Newsletter Archives
PORTFOLIO
- B2B marketing
- Conference and seminar marketing
- Financial services
- Fundraising and environmental education
- Healthcare
- Information technology
- Toy and children's marketing
TESTIMONIAL
"Your 'magic emails' rescued our event. We went from 12 registrants to over 165 in just eight weeks — and it's all due to your powerful emails."
View Karen's most recent ClickZ columns on B2B Email Marketing.
Current & Archived Newsletters
- Volume 3, Issue 2 - June, 2007
- Back to the Archive
Fundraising Emails
Follow-Up Emails That Keep Fundraising Momentum High
You've just sent out a successful email fundraising appeal. Now you want to keep the momentum going by sending out a follow-up email.
But, unfortunately, metrics show most follow-ups only generate half the response rate of the original appeal.
Luckily, being new to the fundraising field, I learned about this benchmarking statistic -- after I had written a few email follow-ups that more than beat the typical "half-the-original-response rate" figure.
What made the difference? I think the main reason is that I didn't approach the 2nd email as a follow-up. Instead, I treated it like a brand-new writing assignment -- and focused on generating the most donations possible.
Let's take a look at the campaign itself for more clues. This was the first fundraising appeal, which did very well.
 |
|
|
Dig Deep for Wolves Email |
||
 |
Subject Line: Dig Deep for Wolves: Protect Pups & Packs from Extermination
I followed it up with this appeal.
|
|
|
Wolf Mayday Email |
||
 |
Subject line: Wolf Mayday: 11th Hour Action Needed. Don't Delay
This follow-up appeal actually brought in more donations than the already successful first email. While the actual results are confidential, both emails generated unusually high donations.
Now, let's look at why this follow-up email "bucked the trend." Of course, we'll never really know because creative is subjective, but here are some of the ways I tried to power-pack the appeal.
- An urgent subject line: Following a successful approach I had used for the Polar Bear SOS campaign, I looked up the synonym of "SOS" in the thesaurus. "Mayday" jumped out at me — particularly because the deadline for the public to speak out on the wolf's behalf was May 9. Because we were so close to that date, adding in "11th Hour Action Needed" only increased the urgency.
- Put the "subject" upfront in the subject line. Because online activists get many emails on various environmental issues, I like to put the name of the animal involved as the first word — so that I can get the attention of those people most attuned to that cause.
- Appeal to the reader's sense of justice. The idea that you could give wolves a fighting chance for $10, $20 or $30 gives the reader an immediately actionable way to solve an undeniable problem. Putting the ask right up front is not something usually done. But because the urgency of the problem had already been established in the subject line — and could be read about further on in this email — it seemed to be an appropriate approach.
- Let the reader wear the "white hat" as the good guy. In this email, you immediately see who is on the other side of the issue... and that they are a formidable threat. It becomes clear that the reader has to take a stand to protect the defenseless animals.
I think the main recommendation I'd make is to not think about the second appeal as a follow-up at all. After all, even if you got a nice 25% open rate on the first appeal, it means that three-quarters of your list didn't see your original copy. And even those that did view your first round of copy are very unlikely to remember it.
Your second appeal gives you an opportunity to try a fresh approach — and press a different hot button to see what resonates. You might find that there's still some money left on the fundraising table that you weren't able to capture the first time.
Looking for help with your fundraising emails and direct mail appeals? Contact Karen for a copy critique and consultation.