Tag: appeals

Do NOT Start Your E-Appeals with a Thank You

Steven  |  Thank
Thank donors.

We ran a test that you should know about.

We randomly divided a nonprofit’s email file into two groups. We sent both groups the same year-end email with just one difference: the first sentence of one group’s email thanked the donor for their previous support.

The version that began with the Thank You raised significantly less money.

The Lesson: don’t start your appeals or e-appeals by thanking your donor for their previous giving

It seems like the right thing to do – but it raises less money.

So we now have a policy: do not start appeals or e-appeals with a Thank You for the donor’s previous giving.

My Attempt to Explain the Results

Always remember that most donors don’t read the whole thing.

Remember the “heat map”? The eye-tracking studies that prove most donors jump around, don’t read things from top-to-bottom, and certainly don’t read the whole thing?

Here’s my explanation: a number of your donors will read the first line of your emails. And if that line is Thanking them for their previous giving, they appreciate being thanked and then delete your message because they think nothing is being asked of them.

Another thing to remember: at year-end, your donors are moving even faster than normal. They have parties to go to, presents to wrap, etc.

And if a significant amount of your donors stop reading after the first sentence, you are going to raise less money.

So for your December and year-end fundraising emails this year, don’t succumb to the temptation of Thanking your donors right off the bat. It feels like it’s the right thing to do. But you’ll raise less money!

Ask Donors to Do Something Easy

Steven  |  Ask

There’s a fundamental truth that savvy nonprofits use to raise more money.

They craft their fundraising to make it easier for donors to say “yes.” And because they’ve made it easier for the donor, these organizations raise more money.

Here’s how smart nonprofits do it and how you can raise more money with your very next appeal, e-appeal, or event…

They don’t ask donors to “support our mission.” That requires a donor to find or figure out what your mission is. Then the donor has to understand it – which is often difficult because so many organizational missions are filled with insider jargon. Then the donor actually has to want to support the whole thing. That’s a lot of work.

They don’t ask donors to understand the whole organization. That requires a list of your programs and often a description of how you do your work. That’s super helpful for a foundation that requires that information, but harder work for a donor who’s giving your letter only a few seconds of attention.

Instead, they ask the donor to do something small and meaningful, often just to support one part of one program. Look through your programs to find powerful moments – places where one small action creates an outsized impact. Then ask your donor to fund that small action.

They don’t ask donors to do something grand (or even impossible). This happens all the time when organizations ask donors to do things like “Help us end poverty” or “Send your gift to feed 47,000 people this fall!” Those are big, hard things to do. Asking donors to do them doesn’t work as well. *

Instead, they ask donors to achieve small, believable outcomes. They work hard to create compelling and believable fundraising offers – that are absolutely aligned with those grand goals – but are packaged into smaller, bite-sized chunkslike “End poverty for a family by sending a young mother to school for a year for $48” or “Feed one person this entire fall for just $58.”

Most smaller nonprofits raise less money than they could because they ask their donors to do things that are hard to do and hard to understand.

Make it easy for your donor to understand and say “yes” and you’ll raise more money.

Remember the Context

The thing to remember – and to remind your bosses of often – is that when you’re sending letters and emails to your donors, you’re doing direct response fundraising. You only have your donor’s attention for a few seconds.

When you only have a few seconds, you don’t have time for complicated, complex arguments. You have time for small, easy-to-understand Asks.

(This is why good fundraising offers work so well, by the way. They keep it simple.)

When you have time, say at a 1-to-1 coffee with a donor, then you can go deeper into your mission and how all of your programs work together.

Or when you’re talking to a potential grantor, who requires knowing everything about your organization before they’ll make a grant.

But when you’re doing direct response fundraising and you have only a few seconds, keep it simple. It’s a proven way to raise more money.

* In my experience, grand statements like “End poverty in our lifetime” or “Eliminate malaria from Uganda” can be great taglines and vision statements. Used as taglines or to set vision, they can help your fundraising. But they tend to reduce results when they’re used as the specific Ask. For instance, an Ask like “Will you help eliminate malaria from Uganda with a gift today?” will raise less money than “Will you help eliminate malaria from Uganda by providing a bed net for one family today?”

The Only Rule?

Steven  |  Ask
rule

As far as I can tell, there’s only one thing that sets successful fundraisers apart from unsuccessful fundraisers. And that thing is…

The people who are successful don’t care whether they like the fundraising or not.

I’m serious. They just don’t care whether they like it. Or don’t like it.

They just care if it works.

They understand that they are doing direct response fundraising. And that some tactics and messages work better than others. And that the goal of fundraising is to send messages that donors respond to, not the messages the organization prefers to send.

