Case Study #1: The Importance of Urgency

It’s easy to get so caught up in doing the work of getting your direct mail out the door, that you forget to sit down – with your entire team, creative people, numbers people, even program people – and examine the results of your efforts.

 

As a creative consultant, I’ll take writing over numbers-crunching any day of the week. But I don’t let myself off the hook because I know that taking a close look at those numbers can give me critical feedback about the direct mail I write.

Welcome to Case Study #1: The Importance of Urgency

One of my smaller clients is a regional educational institution. They mail 5 appeals a year to an average audience of 17,000. Response is fair, with appeals netting an average of $7,000.

Some of the mailings, of course, are blockbusters, netting twice that amount, while others fall far short of the average. And generally, the whole team can anticipate how any given appeal will do by looking at how a theme historically performs, how the time of year affects giving, and a host of other smaller factors.

(This is where having a good numbers person on your team can be such an advantage. I can only ballpark, but a numbers guru can spin magical calculations that can provide you with invaluable information!)

A few weeks ago, we sat down and looked at the previous year’s appeal results. We were surprised to discover that while overall, the appeals had performed better than in previous years, one mailing in particular had performed 84% less than average.

I was shocked. The theme was a touching one, the letter was packed with vivid imagery, and the package included the donor directly (i.e./it had plenty of “you” and “your” statements). But upon re-reading the copy, and comparing it to the other packages we’d mailed last year, I realized there was one critical element missing: the urgency.

We were asking for an ongoing program, one that was scheduled six months out. Yes, it was a fantastic and moving initiative. And yes, it desperately needed funding. But there wasn’t an urgency to the need.

I took that lesson and applied it to the next appeal – which ended up being the best appeal of the year.

Actually, I guess there are two lessons here: the one about urgency, of course. And another about failure. Look closely at those mailings that fail. They could tell you something crucial about your audience and lead you, ultimately, to greater success.

How often do you look at numbers? What have you discovered? I'd love to hear below!

Making Your Mail Work for You -- The Letter

I’ve already written quite a bit on the blog about how to write various direct mail letters, including Acquisition/Prospecting, Renewal, Appeal and Acknowledgement letters. But today, I want to take a moment to remind you to always consider the ultimate purposes of each letter you send out.

What’s that? There’s more than one purpose?

Depending on the type of letter, you may want to:

• Ask for money. Not all letters that you send to your donors will – or should – have an overt ask for money, but many will. So make sure you call attention to that ask. Highlight it by indenting the paragraph, underlining the ask, or bolding the type.
• Thank your donor! Every letter should include a show of gratitude – for their loyalty, their generosity, and their steadfast support.
• Educate and inform your donor about your issues, your organization or the people that you help. Your donors want to know where their money is going, so put that in your letters. Tell them what you’re accomplishing with their help, let them know about new issues that have arisen since you wrote them last, tell them how they can do more.
• Reaffirm your story. Each time you write to your donor, you want to tell them your story. Remind them why they gave to you in the first place. (And if you don’t have a story yet, get one!)
• Introduce key players. Are you getting a new executive director? Has a prominent celebrity thrown his or her weight behind your cause? Mention that in your letter.
• Hail your victories and cite the battles still to come. Letting your donors know about the victories you’ve won is another way to let them see what they help you accomplish. And telling them about the fights ahead reminds them why it’s so important to keep giving.

You may be wondering just how many people read every magic word of prose you put in these letters. Well, probably not many. Certainly not everyone. So focus on the things you know they’ll look at.

The Johnson Box and the PS nearly always get read, so make sure those two parts of your letter really shine. No Johnson Box? That first paragraph better be a grabber. If you can afford it, personalize your letter. Everyone likes to see their name, and if you get them to read the salutation, they just might keep on reading.

