For a charity, it is likely that you have a lot on your plate with different tasks and working to make a difference in the world. You already are doing the best you can with fundraising however, you want to promote your charity’s mission further and reach out to an even wider audience.
To do so, you will need to use email marketing. It will allow you to stay connected and engaged with your donors and supporters whom you can offer periodic updates and such. Email marketing is ideal for calling people to action and you will have the chance to say more than other promotional means.
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Focus On The Impact
People want to see, hear, and feel the impact of their donation and support to your charity. They want to see where and how they are making a difference. You wouldn’t be able to do your charity work without the help of your donors and supporters and it is imperative that you keep them updated and satisfied with your efforts.
Instead of focusing on statistics and data, focus on the storytelling aspect and show them a few stories of success. Include a few pictures of your success stories, and add in a short interview and the like. The key is to show and not tell. Your goal must be to invoke an emotional response from your recipients, show that they are making a difference and they will continue to support your charity mission.
To create an email campaign that focuses on the impact of their work, you will need an email maker, like PosterMyWall. An email maker service makes the job of crafting an email with the aforementioned content much easier and faster. You can use the online editing and designing interface to add all the graphical content easily and smoothly to your email and have it ready to send in a matter of minutes.
Engaging Subject Lines
Before your supporters and donors even open your email, they will first read the subject line. If the subject line fails to engage them, then chances are they wouldn’t even open your email, and all the effort you put into designing your email would be wasted. Therefore it is important that you create engaging subject lines that compel your readers to open and check out your emails.
It is even better if your subject lines call them to some sort of action. Anything that can compel your supporters and fundraisers to open and read your email should be key here. If you can manage to do so, you will be successful in your email campaign.
For example, you may call your recipients to action using subject lines like the following:
- 24 hours left to support {charity cause} in need
- One simple way to make a difference
- We couldn’t do this without your support (for thanking donors)
Gripping Imagery
Visual content is more engaging than paragraphs upon paragraphs of text. Pictures allow us to say more with a few words which means that you must also use gripping imagery in your emails. Depending on the kind of work your charity does, show subjects that have been helped via your organization.
An idea is to show them being happy as it will give the message that these subjects were helped via your charity, which was only made possible due to the donation and support you received. Having a little ‘thank you’ message attached to the picture will also help. The goal is to engage the recipient of the email and your picture must be gripping enough to do so.
In the example below, the Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital shows a smiling child with a message that implies that this was made possible via the donation and support the hospital received. It also includes a link that leads to a donation page where supporters and donors can contribute further.
Mobile Optimization
Most people use email on their mobile phones these days and so it is important that you make your emails easy to read over a phone. This will make them reader-friendly and convey all the important messages to your readers. Your emails must be easy to open, and easy to read with images and concise text parts.
Page orientation is also an important factor here as mobile screens are vertically oriented. Meaning your email content can be longer vertically with your readers being able to scroll through it easily.
For that purpose, you may select from PosterMyWall’s various email templates that have been designed keeping mobile users in mind. They ensure that your emails are easy to read and offer the essential bits of information and images to your readers in an easily readable way.
Call To Action
Your emails will have a better chance of success if they call on your readers to take some sort of action. Any kind of clickbait subject line will get them to open your emails but it will not make your supporters and donors read them. To get them to do so, you must keep them engaged and take simple actions.
You can’t ask for donations every time as it will make them lose interest and will turn your readers away. Instead, you can ask them to read a blog or watch a documentary or an update video, etc. Simple actions which will keep your readers engaged and primed for when you need them to take bigger actions. The more engagement you have from your donors and supporters, the better it is for your charity and your mission in the long run.
Email marketing can be instrumental in driving your supporters and donors to donate more and help the charity in achieving its goals. It is personal and is excellent at delivering the essential bits of information in a concise, easy-to-read, and engaging way. You should therefore focus on delivering the right kind of message that has been designed to be compelling for your readers. This will help you drive donations and grow your list. By implementing the steps listed above and monitoring the performance, you can ensure that your charity’s mission receives the maximum amount of support, becomes a successful endeavor and makes a difference in the world.
