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"What a great resource! I have received a number of similar mailings over the years, and always ended up unsubscribing — mostly because they were too much text. This was short, sweet — and useful! I can't think of someone better qualified to share this kind of advice!"

Josephine Martell
International Fund for Animal Welfare

Giving Back E-Tips

Mothers & Children First

One day while working on a direct mail package about a wildlife issue, a light bulb went off in my head when I thought, “I wonder if photos of baby animals would help increase response rates?" After all, zoos and aquariums trumpet the births of their newest baby animals every spring — panda cubs, penguin chicks, and hippopotamus calves — knowing that these little cuties are sure to draw an adoring crowd.

Well, we tested it. In repeated tests in both email and direct mail, we found that photographs of cubs, pups, and calves outperformed images of their grown-up relatives. And photographs of baby animals with their mothers also did well. (We haven’t conducted a cub vs. cub/mother test yet — but it’s definitely something to explore!)

In the copy, we started focusing on the plight of the younger members of the species and their mothers — instead of the whole herd, flock, or pod. Again, we saw better response rates.

So, for your next fundraising campaign, consider focusing on the youngest members of the population you are trying to help. Even if your client population is made up of senior citizens, you can talk about their lives as children — or discuss how your service helps their relationships with their grandchildren.

It’s worth a test. Even if you find that this approach doesn’t appeal to your whole donor audience, you might uncover a subset of your audience it does resonate with — opening up a new revenue stream. And as we’ll discuss down the road, the easiest and least expensive way to test is with email appeal.

If you’d like to see samples of high-performing email and direct mail packages featuring this “Mothers & Children First” approach, contact Karen at 718-680-1627 or at kg@karengedney.com.