If there are critical points within the body copy of your letter that you want your donors to read, make sure to catch their eyes. Print a paragraph in color, if you can. Try a handwritten note, gripping headlines, bolding, underlines or italics…anything to make those important parts stand out. But do make sure they are important. You’ll lose credibility with your donors if you call their attention to boring copy!

Most importantly, your letter is there to bond your donor to your organization…and to point them to the next component, the Reply Form.

Five Ways to Use Your Celebrity Supporters

Yesterday, the always interesting Michael Chatman raised this question on Twitter: Does celebrity participation in a non-profit charity influence you to donate money? Or, is their participation overrated?



I answered Michael's question briefly on Twitter, saying that I think their participation is mostly overrated, but can be very useful in targeted efforts, like in a high-dollar giving club.


But I wanted to take some time to expand my thoughts. Because a lot of organizations I've worked with have celebrity supporters and allies, and how best to leverage their support has come up in nearly every strategy meeting I've ever attended. 


First, a "celebrity" isn't just a famous actor or musician. It can be anyone related to your specific community who has name recognition and credibility. For a health-related nonprofit, that might be a super-star physician, for a science advocacy group, a former astronaut or Nobel Prize-winner. For fundraising purposes, a "celebrity" is anyone your supporters will recognize and relate to.


Five Ways to Use Your Celebrity Supporters

1. Ask them to be the Chair (or Honorary Chair) of a specific Membership group, probably a high-dollar giving group. This can involve anything from simply signing fundraising materials directed at the group, to taking a more active role, depending on their interests, time and level of commitment.
2. Ask them to sign a Prospecting Letter or a Lift Letter in your Acquisition package. NRDC and Friends of the Earth both use celebrity signers -- actors known for their environmental passions -- in their acquisition packages to great success. 
3. Ask them to make a video expressing why they support your organization and asking others to do the same. You can post this on the Web or send it in your e-mail newsletter as an extra endorsement for what you do.
4. Ask them to host (even in an honorary capacity) a major special event. A good name will draw more people to your event, and their participation can lend a "stamp of approval" that inspires others to give.
5. Present them with an award at a major special event. An alternative to asking them to host, this technique can also up attendance at your event. And it could be a first step to a more fruitful relationship with that celebrity, ensuring they help you more in the future.

There are, of course, some sticky issues with using celebrity supporters to assist in your fundraising. If your celebrity becomes embroiled in a scandal, for example, your association with them could hurt your organization more than help. And obviously, you should always treat these supporters with respect and gratitude. Don't push them to do more than they're comfortable doing, and don't take them for granted.

But if you have a loyal celebrity supporter or two who is willing to use their acclaim to call attention to your cause, and you target that attention in one of the ways listed above, you can give your fundraising a boost.

How does your organization harness the wattage of its celebrity supporters? Tell me below!

Using Visuals in Your Mail

In honor of today's post, I'm going to try my hand at adding visuals to my blog. The results will probably be rough, as I'm still trying to figure out how best to use all this exciting new technology.

Which shows my age, I suppose. Here's another age-related confession: When I started out writing fundraising copy, the Internet was a fairly new phenomenon. My first copyediting job provided me with maybe (oh, fuzzy memory!) my second e-mail address.

When we put together direct mail packages, the proofs came to us via FedEx on stinky bluelines. The designs were by necessity simple, two-color and stuck as closely as possible to the old type-written letter model. We did occasionally try to add photos and other visual elements, only to have those mailings bomb.

My, how things have changed. More and more organizations are exploring the use of photos, sophisticated design and interesting package formats. It’s exciting and frees up a lot of creative restraints that have been in place for decades.

But are all those packages working?

