Source: Nonprofit Times
“Urgent.” “Requiring immediate attention.” “Chance of a lifetime.”
These are just a small sample of the kind of messages that appear in the Subject line of an email. Some will get the recipient to open the message. Others are likely to go directly to Trash without being read.
Online and email fundraising are proving to be successful for many nonprofits, but the use of email fundraising is still very much a work in progress. One tricky area is that of Subject lines.
In conversations with many fundraisers and online experts, The NonProfit Times has gained some insight into helpful practices for email fundraising. Here are seven suggestions:
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Emails and their Subject lines should carry a degree of expectedness.
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The most important part is the From line because if it’s not familiar the reader probably won’t open it.
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Including the organization or individual’s name in the From line frees the Subject line to be more dynamic.
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Be judicious when using words like “urgent” or “action required.” Don’t use them every time.
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Go light on personalization.
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Consistency is important, but it’s about making sure subscribers get familiar with the emails rather than saying the same thing.
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As with much fundraising, testing can help nonprofits learn about their constituents. Content must stay relevant. The biggest factor in open rates is the relative age of the names on file.
