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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

P.S. Donors Respond to Long Emails

Americans are reading less according to ongoing studies by the National Endowment for the Arts that have documented “startling declines” in reading by every segment of the adult population. Given this trend, it would make sense for fundraisers to write the shortest possible e-appeals, right?

Not in my experience. Here’s a case in point. A client recently asked me to write an update about a new turn of events in a very long-running campaign that we had emailed about repeatedly. Since this was just an informational email — not a fundraising appeal — I was directed to only include an “ask” in the P.S. at the end.

Well, I can’t resist an opportunity to get in front of a donor with the strongest possible story, so I started out with a powerful “news flash” subject line to grab the attention of as many people as possible.

Then, using a fast-paced telegraphic style, I quickly gave the reader the whole “back story” on the campaign — punctuated by a powerful P.S. asking for a donation.

The client originally forecasted that this update email would only bring in a few thousand at best since fundraising wasn’t the main objective. Instead it generated over $88,000 in revenues — even as news of the “great recession” was all over the airwaves and newspaper front pages.

Clearly, donors read all the way down to the bitter end of the email. The postscript didn’t appear in the initial screen — you had to scroll down to see it.

Would I recommend taking this approach all the time — and gambling that a P.S. at the end of the page will always generate a high level of donations? No, I would strongly suggest that you sprinkle donation links throughout your copy and make sure you have a prominent Donate button in your initial screen.

But this example does show the value of investing the time in writing an attention-grabbing subject line and a compelling story — and not underestimating your donors’ interest in the issues they care about most.

If you would like to see samples of successful long-copy appeals, contact Karen at 718-680-1627 or at kg@karengedney.com.