Subject Lines, Teasers, and Headlines

You can’t save souls… in an empty church.

Your fundraising can’t inspire anyone to give… if nobody reads it.

These ideas point towards the importance of email subject lines, teasers on direct mail letters, and story headlines on newsletters.  Because those parts of your fundraising play a major role in whether your fundraising gets read… or not.

Always remember:

• You spent money and time to send a donor a letter, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t open it
• You sent an email to your whole list, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t open it
• You wrote an amazing story for your newsletter, but it doesn’t matter if people see the headline and just move along

I know many professionals who spend more time on subject lines, teasers and headlines than they spend on the letter, email, or story itself.  It’s that important.  I reviewed a direct mail letter today – of the 30 minutes I spent with it, about 15 minutes were spent on the headline for the reply card.

If you’re interested in getting better, here are some simple teaser tips, and here’s a podcast I did about teasers with Jeff Brooks.  And here’s some help with newsletter headlines.

But the first and biggest thing you can do is ask yourself: is your organization spending the appropriate amount of time on your subject lines, teasers, and headlines?  If not, what reminder can you set for yourself to spend a few more minutes next time?