Top 10 Tips for a Successful End of Financial Year Donation Campaign.

Email is one of the most important communication channels for your charity. It also happens to be the top driver of online donations.  Here is a list of quick and easy tips that will drastically improve your content:

• COMPELLING THEME & MESSAGE 

Think about how you can tailor your EOFYs message to suit your target audience and how that message will be presented in your email marketing content. Will your email include text and a photograph or video? How will the content be organised within the emails?

• POWERFUL IMAGES & VIDEO

It is vital that you create and upload compelling visuals and video, as this content can be the difference between engagement and no donations. All images should be of a high quality and should support the message in your email copy. Videos should be no longer than two minutes duration and should discuss a past event, have an interesting case study or expand upon the topic discussed within the email.

• DESIGN FOR MOBILE & TABLET

Many people scroll through their emails on their phones during lunch, on public transport or when they have a few minutes to spare. If many of your donors will look at your email on a mobile device, then your content needs to be optimised and designed for mobile and tablet first.

• CONSISTENT BRANDING 

Ensure the same branding and call to action for your online and offline campaign. Your direct mail campiagn, advertising, billboards and other mediums should all be thematically consistent with your online campaign.

• WRITE LESS, SAY MORE

Many organisations send fundraising letters to their past donors and contacts, but content designed for hard copy needs to be redesigned for online use. 

Online content should be short and informative, without too much text. Remember, many people will see the information on their phone or tablet, so content needs to be easy to read and clearly laid out. 

• PERSONALISE & SEGMENT YOUR MESSAGE

Email marketing platforms make it easy for you to directly address your donors via audience segmentation. This segmentation allows you to send alternative messages to different donor segments and tailor your content. 

• TAILORED DONATION DOLLAR HANDLES

Know your donor database and send specific dollar handle campiagns to each segment - the campaigns will be more successful if they are relevant to the donor viewng them.

• ASK FOR THE DONATION!

Have a clear call to action in your content - if you don't ask, then you won't receive. It many be intimidating, but you need to ask multiple times for donations within your communication.

• DYNAMIC SUBJECT LINES 

Subject lines can be the difference between an email being opened, or deleted. The subject line should be engaging, informative and reasonably short. Test multiple subject lines to find one that works best for your database. 

If you prepare your content well and design your emails with care, then your donors will appreciate the effort. In time, this should translate to an increase in traffic to your website and of course, an increase in donations to your charity cause.

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