There are a few simple rules you should follow if you want to use visuals effectively in your direct mail:

1. Choose your photos with care. Got a photo of your Executive Director shaking hands with the Pope? Save it for the Web. If you want to use photos in direct mail, they need to be evocative, emotional and representative of your mission.
2. Be mindful of what component you’re putting them on. Each component in your direct mail package serves its own purpose. Your outer envelope needs to get opened, so you want to use a picture that intrigues, that makes your donor ask, “What does this mean?” On your reply, though, you want to use a picture that pushes your ask.
3. Be mindful of what you’re mailing. A great photo for a special appeal might not be the best choice for an acknowledgement.
4. Don’t go crazy with your package design. Stick to more economical papers and traditional package formats. If it looks too slick, your donors are going to start wondering just where their money is going.

Above all, make sure you’re testing your image-heavy packages. Because, after all, what good is a pretty package if it’s not performing up to snuff?

And for a comparison of the different kinds of direct mail packages and why they look they way they do, check out this article from direct marketing firm Adams Hussey & Associates.

More questions or comments? Ask away in the comments section!

Renewal Series: Compelling Renewals

Well...so much for Renewal Week. Instead, we'll just call this the "Renewal Series" and pretend that 3-week, house guest/back-to-school/tsunami of work-induced blogging break didn't happen. OK? Excellent!

So I left off with a short post about what goes into a Renewal letter and what stays out. Now, let's talk about how you can make your Renewal letters compelling.

Most organizations send a series of letters (generally 6-8 passes) over the course of several months that gradually amp up the urgency and aggressiveness of the ask. So how do you make the same ask 6-8 times without sounding dull, repetitive or (horrors!) rude?

Keep it Personal

This is true of ALL your Direct Mail communication -- heck, all of your communication with your donors, period -- but don't forget that your Renewal letter is a personal letter from ONE person in your organization to ONE donor. Yes, most of your donors will get the same letter, but when you're writing it, don't think of your donors as a mass group of anonymous sacks of donation money. You're writing to Velma, the one person who stands in for your entire audience of donors.

In these days of e-mail and Facebook, the art of letter-writing is waning, but try to think about how you would ask an old friend to support your cause. Would you give them your official mission statement and a bulleted list of accomplishments and leave it at that? Or would you ask them questions, remind them of shared experiences and explain how important it is to you, personally, that they support this cause? (Hint: it's the latter!)

One simple trick for making a letter personal is to write the first draft starting every paragraph with I, You, or We statements:

• "I know you are someone who cares about the future of our planet."
• "You are no doubt aware of the growing gap between the rich and poor in this country. But did you know..."
• "We never back down from a fight we believe in!"

Of course, on editing, you'll likely change it up a bit, but it's a good exercise when you know you want your letter to be personal and aren't sure how to make that happen. And it will help remind you to think more about what your donor gets out of supporting your organization, not what you get from their support.

(And just so we're clear here: I'm not talking about tangible benefits or gifts...I'm talking about the sense of partnership and inclusion in solving the ills of the world, which is the driving force behind most philanthropy.)

Above all, keeping your Renewal letter personal means that each paragraph you write is designed to engage your reader in your organization's mission, accomplishments and needs for the future. Your donors play a huge role in your success -- so don't be afraid to remind them. (And thank them.)

Remind Them Why They Gave in the First Place

When I'm writing Renewals for an organization that actively prospects for new supporters (and, unfortunately, many don't in today's shaky economic climate), the first thing I often do is re-read the Acquisition letter.

Why? If you have a robust Direct Mail program, your Acquisition/Prospecting letter is very often the thing that compelled your supporters to donate to your organization in the first place. And as such, it's often got your most vivid and persuasive language. Using it in your Renewal

• Ensures that you're bringing your A-game to your most important mailing
• Subtly reminds your donors of the very thing that excited them about becoming your donors.

Again, while it may be tempting to approach Renewals thinking about what your donor owes you (an annual gift), you'll write a better letter when you remember what it is your donor gets when they support your organization.

Later this week...I'll talk more about your series as a whole, including how to ramp up tension and urgency as you go along without alienating those deadbeats -- oops! I mean, those very busy donors -- who ignore your first few letters. (And as always, post questions below!)

