Newsletter Picture Captions that Help, not Hurt

People read picture captions.

So make sure your picture captions do a great job delivering your newsletter’s main message.

Thankful there’s an easy way to do this…

One Simple Rule

Here’s how we think about every newsletter picture caption.

The caption should not be about what’s happening in the photo.

The caption should be about the donor’s role in what’s happening in the photo.

Which means every single picture caption should mention the donor.

Example Time

Here are a bunch of examples from real, money-raising, donor-retaining newsletters…

Thanks to you, Linh and her baby are both getting the food, basic necessities and long-term support they need!

Because of your generosity, doctors were able to repair Jun Jun’s cleft lip.  Jun Jun will join his adoptive family soon!

Your generosity helped Maria re-discover the courage and strength she had lost while she was homeless.

Devi was able to begin her freshman year (making her dreams come true!) with everything she needed for her dorm room at Georgia Tech thanks to you.

Your gift helped women in Uganda receive the physical and emotional healing they desperately needed.

This year’s graduating class celebrates – thanks in part to your generous giving!

Your generosity has trained more than 500 police officers and first responders to stop and prevent child abuse.

Answer the Question Your Donor is Asking

One of the questions running through a donor’s mind as she looks at your newsletter is this: “did my gift make a difference?”

Photo captions that follow this model show and tell her, again and again, how her gift made a difference.

They answer her main question.

And remember: when your donor knows that her gift made a difference, she trusts your organization more.

When she trusts your organization more, she’s more likely to respond to the next appeal you send her.

So, because newsletter photo captions are one of the most widely read parts of your newsletter, they are wildly important for you to use correctly to let your donor know that she and her gift made a difference.

Follow the simple rule above and you’ll be on your way to raising more money and retaining more of your donors!

This post was originally published on March 12, 2020. Get a free downloadable “e-book” of this whole series here.