Posted On: 2022-07-15 17:08:50
Emails are strong yet it is a cost-effective way to inform your audience about your fundraising. Even if you already know this, it might be difficult to find the perfect words when asking people to give money to your organisation/ cause.
People overlook the normal. We're hardwired to recognise abnormalities and absorb the familiar rapidly. It's why we notice something "wrong" about our desks before determining which piece is missing or out of place. It's also why your fundraising emails lose their effectiveness after a while.
When your donors hear the same requests based on the same story for months on end, they begin to tune it out. Making a decision. Not because funders no longer care about your objective; rather, they are unmotivated because they have heard it all before.
You have to keep your donors engaged and committed to your cause, you need a variety of generosity requests plus a plan for when you’ll use each one.
Let us learn the basics behind writing a fundraising email and how you can get started with the same.
You may increase donor retention and donations by segmenting your contributors and customizing your email marketing to the various categories.
Segmenting your donor base can be done in various ways, the most frequent of which are age, contribution size, last donation date, and frequency.
Donor segmentation is primarily concerned with providing relevant material to smaller groups of donors. It keeps your donors from getting the annoying sense that your content and messages are irrelevant to them.
With the help of segmentation, you can build trust and enable your organisation to use data to strategically grow your donations.
In addition, after sending out your email newsletters or campaigns, review your soft and hard bounces. You should re-evaluate your email list if you're getting a lot of bounces or if your open and click rates are poor.
Create a compelling subject line
A wonderful fundraising email is useless if it is not opened. This is why it's critical to create a subject line that will help your emails stand out in inboxes.
Here are a few tips on writing a subject line:
By keeping your subject lines short and compelling, ideally 4-15 characters. Using terms like "urgent" and "essential" to create a sense of urgency.
Maintain fundamental accuracy. While subject lines can be quite creative, they should always be relevant to the email's content. Captivate your readers or pose a question – this can help increase your open rate.
Try using the contact's first name in the subject line to make it more personal. By including the name of the sender.
Tell a story
Define the problem.
With a story, show the reader the question or concern that your organisation is striving to solve. Give specifics about the folks you're attempting to assist so that it's evident how a gift would benefit them.
Explain your mission and outline your goal.
Explain your objective and how it relates to your overall mission. Your readers should understand how and who will benefit from their contributions. Make sure you properly explain the significance of the donor's donation and how it will help.
Specify how your donor can make a significant difference.
Donors would like to know exactly how their money will make a difference in the world when they contribute. You've already outlined a problem for them; now describe how their donation will fix the problem in concrete ways.
Call the reader to action.
Explain the severity of the problem so that your readers will be encouraged to act immediately. Mention what your previous donors' contributions have previously done to help solve the problem, as well as the progress your current fundraising is making.
To relieve the complexity of your donor's email, your donation requests don't have to be long, complicated communications. They merely have to be distinct enough to appear novel. Above all, they should be as personalised as possible. Whatever you ask of them, your donor is more willing to respond if they feel needed and not simply another name on your list.
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Author: Lubdha Dhanopia
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