Email fundraising
Email fundraising appeals need to demand attention, exude urgency, call for action and inspire confidence.
Email appeals
Email fundraising appeals should never just be replicas of mail appeals. They need to be structured differently, written in a different style and will usually (but not always) be shorter than a similar mail piece.
People read differently on the web, skimming the left hand side of the page, their eye drawn to highlights, pictures and well-designed ‘donate’ buttons. They need to get the message quickly, but very powerfully, or they’ll hit the delete button.
Donor communication - building relationships
Email is tremendously useful as a donor communication tool, as the low cost to transmit makes it virtually free (apart from creative). But given how easy it is to discard an email, you have to work doubly hard to first get it opened, and then make it worth while for the donor to start, and then continue, to read it.
Autoresponders
Autoresponders are a shamefully neglected area of email - the messages sent out automatically from your CRM system or CMS. They’re frequently a huge missed opportunity to build a relationship with your donor at a low cost before asking them for a further gift or engaging them more deeply with the organisation.
Don’t waste this chance with a dull formulaic approach. Tell a story. Give it a point. Entice them to look at something on your website. Draw out the benefits. Make them feel wonderful. Tell them something they don’t know. Make your PS a shot to the heart. Bring the problem you’re solving alive for them - then make your organisation the saviour (if only they’ll click here). Include a call to action - not necessarily to give, but perhaps to visit a page of your site, see a video, send a message, tell a friend - anything that will engage them more deeply with your cause.