom, but the group's membership stands at only 1,500. Furthermore, the group must retain its paid membership over the long term.
CMT distributes a printed magazine three times a year, and supplements it with a monthly email newsletter that includes news updates about the group, research findings, and more. Prior to using Constant Contact, Karen used the email system built into the CMT United Kingdom's website registration software. "It was largely just a straight text email with no tracking facilities and was fiddly to use," she says.
The group chose Constant Contact for its price and ease of use. "As a volunteer, I didn't want to spend most of my life coming to grips with setting up and sending emails," Karen says. She can also easily monitor statistics to see who is opening the group's newsletters and what they are clicking on.
One piece of content that has generated a lot of clicks: A link to a donation page set up to defray the costs of an office move. To date, the group has raised some £1,300 (roughly $2,130) thanks to its email marketing fundraising effort. "I was amazed that within a few hours, donations were already being made online. That really made me smile because I had no idea it would be that successful," Karen says.
Using email marketing has also strengthened the organization's relationship with its members. "The feedback we've received has been really positive and people are grateful for the increased contact with us," Karen says.
