I Will Have to Ask You Again Apu

May 16, 2022 Post a Comment

It's a pretty common experience. Someone you haven't talked to in a long time – months, even years – suddenly messages you lot out of the blueish. But rather than ask how you're doing or communicable upwardly for lost fourth dimension, they immediately ask for a favor.

Information technology's non that you lot're unhappy to help – in fact, you could really care about their state of affairs and desire to lend a mitt. Merely there's something about beingness asked abruptly for a favor – specially after not talking for a long time – that tin can leave people less excited to take action. Information technology doesn't communicate any interest or appreciation for them as people.

The same idea tin can applies to your reengagement strategy with your donors. Your donors may not accept given for a while, merely restarting the conversation with an sharp ask can communicate a lack of gratitude. Attempt to ask donors to requite again in a more positive manner. Remember, donors want effective communication from the organizations they back up.

With 60-70% of new donors declining to give once more the adjacent yr, it'southward extremely of import to take this asking seriously; especially because over half of donors who leave an organization practice so because of lack of constructive communication from the nonprofit. A huge part of communicating finer is demonstrating y'all genuinely value whom you're talking to.

And so, how should you lot strike up some other conversation with your donors? In this post, we'll wait at how one organization, Freedom in Northward Korea, did an awesome job with their reengagement email. We will break downward why this electronic mail works, and discuss how you can apply similar tactics to your next email campaign.

North Korean Fundraiser
thank you letter for donation

The Psychology Behind Positive Reinforcement

Maybe the almost hit part about this email is its celebratory tone. The donor hasn't given in an entire year – why is this all of a sudden a skillful matter? Why are nosotros celebrating their lapse in contributions? Shouldn't we repeat how crucial their gifts are, and ask them to donate over again?

Rather than only trying to pull another donation, psychology says you will become better results past celebrating your donor'due south previous donation instead.

In 2012, Liane Young, Alek Chakroff, and Jessica Tom, psychology affiliates of Boston College and Harvard University, conducted a study on the role of self-perception in motivating moral behavior. When participants were asked to recall their past skillful deeds, and to perceive themselves as moral "do-gooders," they gave twice equally many charitable donations every bit participants who recalled bad deeds.

What does this tell united states? Past positively reinforcing your donors' by support, you tin can make the connection for them between the deed of their previous contribution and their deepest perceptions of who they are as individuals. And when making a contribution becomes personally meaningful to them, donors are more likely to give again.

Gloat Your Donors' Awesomeness

LiNK'southward electronic mail demonstrates this blazon of positive reinforcement perfectly. Instead of directly asking for some other gift, the message just reminds the supporter of their previous donation, celebrates what it achieved, and validates its importance.

Information technology all starts with framing the occasion every bit an "ceremony." Allow's compare this approach to a generic inquire.

Happy ane-year anniversary to your last donation!

This gives donors a reason to celebrate! Their last donation was a special occasion, and they tin commemorate it by giving once more.

Information technology's been a while since your last donation, requite once more!

Definitely less exciting. This tin can also backfire if donors feel like yous're just looking for more than money (which you lot are, only a lack of appreciation won't hogtie anyone to willingly requite.)
The main difference between these approaches is the utilize of positive affirmation. Rather than focusing on what your supporters tin can exercise (make another gift), focus on what they have already washed. Rekindle their excitement past emphasizing the important role they have already played in your mission.

In this spirit, LiNK's electronic mail still sounds excited near that terminal gift, using linguistic communication like:

• "This fourth dimension terminal yr, y'all became part of a larger movement…"

• "We desire to thank y'all again, and celebrate your back up of our mission…"

• "Cheers…to your generosity…"

Arts and crafts your linguistic communication so donors tin connect supporting your crusade as a part of their cadre sense equally individuals. LiNK'due south email accomplishes this beautifully. Their CTA strategically follows their biggest non-donation related, personal encouragement:

Discuss Their Affect

In addition to the supporter's importance to the organization, the email drives abode some other point: the direct impact of the supporter's last donation. The email describes the system's programs and communications development it helped to fund. And past giving a tangible number of refugees that were helped concluding year, the organization translates the gift's impact into a straight, concrete effect. The supporter is shown all the incredible things their one donation produced.

The terminal sentence speaks about the donor'due south importance to your work:

Yous besides helped them thrive in their new lives…

By emphasizing "you," the message makes information technology clear that the donor is the one driving change. In your ain emails, remind your donors that they are the ones making your organization's bear on possible. Let them know that they are ones providing the solution to an urgent need and, nigh importantly, thank them for helping to make modify happen.

Make Sure to Stay Data-Driven

Nosotros've talked about what yous can say in your reengagement electronic mail, but when should you lot actually ship information technology to your donors? LiNK's email reinitiated contact with donors who hadn't given in a twelvemonth, but this timeline might look different for your arrangement. Whether you decide to accomplish out to supporters later on a year, half-dozen months, or three months, you'll have to test what timeline best engages your audience.

To brand a smart, data-driven decision near your timeline, segment your donor lists and tailor your messaging. Using a CRM solution, you tin collect and analyze donor data and pull reports based on different criteria. Salesforce, for instance, is a robust backend CRM organisation that supports many software integrations (including Swish!). By feeding your various applications into Salesforce, you tin aggregate all your donor data into i identify, streamline your reporting, and analyze donor date.

While in that location's a ton of criteria by which you tin can segment your donor database, here are a few to help y'all go started:

• The terminal time they donated
• The corporeality of their last donation
• The full number of donations they have made
• The frequency of their donations
• The concluding campaign or program they donated to

Past pulling this information, you'll accept the necessary context to personalize your email messages. For 1, you can customize the bulletin to reflect the lapsed time since their last donation. You tin even set multiple email campaigns to target donors of dissimilar programs or fundraising campaigns; yous tin so customize each e-mail to speak to how the donor'due south souvenir impacted that specific program.

Using an email automation software solution (like Constant Contact, Mailchimp, or HubSpot), set targeted email campaigns to transport personalized messages to these different donor groups. Measure your results, and optimize your timing for the second ask.

Put some thought into how you lot strike upwardly the conversation again with your donors. Don't just blitz into your ask – instead, gloat their past involvement with your system. Brand them feel proficient most their back up and themselves. Rekindle their passion for your cause, and they will gladly have action once more!

Image Credit: Sonja Langford