How Humane World for Animals won back 38,000 donors

You check your engagement data, and there they are: thousands of supporters who haven’t clicked anything in months. 

They’re not unsubscribing. They’re just... there.

Most organizations either keep emailing these folks anyway (and watch deliverability suffer) or suppress them and move on.

Humane World for Animals (fka Humane Society International) tried something different. Working with agency partner Raise the Roots and Engaging Networks, they built a two-tier automation that caught supporters mid-drift and used a survey to pull them back in.

1.4 million supporters went through the journeys. Over 38,000 of them later donated. Here’s how:

Catching the drift before it becomes a lapse
Humane World (HW) sits on a list of 4.5 million supporters passionate about ending animal cruelty. 

Growing the list has never been their challenge. Keeping people engaged, that’s the hard part.

Rather than waiting until someone hadn’t opened in over a year, they targeted two groups based on email engagement scores:

The survey that did the heavy lifting
The core of both automations was a survey, not an ask. 

Humane World didn’t send lapsed supporters another donation appeal they were likely to ignore. They asked a question.

For the recently drifting group, HW sent a five-question survey about their pets, their preferred HW campaign, and social media habits. 

The first question was embedded directly in the email body as clickable buttons, allowing supporters to begin responding before visiting the landing page.

Based on their answer, HW triggered a follow-up two days later with an action alert with a petition on that topic. 

If the supporter signed the petition, they got a fundraising appeal. Each step earned the next one.

For the seriously lapsed group, HW kept it shorter. 

They asked three questions — including “What best describes you?” with options such as Animal Advocate, Activist, and Animal Lover — designed to elicit any engagement from people who had been silent for up to a year.

What happened
1.4 million supporters went through the journeys.

The recently drifting group averaged a 23.8% open rate and 18.5% click-through rate — well above Humane World’s benchmarks. 

The seriously lapsed group averaged a 13.9% open rate and 6.7% click-through rate. Lower, but these are people who hadn’t engaged in up to a year.

44,000 supporters completed the surveys, giving HW preference data for future targeting. 

And 38,000 who went through these journeys then donated — though not through the automations directly (those generated only $518). The surveys were built to re-engage, not fundraise. 

The giving came downstream.

How to apply this to your program
Segment by recency of disengagement, not just “active vs. inactive.” Someone who stopped clicking three months ago needs a different touch than someone dark for a year.

Lead with a question, not an ask. A survey gives lapsed supporters a reason to engage that doesn’t involve their wallet.

Embed the first action in the email. Humane World put the first survey question in the message as clickable buttons. That friction reduction matters for a disengaged audience.

Use responses to personalize what comes next. The supporter told you what they care about — use that instead of a generic “we miss you.”

The bottom line
Humane World asked supporters what they cared about — and used the answer to bring them back.

Your list almost certainly has these drifting and lapsed segments like this right now. And the longer they sit untouched, the harder they are to reach.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

'Til next time!
Sara