Ask Richelle -- Letter Signers

Last week, Catherine asked a question that I've heard from many of my clients over the years:

"How important is it that the letter (or email) come from the President of the organization? Should different people be used as signers depending on the audience? For example-we mail to architects and also to building owners (I work for a green building non-profit). Would I use the same signer for each letter?"

Sometimes, who signs a fundraising letter (or e-mail) can be one of the most contentious points in planning a direct mail campaign. Which is funny because my answer is very, very simple.

The signer -- and there should only be one! -- should always be the person with the most name recognition on the particular issue you're addressing in the mailing.

So why is this very simple thing so complicated to put into practice?

The reasons are endless. A nonprofit might have two figureheads (a President and an Executive Director, say) who both feel they should be the ones signing letters to donors. Or it could have one leader who is very well-known for one specific issue -- even though the organization is working on several issues -- who insists on signing everything. A nonprofit might have oodles of celebrity support, but be afraid to ask for celebrity signers. And on and on.

Which is why Catherine's question is such a good one. Organizations should consider each letter they send out as a new opportunity to bond with their donors. Which means they should think carefully about what issue will do that and who the best person in the organization is to address that issue.

In an organization with a particularly strong or charismatic leader, it might be that leader every time. In Catherine's case, in an organization that has two distinct audiences, there may be one leader who is perfect for addressing the architects, and one for the building owners. Or, if she wants to engage her membership, she could ask one prominent industry leader who is also a donor to sign a letter to his or her peers.

One environmental group I work for has a celebrity -- in this case, an actor well-known for his environmental advocacy -- sign a letter for them a few times a year, while the executive director signs everything else.

Above all, your letter should always have only one signer. Remember, fundraising letters are personal letters from your organization to your donor. They should speak directly to that donor, person-to-person. And they can't do that if they're signed by two people.

More questions? Ask 'em below!

Ask Richelle

Last week, a reader posted a couple of questions in the comment section of one of my posts on Acquisition, and I wanted to pull it out and answer it in the blog.

Amy asked: Any advice on we can transfer these (or other!) strategies translate to e-mail?

This is probably the number one question I get asked these days. Everyone wants to know how they can make more money from their e-mail and web efforts. And why not? It’s cheaper and faster than traditional mail, and it’s a better way to reach the younger donors that will become the future of your organization.

The good news is that a lot of what you do in direct mail can be translated to e-mail and online. You still want to convey your passion, highlight the emotions and urgency of the problem you’re trying to solve, and ask, ask ask.

But the way you do these things in e-mail and online is a bit different.

• You’ve got to get to the point quickly – no build-up, no big explanation. Just hit them with the problem, the urgency and the solution (give!).
• Include several links to your donation page.
• Make sure it’s absolutely clear what their donation will do.
• Include a photo or two, but make sure they are directly related to your content, or they’ll only serve to distract.

Check out this e-mail appeal from EDF as posted on The Agitator for a few more ideas. (Although I agree with the many people who commented that the EDF copywriting was not emotional enough!)

Also – and here’s the bad news – don’t forget that e-mail and online appeals haven’t yet eclipsed direct mail for most organizations. It’s far too easy to delete an e-mail, or navigate off a web page. So don’t think that you can replace your mail with online efforts quite yet.

But they can supplement what you’re doing in the mail, as long as you do it right.

Acquisition Week -- Urgency and Passion…and an Involvement Device Doesn’t Hurt

Thanks for coming back for the final installment in the Acquisition Series. So far, I've covered how to approach potential donors, how to craft your package, choosing your lead, and establishing your credibility.

Today, I want to talk about a few of the other techniques you can use to get people to give to your cause for the first time. As with special appeals to your donors, urgency and passion are key. It’s hard enough to get people to support a new cause. Throw in the multitude of distractions between your potential donor and his wallet, and you’ve got to provide strong motivation to get him to sit down right this second and make that initial gift.

