5 Email Marketing Mistakes Your Zoo or Aquarium is Making (and How to Fix Them)

In marketing, stories are powerful motivators.

For zoo's and aquariums, these stories are the key to building a community of engaged members, donors, and supporters that make your important work possible.

But even the most compelling story can’t make an impact if no one hears it.

As a conservation organization, your zoo's email list is one of your most valuable, but often most underutilized, assets.

Here are 5 mistakes you might be making in your zoo’s email marketing and what to do instead to grow and nurture an email list that deepens relationships, builds trust, and inspires action for wildlife.

1. You’re not making your email list a priority

Your email list is one of the most important pieces to your zoo's success.

People that sign up for your email list are warm contacts — they’ve said yes to you, they want to hear from you, and they’ve given you free access to their inbox any time of day or night.

If your website doesn't have a clear and easy way to sign up for your emails, you're missing a major lost opportunity for your zoo/aquarium’s growth and impact.

How to fix it: Make your email list a priority.

• Create a system for collecting email addresses on your website, your social media accounts, and in person — choose how email addresses will be collected (paper and pen, clear and compelling sign up form on your website, QR code for zoo visitors to scan, etc.)

• If using paper and pen, assign the task of inputting the email addresses to someone — either the person collecting the email addresses or another staff member. Make sure there is communication between those people.

• Hire a copywriter (like me) to handle everything email marketing (they should be able to handle social media too).

• Communicate with your email list regularly.

When you make your email marketing a priority and communicate regularly with your members and donors, they’ll already have heard from you with lots of updates from the zoo when you are ready to ask for a donation.

2. You’re Prioritizing Social Media Over Email Marketing

Many people think that social media should be prioritized over everything else and I understand why — it’s highly visual, people are on social media all the time, and it can be more fun to post a picture than to write an email.

Here’s the most important takeaway from this article: Social media is not a replacement for email marketing.

In fact, if you’re putting a strong emphasis on social media, it’s time to reevaluate your marketing priorities.

First, you don’t own your social media. It’s like building a house on rented land — your landlord can pull the land out from under you at any time, because you don’t own the actual land.

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikToc, X (Twitter) — they can shut down your page at ANY time and take all your content and contacts with it and there may be nothing you can do about it.

Your email list, on the other hand, is yours. You own your email list and all the emails you write and send are your intellectual property.

Second, you have no control over who will see your posts. Every social media platform has an algorithm that decides who to show your content to. How it decides is constantly changing and the percentage of your followers who will see your posts is very low.

Your emails, however, land in your list’s inboxes EVERY time you send one (unless it goes to spam, of course). This means that everyone on your list at least sees your organization’s name whenever you send an email. There’s no algorithm.

How often your audience “sees” you in their inbox is up to you.

How to fix it: Focus on email marketing and use social media as a tool to funnel people to your email list.

• Include a link to download a free guide or get updates from your zoo keepers on your website and in your organization's social media bio.

• Share links to join your list in your social media stories.

If you hire a social media manager or a freelance writer like myself, make sure they understand email marketing too. The ROI on email marketing is much higher than that of social media.

3. You’re not offering an incentive for people to join your list

If you’re still using the generic “Join our Newsletter” form for your email list sign up (or worse, have it in small letters in the footer of your website), it’s time to change that — now.

People don’t join lists so easily anymore. Nowadays, getting someone to join your email list takes more than a generic form at the end of your website home page.

First, think about list-building as relationship-building, not just a transaction. When someone joins your email list, they’re saying, “Yes, I want to hear from you because I care about your mission.”

Instead of “Sign up for our Newsletter,” try:

• “Join a community of people helping to protect tiger habitat in Sumatra and get monthly updates from our zoo keepers.”

• “Be a part of the movement protecting habitat for chimpanzees in Tanzania.”

It may seem subtle, but it will change everything.

When you change your newsletter sign up from a promotion to an invitation, you will grow your list much faster.

Second, invite your prospects into your community and offer something in exchange for their email address. People are busy and their inboxes are full. Give them a reason to join your email list by offering something that speaks directly to your audience’s concerns will increase the conversion rate of your newsletter form even more.

Some examples include:

• “Get monthly updates from our zoo keepers and our conservation partners in Africa and Sumatra.”

• “Download our free zoo coloring pages to share your love of wildlife with your kids.”

When people know what to expect in exchange for their email address, and it speaks to their desires (saving your species, supporting your zoo's mission, etc.), they’re more likely to give you their email address, which is actually giving you permission to contact them in their inbox any time.

NOTE: You must use an email service provider (ESP) to send marketing emails. Email marketing laws prohibit you from sending email marketing communications from a personal email address. A subscriber must be able to opt out of your emails at any time after signing up, if they so choose. I have used many different service providers, which one you use will depend on your organization's needs.

4. You’re not making it easy to subscribe

I’ve visited so many zoo and aquarium websites where I have to search for the email sign up form and when I do find it, it’s only posted once in the footer.

Your website should work for you, including growing your email list. There should be an email sign-up form toward the top of your home page and again at the bottom of the page or in the footer.

Your newsletter sign-up form should be included on every page of your zoo's website, including:

• At the end of blog posts

• On donation confirmation pages

• As a pop-up form on the first page your visitor comes to on your website

As well as:

• In your email signature

• Linked in your organization’s social media bios

Your audience cares about your aquarium's mission. Make it easy for them to say “yes” to your organization.

5. You don’t have a nurture sequence

The last piece of the email marketing puzzle is doing something with your contacts once they subscribe.

If someone subscribes and never hears from you, you’re not holding up your end of the bargain.

You told them they’d hear from you.

They gave you access to their inbox so they could hear from you.

They don’t hear from you.

This is one of the biggest mistakes of all. For zoos and aquariums, and any nonprofit or business for that matter, success is all about building relationships with people so they want to support your organization.

If you lose your audience’s trust, you’ll never get a donation from them.

Build a relationship that lasts with a nurture sequence. Create a pre-written series of 3-5 emails that are automatically sent out over the course of a few days after someone subscribes to your email list.

The first email will either deliver the freebie they opted in to (e.g. the coloring pages), or welcome them, thank them for caring about your mission, and direct them to do something related to the opt-in form they joined from, like reading an update from the zoo keepers.

This is called a call to action, or CTA. You may ask them to click a link to a blog post, follow you on social media, or click reply and tell you more about themselves.

The next 3-4 emails will build on this. They must have value and speak to the concerns or desires of your audience.

Remember, it’s not a transaction, you’re building a connection.

Your zoo doesn’t need a big marketing budget to grow an engaged email list. You just need story, strategy, consistency, and sincerity.

Because in conservation, every name on your list represents someone who wants to be a part of your story and stand with you in protecting the wild.

Let Me Help

If you’re ready to transform your email list from quiet numbers to active advocates for your zoo or aquarium, I can help. Schedule a call or send me an email.

Let’s tell your wild story and grow your zoo's impact!