Stand Out in the (In)Box

How is it already the end of October?!? I feel like fall and back-to-school just started, and here November is creeping up on me!

If it snuck up on you too, you might be trying to hammer out your year-end appeals (mailed or emailed) super fast. Trust me, I’ve been there. I used to run a gala that was always at the beginning of October. I’d finally get that done and then year end was speeding toward me like a runaway train.

The fortunate thing I learned in those days was that even if my content wasn’t perfect or I wasn’t able to tell the story just perfectly, there were some easy tricks that I could use to lift response rates. Don’t get me wrong, amazing content is…well…amazing. But what I found over the years was that sometimes I’d angst so much about telling the perfect story in the emailed appeal that I’d forget to write a subject line! And then I’d be ready to launch the email…and still have no decent subject line!

I *probably* don’t have to tell you this…but the best, most amazing email appeal in the world ain’t gonna raise you a dime if you don’t have a good subject line.

Here are some tricks that I learned over the years to stand out in the mailbox or the inbox. While it won’t make up for a sloppily written appeal, a decent appeal paired with these tricks will get you more attention and lift your response rates.

My Top Three Tips for Direct Mail Appeals:

1. Make your mailed appeal look like human hands touched it.

There are a lot of things to bemoan about being a small nonprofit trying to compete with big nonprofits. But mailed appeals are actually not one of them. While big nonprofits mail thousands of donors, their response rates can be pretty pitiful. That’s because its SO painfully obvious that not a single human hand touched the appeal. They are stuffed with lift notes galore, return address stickers (cuz, okay…), and other stuff to get your attention. But you wanna know where those go in my house…in the recycling, unopened.

By contrast, I’ve worked with small nonprofits where we put together an awesome appeal, then we print mailing addresses on peel-and-stick labels. I get volunteers to lovingly put it together, put on the labels and the stamp. It’s obvious human hands have touched it.

Now, the question I often get is “doesn’t that look unprofessional?” I mean sure, if you put the mailing address on there crooked and the stamp is half hanging off. When it’s put on nicely, it looks just fine. And you’re a small nonprofit mailing a small group of donors, why are you pretending you’ve got millions of dollars. I’d bet your donors like the small scrappy feel of your nonprofit.

True confession. I kept doing this hand-touch approach for years after one organization I worked for could have paid for mail houses to put together our appeal. I liked reading all my donors names, it was a once-a-year ritual for me that meant I knew everyone. My donors also liked that we weren’t, as one donor put it, “getting too big for your britches.”

2. Write something on the outside of your envelope.

If you do the above, or even if you do print straight onto the envelope, writing something like “thank you” on the back of your envelope can also make sure that it doesn’t go straight into the recycling. When I send appeals with notes on the outside, my response rates are much higher than those that I read from case studies from big nonprofits. Why? I think mostly because they didn’t just get chucked in the recycling unopened.

I mean, when you get an envelope with “thanks” written on the back, you open it, right?

3. If it’s a small batch of letters (50-100 donors), handwrite the entire envelope.

In the digital age, a lot of nonprofits don’t believe me when I say direct mail can still totally be worth it. Often, I prove it by working with a very small test batch to see what our response rate will be relative to email. We select 20-50 donors (usually those who give by check), and mail out an appeal. When I do that small a batch, I just handwrite the entire envelope. Looks like a letter from a friend. Again, they get opened, and they get results!

My Top Three Tips for Email Appeals:

1. Write a killer subject line.

As with direct mail, the best, most awesome appeal ever written won’t do you any good if nobody opens it. Most of my clients write the appeal, angst over the appeal, and then slop on any old subject line at the end.

Don’t do that! Think long and hard about your subject line. Whether it’s what inspires the email text or if you write it after writing the appeal, make sure you put time and effort into it.

Make the subject line mysterious. Something that the person reads and goes “oh, what’s this about…” But don’t make it so mysterious that it’s not interesting.

And another thing…DO NOT (and I mean DO NOT) use the words: donate, give, support, or help. I mean, that’s a dead giveaway you’re asking for money. Who would willingly open that.

Here are some examples of subject lines I’ve used that have done well:

• The one thing you can do today to stop climate change.

• Gratitude has left me speechless…

• Go ahead, make my day!

• I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

• I can’t stop crying.

• When you can’t even afford thrift store prices…

2. Switch up who the email is from

Don’t make the basic mistake of sending the email “from” your nonprofit’s name. I mean, that’s just a dead giveaway that it’s not something from someone to your donor. People don’t give to brands or organizations, they give to people.

But let’s say you already know not to do that. I know a lot of nonprofits that send EVERYTHING from their Executive Director. That’s also a mistake. Eventually, your donors learn that something from your ED is just as bland and brand-y as something from “Organization Name.”

I get better open rates on my email appeals by sending them from different people. Even small nonprofits can do this. I worked with a nonprofit that had only two staff members. We sent one appeal from the ED, one appeal from the office assistant, one appeal from the board chair, and one appeal from a donor who was well-known in the community. Our open rates were far superior from the prior year when everything came from the Executive Director alone. And more opens meant we raised more money…

3. Make sure there’s an ask and a photo “above the fold.”

There are a fair number of email clients that display an email that the person didn’t actually intend to open. They are scrolling through email or deleting another email, and your email pops up. Make the most of that moment. Invest time in looking at the top of your email, and making sure that there’s something compelling there to catch the donor’s eye in that split second.

Above the fold is a term that comes from newspapers. The top stories go “above the fold.” When we use it with email, we mean “in the space that pops up in the email client so the person doesn’t have to scroll.”

A lot of organizations put appeals on their usual email template. A donor sees that, goes “oh, another email from ORGANIZATION” and scrolls away. What I like to do is make it look like a personal email, but with a photo embedded near the top that is going to connect with the donor (a client looking into the camera is ideal…and hard to look away from). And then I try to make sure there’s a compelling ask bolded and standing out.

YOUR HOMEWORK

Look at your year end plan with a fine-tooth comb. While you may have the overall campaign planned, you may have missed some details that will make all the difference. What of these strategies can you implement to make sure your hard work doesn’t go to waste in the recycling bin?