Your Opportunity

If there are voices in your organization saying “I don’t like that” or “I wouldn’t give to that,” you should know that you could be raising more money.

Because basing fundraising decisions on what you like or don’t like stops your organization from discovering what donors like.

And it stops your organization from using best practices discovered by direct response fundraisers who have gone before us.

Examples

Here are some examples of things that people don’t like but are proven to work well:

  • Including a reply card with your receipt letter
  • Writing at a lower grade level
  • Using emotion liberally
  • Being repetitive
  • Sharing real needs with donors

Hot Off the Press

We have a client that’s facing this very issue as I write this.

They are doing their first ever Fiscal Year End campaign. They are a little behind budget for the fiscal year, and their letter asks donors to help erase the shortfall with a special gift.

They were a little nervous about doing it. But I convinced them by sharing results from other organizations that had run similar campaigns.

The campaign is working great. It’s one of their most successful appeals of the year. We’re already above goal and the campaign isn’t over yet.

But a couple of board members and major donors have been upset by the campaign. From my experience, I suspect they were upset because they fear that the “shortfall” messaging puts the organization in a bad light, and it will cause donors to give less or stop giving altogether.

My counsel to this organization is based on all sorts of case studies on this exact subject:

  1. Appeals like this resonate with donors (as evidenced by the incredible response to this appeal).
  2. Appeals like this make some internal stakeholders (including some close-in major donors) nervous. They are nervous for the reasons I mentioned above. However, there is no data-based evidence of their fears coming true. And I’ve done this lots of times. (And – true story – those close-in major donors who were nervous end up making an extra gift to the campaign more often than not.)

In other words, the organization might not like this messaging. And there are occasional issues and personal reactions to discuss. But this messaging works great.

And to bring things full circle, the most successful fundraisers don’t care whether they like the fundraising or not.

They only care whether it works.

Maybe, just maybe…

Steven  |  Ask
Just maybe.

Every time you send a piece of fundraising to your donors, you’ll have more success if you envision your donor going through these steps…

Maybe, just maybe, your donor will open the letter.

And maybe, just maybe, your donor will start to scan your letter.

And maybe, just maybe, your donor will read a little of your letter.

And maybe, just maybe, your letter’s design will make sure your donor reads the most important part of your letter (why the donor is needed, and what you want them to do today).

And maybe, just maybe, your donor will think about taking action and look at your reply device.

And finally, maybe, just maybe, your reply device will reinforce what your donor read in the letter – and your donor will send you a gift.

Every. Step. Matters.

The reason most professionally-produced direct response fundraising (appeals, e-appeals, newsletters, TV shows, etc.) looks and sounds the way it does is because the pros making it are aware of each step and work to maximize the number of people who take each step.

They think like crazy about what should be on the outer envelope. Why? To make as many people as possible open the letter.

They think like crazy about the first words or images a donor’s eye will be drawn to when they look at the letter. Why? To make sure as many people as possible scan the letter.

They think like crazy about what content will be big, bolded, or underlined. Why? To convert as many of the “scanners” into “readers” as possible.

Or You Could…

Contrast the ‘every step matters’ approach with how most nonprofits think about their fundraising.

In my experience, most nonprofits make the following assumptions:

  • They think, more or less, that every piece of fundraising they send out gets opened.
  • They think that most people read the whole thing.
  • They think that most people read from the start to the end


Those three assumptions could not be farther from the truth.

Maybe, Just Maybe…

To make successful direct response Fundraising, you need to embrace the truth that there are a ton of “maybe, just maybe’s” between your sending out a piece of fundraising and getting a gift in return.

Every step matters.

And there’s one more “maybe, just maybe”…

Maybe, just maybe, you and your organization’s approach to fundraising are being changed by this post and our blog. That’s our fervent hope and the reason we write!

What to Take Out of Your Appeal

Steven  |  Ask
Appeal.

My last post talked about how when you’re sending appeals, e-appeals, newsletters, etc. you’re doing direct response fundraising.

As you create your direct response fundraising, here’s one rule that has helped me a lot over the years…

Take out everything that doesn’t help sell the offer

Quick reminder: the “offer” is the promise an appeal makes for what will happen when a donor gives a gift today. (You can learn more about offers here in our free eBook.)

Here’s what this means…

Say your letter is asking donors to fund one particular program. Don’t mention your other programs. You’ve just distracted them from why this particular program should be supported today.

Say your e-appeal is asking donors to give to provide aid to a beneficiary group you help. Don’t talk about how your organization is already helping that beneficiary group. You’ve just told your donor that you’re currently helping those people. This means they don’t really need help today (because you’re already doing it!). And that means your donor doesn’t really need to send in a gift today.