Besides killer prose, there are a couple of ways you can provide that extra bit of motivation. Lots of organizations love freebies. Magnets, address labels, stickers you can use to guilt a donor into giving. Or you can entice them with promises of a free gift – a DVD produced by your organization, for example – after they join. They’re both great ways to raise your response.

One caveat: the gift you’re offering should relate to your mission. I hate it when environmental organizations offer calendars or notecards – even with beautiful pictures of nature on them – because of the wasted paper. Make it matter to your mission.

For activist organization, almost nothing beats a petition or a survey. People who are passionate about your cause – and if you’ve picked your lists right, they should be – love to make their voices heard. So give them that chance. Sure, you might get back a bunch of signed petitions or completed surveys with no money…but guess who your best prospects are next time around?

And maybe the single most important way to craft a winning Acquisition Package: TESTING.

Don't toss all of these techniques into one package and hope they work. Create different versions and mail them against each other. See what brings you the best results. Test, test, and test again.

I hope you'v found the Acquisition series helpful. Please post any questions in the comments, and I'll be sure to answer them!

Acquisition Week -- The facts to back up your claims

Yesterday, I wrote about what it takes to write a blockbuster lead for your Acquisition letter. But that’s just the first step in creating a winning package. You’ve got your potential donor on the hook…now you have to reel him in.

Unlike your loyal donors, a potential donor isn’t going to take your word for it that you have the solution. He’s not going to let you get away with just getting him riled up. He wants facts.

Consider an acquisition letter like a job interview. You need to prove that you have the experience, the know-how and the demonstrated track record to get the job done.

• Tell him about your past victories, including who you were up against and how you managed to win the day.
• Got partners? Offices abroad or friends in high places? List them. Knowing you have allies gives a potential donor the reassurance that you really can do what you say you’re going to do.
• If you have testimonials, use them. Quotes from people you’ve helped count for more than your own claims.

A potential donor also wants to see that you have a thorough and well-rounded understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve. Can you quantify your work? Do you have hard statistics to back up your claims? If you’re an organization worth your salt, you have this information at your fingertips – make sure you share it with potential donors.

The best Prospecting letter will excite and inform.

Tomorrow, I’ll give you a few other essential tools…so don’t forget to check back!

Acquisition Week -- A Blockbuster Lead

When you’re mailing a Prospecting (or Acquisition) letter, you’re going after people who aren’t your donors, who may or may not know the first thing about your organization, the work you do, your track record and your value.

Your Prospecting Package needs to tell them all of those things and convince them you are a safe bet for their donation dollars. Which means your Prospecting letter needs to grab the reader by the shirtfront right away. Drop them into the middle of the action – explain the problem in the most immediate way you can…and then tell them you have the solution.

You can do this with a big, bold headline that sums up the purpose of your current campaign, like a recent package I received from NRDC that had this screamer across the top of the letter: POLAR BEAR SOS!

I like a Johnson Box (that copy above “Dear Friend,”) that paints a picture of the problem the organization is trying to address and what they’re doing to solve it – all in vivid, let’s-storm-the-castle-NOW language.

Personal, emotional moving stories about people or animals who’ve been helped by your organization are great motivational leads – nothing beats a testimonial for moving a potential donor to take that leap into actual donor.

Activist organizations can give people a chance to get involved. Ask your potential donor to share his or her opinions on your issue, or ask them for help petitioning political leaders. Let them know – right up front – that the action they take today will make a difference.

As you’re planning your mailing, sit down and think about which of these techniques might work best for your organization…then try to write it up in a way that grabs the donor and doesn’t let go.

Tomorrow: You’ve got your blockbuster lead…what’s next?

The Acquisition Series Continues!

I had too much to say about Acquisition to confine myself to just one week, so here we go on Week #2 of my Acquisition Series. Last week, I talked about how Prospecting is different from your other mailings and how to choose between an issue-based theme and a more institutional-based package.

