Daily we hear about the glut of email we’re all receiving. (Not to mention the torrent produced by social media.) Email is still the most effective online communication for fundraisers. But, amid all the clutter, how will you keep your donors and prospects opening your missives?
Email subject lines should be short. Without a quick attention-getter, your message will get no more than two seconds as the reader’s eye scans downthe list of the morning's emails.
Email subject lines need to put the punch in the first word (it’s capitalized!) Not: “Wondering how to help in the crisis in Haiti?”—but: “Haiti: Help Now!” The reader knows your topic at the first glance.
Email subject lines need to identify the immediate benefit. In “Haiti: Help Now!” there’s an implied urgency which may well match up with your reader’s pangs of guilt about not acting yet. You want the readers to open your message right now, not later in the day when other matters are swirling in their minds.
Email subject lines should provide a specific value proposition. Implied in “Haiti: Help Now!” is the message that your gift will get there quickly; the donating will be easy—directly from the email--; there’s no sluggish bureaucracy which will tie up your money for six months while some board struggles to determine which phase of the crisis to support. The donor reaps the tangible benefit of acting to help, acting now, with little hassle and no further delay. “Haiti: You Can Help Now!” might improve this, but you have to decide whether the shorter title is more effective.
Take a look at your own inbox right now. Which subject lines are “grabbers,” and which are “ho-hum”? Need I say more?
Follow The Conversation
0 comments have been made so far. Wouldn't you like to join the conversation?