The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Fundraising Emails
WHY LOOKS MATTER WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR FUNDRAISING APPEALS
Why Appearance Matters It sounds shallow, but looks are important when it comes to an appeal—any appeal. That includes email appeals. No one wants to pull up an email and see a screen full of tiny print. And paragraphs that are 15 lines long are harder to read. In...
HOW TO USE HOLIDAYS AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS TO SUPER-CHARGE FUNDRAISING
This week I’d actually planned to write about an entirely different topic. But when my inbox got flooded with Mother’s Day Appeals, I knew I had to talk about them. HOLIDAYS AND OTHER SPECIAL OCCASIONS MAKE AWESOME FUNDRAISING OPPORTUNITIES Everyone in the fundraising...
WHAT HAPPENED TO THANKING YOUR DONORS
WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS One thing I’ve noticed while studying email fundraising copy, is that there isn’t nearly enough thanking going on. In direct response fundraising, the basic formula for fundraising is to Ask for a donation, to Thank the donor for giving, and...
ARE YOUR EMAIL APPEALS TOO HARD TO READ
MOST NONPROFITS DON’T EVEN KNOW THEY NEED HELP Why is it that when I ask most nonprofits if they need any help with their online fundraising copy, they say no. They are in good shape. Is it because they can’t afford the costs to hire a writer? Then they...
ARE YOUR SUBJECT LINES EYE-CATCHING
WHY DO SUBJECT LINES MATTER SO MUCH? I don’t know about you, but when I open my inbox in the morning about 100 emails immediately start downloading—while I’m watching. And as they do, I glance at who they’re from and at the subject lines. Some jump out at me...
IMPROVING YOUR EMAIL FUNDRAISING COPY
This post explains the purpose of the blog and what readers can expect to get out of my posts each week.