This week, I want to talk about the things that go into your Prospecting Letter, the tricks you can use to make people jump out of their chairs and reach for their wallets.

• A Blockbuster Lead (Or, Grab a Potential Donor's Attention and Not Let Go)
• Making Sure to Back Up Your Claims with Facts
• Selling Your Organization (Remember Your Passion and Urgency)
• Other Tricks of the Trade

I'll address a new topic each day, so keep checking back.

Acquisition Series - Issue vs. Institutional

There’s no question that the BP Oil Spill is one of the biggest environmental disasters in history, and it seems like every day, the news gets worse. And bad news for the world can be great news for nonprofit organizations.

When people see a disaster unfolding, they want to help. The devastating earthquake that hit Haiti this past year spawned hundreds of millions of dollars of charitable giving from all over the world.

So, should you go with a package that talks about your organization as a whole (the Institutional approach), or send out a package specifically addressing the bad news du jour?

The short answer is: It Depends.

First, you need to know what your goal is with your acquisition mailing. Are you looking to get a lot of new supporters fast? Or do you want to go for quality long-term supporters?

A hot issue might bring in a lot of new donors, but you run the risk that it's a one-time gift. You'll need to plan to mail a lot so you can continually replenish those people who drop out once the Bad News they came in on has been resolved or fades out of public consciousness.

But if a donor buys into your mission as a whole, she's going to stick around for the long haul, rewarding you with annual income and even special appeal gifts.

After you look at your goals, you should also take a few moments to consider these questions:

• Is your organization taking specific action in relation to the Bad News?
• What is your organization’s role in the post-Bad News landscape?
• Does solving the problem created by the Bad News fit into your organizational mission long-term?
• Is the situation generated by the Bad News a long-term problem that will require your expertise for years to come?

If you can’t shout a big ol’ “YES” to all of those questions, then it’s probably a waste of your precious resources to mail an acquisition letter devoted entirely to the Bad News. Your resources are better spent sending an Institutional package.

Does that mean you can’t address the Bad News? Absolutely not! Especially if an issue is as large-scale as the Oil Spill, you have to talk about it, if only to mention that your hearts are with those suffering.

But when you're trying to acquire new donors, you want to sell them on who you are and what you do. Stay true to your passion, and your identity, and you'll have donors who stay true to you.

The Acquisition Series – These Aren’t Your Donors, Folks

I had intended for this week to be Acquisition Week, chock full of handy tips, dos and don'ts, and answers to common questions all about the art of acquiring new donors in direct mail. But somehow I woke up and it was Wednesday already! (How does this happen?) The upshot: Acquisition Week is going to straddle a couple of weeks...and I might even toss in a couple of extra tidbits along the way.

First things first: Prospecting is hard. And expensive. And scary. You're tossing a huge amount of money out the door, knowing you won't recoup that investment for around 18 months. You may have to scramble to convince your board that it's worth it. And then you have to figure out how to craft your message and develop a winning package. Whew!

So let's break it down.

Why's it so hard?

The toughest thing about creating a strong Prospecting package? You’re mailing to people who aren’t your donors.

The people who support you are already vested in your mission. They got your mail, stumbled across your website, heard about you from a friend or a news report, and said, “Yes! That’s an organization I can get behind!”

When you’re talking to people who already think you're great, you don’t have to work so hard to convince them that you’re worthy of their support. Sure, you want to remind them of all the reasons they chose to give to you in the first place (in their Renewal letters) or convince them to give a little extra to a Special Appeal, but you don’t have to sell them on your organization. You’re free to riff on your work.

But when you’re trying to capture the attention of someone new, you have to convince them – from the get-go – that you’re worthy of their time and their money.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you how you can write a blockbuster lead for an acquisition package. And if you have questions, post them in the comments below.

BONUS: Check out this new resource for Prospect researchers for more information about how to choose your prospects, engage with other professionals and learn new trends.