Say your appeal letter is asking donors to give a gift to help people in need. Take out any photos that don’t show people in need. By showing images of happy, healthy people you’ve just contradicted your letter that says they need help.

Say your letter is trying to get donors to give a gift today. Don’t spend part of your letter talking about your monthly giving program. You’ve just distracted them from your purpose of getting a single gift.

Finally, a more complex thing to take out. Say you’re telling a story to illustrate why the donor’s gift is needed today. Only tell the part of the story that relates to the offer. You’ll get what I’m talking about from an example that happens all the time in fundraising for refugees. The organization will share a story about a man who lost his wife in a bombing, had to flee the country, endured tons of hardships, became really sick… and then ask the donor to provide “food and aid with a gift today.” The “food and aid” do not solve the problem that the story sets up.

The organization would be better served by telling the part of the story that the offer can help with. They’d raise more money if they shared something like, “He’s a refugee who has endured tremendous hardship. Now he’s in a refugee camp and he doesn’t have enough food for himself or his children. The children are losing weight and having trouble concentrating. He’s getting thinner by the week. Please send food and aid with a gift today.”

Much of that part of the story is a problem that can be perfectly solved by the offer. When you use stories, only tell the part of the story that relates to the offer.

Stay on Target

Keep your letter (or e-appeal, or event script, etc.) about your offer.

Make sure every single bit of content in your letter is there to make your donor see the need for and power of your offer.

Not your organization, your offer.

Take out anything that doesn’t directly lead your donor to say “yes” to your offer.

You’ll start raising more money in your very next piece of fundraising!

Direct Response Fundraising

Steven  |  Ask
Direct response.

This is for all the smaller nonprofits out there.

When you’re sending letters and emails to your donors, you’re doing something called “direct response” fundraising.

It is fundraising, but it’s a very specific type of fundraising.

It’s not 1-to-1 major donor fundraising.

It’s not grant writing.

And to be effective with your appeals, e-appeals, newsletters, radiothons, etc. – it’s actually more important to understand “direct response” than it is to understand fundraising.

Direct Response

Direct Response is a discipline where the inputs and outputs are rigorously measured. It became a discipline in marketing long before nonprofits started using it to raise money.

The reason I mention this is because I’m convinced that most nonprofits would immediately start getting more effective at fundraising as soon as they realize they’re doing direct response marketing. And that direct response marketing has a bunch of proven rules and best practices.

How to Raise More

Two relatively easy ways to raise more money:

  1. Make sure your organization knows that – in your appeals, e-appeals, and newsletters – you’re doing direct response fundraising. This means that when creating and evaluating your mass donor fundraising, your organization needs to be asking “What will work best in direct response” instead of asking “What do I like?” or “What do I think will work?”

    You know how at too many organizations, Fundraisers are stymied by Bosses who won’t approve good fundraising? I imagine a day where a Fundraiser can say to her boss, “Remember how we talked about how our appeals are direct response fundraising pieces? The changes you want to make to this piece go against the best practices of direct response.” And the boss says, “You’re right. I don’t like it. But if this is what works best, we need to do it.”
  2. Learn more about direct response by reading about it. I’m reading Overdeliver by Brian Kurtz. His stories and advice about direct response have already made me a more effective fundraiser. The book isn’t technically about fundraising. But it’s about direct response marketing – and getting good at direct response marketing will immediately make you a more effective mass donor fundraiser.

Nobody talks about this at smaller nonprofits. But once your organization knows it’s doing direct response fundraising, you have a much better chance at being successful at it!

Simple Teaser Tips

Steven  |  Tips
Teaser.

The teaser on your outer envelope is far more important than most nonprofits realize.

To help you write better teasers – which will help you raise more money – here are three simple tips for you.

Most successful teasers fall into three categories:

  1. Dramatic. These are teasers that use drama to pique the reader’s interest in order to get her to open the envelope. Some examples: “The Arts are shutting down” and “He used to run a company, now he’s on the streets” and “desperate.”
  2. Mysterious. These are teasers that use mystery to make the reader wonder what’s inside, in order to get her to open the envelope. Some examples: “The light came on” and “Enclosed: note from a child.” Note that not having a teaser – using a blank outer envelope – falls into this category.
  3. Multiplier. These are teasers that appeal to the donor’s sense of value and thriftiness in order to get her to open the envelope. Some examples: “Your gift DOUBLES” and “$1 = $5!”

The best teasers often have elements of more than one category. You see this at work in a teaser like “3x” – which has both mystery and a multiplier.

The Big Idea

Notice something in all of those descriptions above: all the teasers exist to get the donor to open the envelope.

That’s it. That’s the purpose of a teaser: to give the donor a compelling reason to open the envelope.

