Boost Your Direct Mail Fundraising Response Rates with Deadlines in Your Donation Request Letters
Your job as a direct mail fundraiser is to give your donors both a reason for donating and an incentive for donating.
Your enemy is inertia.
Your enemy is Coronation Street.
Plenty of perfectly nice donors with perfectly good intentions to donate will nevertheless procrastinate or get distracted, lay your fundraising letter aside to deal with tomorrow, but then forget.
Which is why you should consider using an incentive, something that will give your appeal letter a sense of urgency.
Something that'll motivate your donor to act today.
I recommend a deadline.
Give your donor a deadline for responding and you will likely boost your response rate.
Some deadlines are naturals.
December 31 for an end-of-year appeal.
April 8, 2007 for an Easter appeal.
February 5, 2008 for a political appeal for a United States presidential candidate.
Other deadlines are just as motivating, but may need some explaining.
If a wealthy donor of yours, for example, has offered to donate $200,000 if you raise $200,000 (we call this a "matching gift appeal"), then you will need to give your donors a deadline for responding and explain why you need their gift by then (you don't get the matching gift if donors don't respond in sufficient numbers with sufficient donations by the deadline).
Another compelling deadline is a date on the calendar when you will stop processing surveys or stop accepting petitions.
Here are some keys to making your deadline an incentive that boosts response: 1.
Use a date, not a time period Don't say, "We need to receive your gift within the next 30 days.
" Say, instead, "We need to receive your gift before September 21, 2008.
" 2.
Give a valid reason for your deadline The last day of your fiscal year is not a valid deadline.
Donors don't think in fiscal years.
They think in calendar years, which start on January 1 and end on December 31.
Telling your donors that they must respond by March 31 (assuming that's your fiscal year end) may impress your chief financial officer as an urgent deadline, but it will not impress your donors.
3.
Repeat your deadline anywhere you ask for a gift Stress your deadline in the body of your letter, in your P.
S.
, and on your reply device.
You can even print it across the face of your reply envelope in bold capitals.
4.
Don't mistake your deadline for your case for support Your deadline is the incentive you offer for giving now.
But your case for support is the reason you offer for giving.
Your deadline is not sufficient.
You must communicate a strong case for support first.
Then offer your donors a deadline that inspires them to pick up their checkbook instead of the TV remote.
Your enemy is inertia.
Your enemy is Coronation Street.
Plenty of perfectly nice donors with perfectly good intentions to donate will nevertheless procrastinate or get distracted, lay your fundraising letter aside to deal with tomorrow, but then forget.
Which is why you should consider using an incentive, something that will give your appeal letter a sense of urgency.
Something that'll motivate your donor to act today.
I recommend a deadline.
Give your donor a deadline for responding and you will likely boost your response rate.
Some deadlines are naturals.
December 31 for an end-of-year appeal.
April 8, 2007 for an Easter appeal.
February 5, 2008 for a political appeal for a United States presidential candidate.
Other deadlines are just as motivating, but may need some explaining.
If a wealthy donor of yours, for example, has offered to donate $200,000 if you raise $200,000 (we call this a "matching gift appeal"), then you will need to give your donors a deadline for responding and explain why you need their gift by then (you don't get the matching gift if donors don't respond in sufficient numbers with sufficient donations by the deadline).
Another compelling deadline is a date on the calendar when you will stop processing surveys or stop accepting petitions.
Here are some keys to making your deadline an incentive that boosts response: 1.
Use a date, not a time period Don't say, "We need to receive your gift within the next 30 days.
" Say, instead, "We need to receive your gift before September 21, 2008.
" 2.
Give a valid reason for your deadline The last day of your fiscal year is not a valid deadline.
Donors don't think in fiscal years.
They think in calendar years, which start on January 1 and end on December 31.
Telling your donors that they must respond by March 31 (assuming that's your fiscal year end) may impress your chief financial officer as an urgent deadline, but it will not impress your donors.
3.
Repeat your deadline anywhere you ask for a gift Stress your deadline in the body of your letter, in your P.
S.
, and on your reply device.
You can even print it across the face of your reply envelope in bold capitals.
4.
Don't mistake your deadline for your case for support Your deadline is the incentive you offer for giving now.
But your case for support is the reason you offer for giving.
Your deadline is not sufficient.
You must communicate a strong case for support first.
Then offer your donors a deadline that inspires them to pick up their checkbook instead of the TV remote.
