Friday Buzz: What Email Marketing Did for #GivingTuesday

When it comes to email marketing, Black Friday has nothing on #GivingTuesday.

That’s according to new research from the email marketing firm Vertical Response  (opens in a new tab), which noted that 350 million messages went out from its retail and nonprofit customers between November 24 and December 2. While Cyber Monday’s 54.6 million emails represented the most individual messages sent out over the period, #GivingTuesday’s 48.3 million were right behind—and far ahead of Black Friday’s 40.5 million.

But another statistic highlights a more interesting story: More individual campaigns were sent out on #GivingTuesday (7,626 in all) than on either Cyber Monday (7,216) or Black Friday (3,660). (Another fun factoid: The apparent sweet spot for #GivingTuesday sends was around noon EST. Sound right to you?)

Overall, emails during the busy period around Thanksgiving were up by 5 percent from a year ago, the company noted. Impressive, but not as impressive as the fact that, at $45.7 million #GivingTuesday donations were up 63 percent  (opens in a new tab) from last year. Not bad, huh?

An Uber Apology

A message from CEO @travisk  (opens in a new tab) about our ride ahead: http://t.co/9CCBd9I7IC  (opens in a new tab)

— Uber (@Uber) December 4, 2014  (opens in a new tab)

As we reported last month, Uber has not had a good go of it on the public relations front of late—in large part due to a lingering perception of arrogance that has dogged the fast-growing ride-sharing company.

On Thursday, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick admitted to some major growing pains and pledged that the company would do better in the future.

“The events of the recent weeks have shown us that we also need to invest in internal growth and change,” Kalanick wrote in a blog post  (opens in a new tab). “Acknowledging mistakes and learning from them are the first steps. We are collaborating across the company and seeking counsel from those who have gone through similar challenges to allow us to refine and change where needed.”

The pressure is on more than ever. Uber just raised $1.2 billion in financing—that’s billion, with a “b”—and the taxi industry is not exactly in high spirits about the company’s disruptive nature. But a more measured approach could help Uber as it moves forward.

Other Links of Note

The small stuff matters in your emails. Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog details some of the things you should be looking at  (opens in a new tab).

3G, we hardly knew ye. Reports out of Verizon-land suggest that the mobile provider is planning to slowly move its networks  (opens in a new tab) to LTE-only coverage in the near future.

How far does your growth plan go? If you’re the CEO of Starbucks, it looks out half a decade into the future. Here’s what you can learn  (opens in a new tab).

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