The whole purpose of any ink used on the envelope should be to increase the chances that a donor will open the envelope.

That’s why, for instance, I always counsel organizations to remove their URL and social info from their outer envelope. You just paid money to write, design, print and send a letter to a person – and so you put your website address on the envelope so that the person has a smaller chance of reading the letter?!? It doesn’t make sense.

The envelope exists to 1) carry the letter and 2) to get people to open it.

Watch Out For…

Watch out for teasers that basically say, “You’re going to be asked for money; inside!”

Those usually reduce response unless they are accompanied by one of the three ideas above.

Quick Story

I was reminded of these when reading a book on direct response marketing. It told a brief story.

An organization had a successful direct mail pack as their control. They ran a test where everything about the pack was exactly the same, except the teaser.

The new teaser was: “Deeply and irrevocably personal.”

A little weird, right?

That teaser increased response to the package by 20%!

That shows the power of a good teaser.

So spend a bit more time on yours – you can see immediate increases in your fundraising!

Is Your Spotlight on Your Stars?

Steven  |  Ask
Spotlight.

No one at a Broadway play complains when the spotlight shines only on the stars of the play.

The stars are who the audience came to see.

Similarly, no mass donor ever complains that they only hear about some of your programs. You never hear a mass donor say, “I wish I knew everything that organization did.”

Because some of your programs are interesting to mass donors – and some are not.

The Lesson for Fundraisers

The people who put on plays have learned this lesson: they shine the spotlight on the stars. In the marketing. On the stage. In the interviews afterwards.

Many nonprofits could raise more money if they learned this same lesson – figure out which of your programs donors are most interested in, then talk exclusively about those programs.

Unfortunately, there’s a value at many nonprofits that “we need to talk about all of our programs roughly equally.”

That “value” is based in fairness, which is a good thing.

But it turns out that donors aren’t interested in all your programs getting equal time in the spotlight. Appeals that give equal time to all the programs (or even just list all the things an organization does) tend to raise less money.

Donors are simply more interested in some programs than in others.

As fundraisers, our job is to raise money, more than it is to be “fair” to internal stakeholders. Maybe better put, it’s a higher value to raise more money and help more people, than it is to be fair to internal stakeholders. After all, your organization was founded to do as much good as possible – not to ensure everybody at the organization receives equal airtime.

Focus your fundraising – your spotlight – on the programs that most people are interested in. Because that will raise you the most money.

Please Don’t Make These Two Assumptions

Steven  |  Ask
Don't make assumptions.

There are two assumptions that many fundraisers make about their mass donor fundraising. The assumptions reduce how much money they raise and hurt their organizations.

If you stop making these assumptions – you’ll start raising more money right away.

Bad Assumption #1: I’m going to love our fundraising.

When most people start working for a nonprofit, they assume that they’re going to love the fundraising done by that organization. They assume their fundraising is going to make them feel good.

Is that true for you?

Because here’s the thing: some of it should make you feel good. But not all of it.

For instance, your appeal letters and e-appeals should not make you feel good. They should be about the problem that your organization was started to solve. And nobody feels good about that problem. Nobody likes talking about it.

But talking about it – sharing that problem with donors – is what helps your donors remember that the problem is happening and gives you the opportunity to show them how their gift makes a difference.

Newsletters, on the other hand, should make you feel great! Any sort of Reporting – where you’re sharing with donors the powerful changes their gifts helped make – should make you and your organization feel great.

But not your appeals. The only thing that makes most savvy fundraisers feel great about their appeals is that they like sharing with donors a way that the donor’s gift today can make a real difference.

So check your assumption. If you’re creating or judging your fundraising based on an assumption that you’re supposed to like your fundraising, you probably have some re-thinking to do.

Bad Assumption #2: We’ll get to share good news all the time!

This is the second assumption, in my experience, that most people in nonprofits make.

They assume that their fundraising will be full of good news all the time.

They know they have to ask for money – which can feel icky – but they expect to do so by sharing stories of success. So it won’t feel that bad.

This assumption is mostly played out in appeals, e-appeals, and events. It’s assumed that the nonprofit will share stories of success.

But in our testing – and we’re not the only people who have tested this, by a long shot – when stories of success are shared in appeals, e-appeals, and events – less money is raised.

By assuming that good news will always be shared, and that stories of success will be the only type of story that a nonprofit tells – a LOT less money is raised.

Are You Making These Assumptions?

If you are, realizing that you’re making assumptions is a great place to start.

Then, I’d recommend our eBooks on Storytelling and on Asking.

Because if you can take assumptions out of your fundraising – and instead make your content and storytelling decisions based on performance data – you’ll start raising more money right away!