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  • Add You - Boost Response Rates and Income with Appealing Fundraising Letter Envelopes

    The Value of FREE in Internet Business
    Do You Get What You Pay For? I have heard the saying "You get what you pay for," but I don't think that theory applies to Internet Marketing. Yes, there is tons of free advertising available on the net and there are millions of people using free advertising to promote their businesses, but is it effective? I think when you try to judge the effectiveness of Free Online Advertising, you have to take into consideration all that you can get for free.Placing Free Ads - For one thing, placing free ads will help you learn whether or not marketing online is for you at all; if you hate promoting your offer and placing ads,
  • you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal
  • you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts
  • you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs
  • you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals
  • you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause
  • None of these benefits wil

    Key Staff can and will Leave your Business, are you Prepared?
    Very few businesses can claim to be prepared for the loss of key staff. Quite often it is an unexpected and unplanned for event that causes quite a bit of disruption to business as usual.It is quite a gut wrenching experience to see someone you have worked with over a period of time leaving your business. Even if the parting of ways is on good terms with a period of handover, you just know that there is so much information walking out the door with your former employee and there is nothing you can do about it.And this is only just the beginning…While labouring through a period of being understaffed and overworked you are the
    Writing a terrific fundraising letter is a waste of time if your donor throws your entire package in the trash unopened. And that happens more often than any of us dare to think about. That's why your envelope is so crucial to your success.

    Your envelope serves two functions and two alone. It must:

    • deliver your appeal to your donor
    • persuade your donor to open and read your package

    Getting your appeal into the hands of your donor is not hard if you mail to a good list, either your own house list or a rented list of quality prospects. But persuading your donors to actually open your envelope and read your appeal—and respond to it with a gift—that's the difficult part.

    Your envelope faces a number of challenges.

    Your donors are busy

    Like you, your donors are busy. They are preoccupied with meeting their sales quotas, finding a good paediatrician, fixing the leak in the roof, spoiling their grandkids, finishing college with an A average, buying a more reliable vehicle, meeting their deadline, meeting their life partner, and making ends meet. In the middle of their busy life, your fundraising appeal drops through the mailbox. Should they open it, lay it aside for later, or chuck it? Your envelope will likely decide which.

    Competition from other charities

    If your donors are typical, they receive solicitations from other non-profit organizations each week. Your envelope will likely be one among many. How will you stand out? How will you persuade your donor or prospective donor (or former donor) to open your envelope first—if at all? Your envelope is your first chance, maybe your only chance.

    Competition from other mail

    Your package is also competing with electricity bills, bank statements, pizza flyers, credit card statements, personal letters, credit card offers and junk mail. Your reader will open these pieces of mail in a particular order, starting with the most pressing. The size, shape, weight and look of your envelope will determine if it gets opened or not.

    Competition from other media

    You are also competing with door-to-door fundraisers. And telephone canvassers. And telethons (television fundraisers). Not to mention the evening news, sitcoms, today's newspaper, CNN.com and a literal host of radio shows and satellite TV channels. How can you get your fundraising appeal letter package to break through this noise and reach your donor? You need to start with your envelope.

    The benefits of getting your appeal letters opened and read are tremendous:

    • you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal
    • you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts
    • you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs
    • you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals
    • you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

    None of these benefits wil

    Conveyors
    Conveyors, which were initially introduced in the late nineteenth century, are basically systems to move materials and men from one place to another. It could either be for a short distance or a longer span. We have become so dependent on this system that the world would be a difficult place to live in if all the conveyors came to a standstill one morning.Let us have a look at the various fields of applications of conveyors. Henry Ford could introduce assembly-line methods of manufacturing only because of conveyors. They are used in mining, heavy and light industries, food and beverage processing, agriculture, construction projects and so
    —and respond to it with a gift—that's the difficult part.

    Your envelope faces a number of challenges.

    Your donors are busy

    Like you, your donors are busy. They are preoccupied with meeting their sales quotas, finding a good paediatrician, fixing the leak in the roof, spoiling their grandkids, finishing college with an A average, buying a more reliable vehicle, meeting their deadline, meeting their life partner, and making ends meet. In the middle of their busy life, your fundraising appeal drops through the mailbox. Should they open it, lay it aside for later, or chuck it? Your envelope will likely decide which.

    Competition from other charities

    If your donors are typical, they receive solicitations from other non-profit organizations each week. Your envelope will likely be one among many. How will you stand out? How will you persuade your donor or prospective donor (or former donor) to open your envelope first—if at all? Your envelope is your first chance, maybe your only chance.

    Competition from other mail

    Your package is also competing with electricity bills, bank statements, pizza flyers, credit card statements, personal letters, credit card offers and junk mail. Your reader will open these pieces of mail in a particular order, starting with the most pressing. The size, shape, weight and look of your envelope will determine if it gets opened or not.

    Competition from other media

    You are also competing with door-to-door fundraisers. And telephone canvassers. And telethons (television fundraisers). Not to mention the evening news, sitcoms, today's newspaper, CNN.com and a literal host of radio shows and satellite TV channels. How can you get your fundraising appeal letter package to break through this noise and reach your donor? You need to start with your envelope.

    The benefits of getting your appeal letters opened and read are tremendous:

    • you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal
    • you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts
    • you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs
    • you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals
    • you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

    None of these benefits wil

    Change Assessment
    Change is such a key ingredient in helping you discover and achieve success, and adaptability to change is vital to coping with some of life's most common challenges. Now it's time to really assess where you are on the transformation scale. How badly do you really want to change? If you've followed the advice given thus far in this chapter, you have a well-defined commitment to change that is reinforced by well-planned action. It is also likely that your goals are actually written out and in a place where you can review them often. All of these elements must be part of the equation if change is to be successful.
    ition from other charities

    If your donors are typical, they receive solicitations from other non-profit organizations each week. Your envelope will likely be one among many. How will you stand out? How will you persuade your donor or prospective donor (or former donor) to open your envelope first—if at all? Your envelope is your first chance, maybe your only chance.

    Competition from other mail

    Your package is also competing with electricity bills, bank statements, pizza flyers, credit card statements, personal letters, credit card offers and junk mail. Your reader will open these pieces of mail in a particular order, starting with the most pressing. The size, shape, weight and look of your envelope will determine if it gets opened or not.

    Competition from other media

    You are also competing with door-to-door fundraisers. And telephone canvassers. And telethons (television fundraisers). Not to mention the evening news, sitcoms, today's newspaper, CNN.com and a literal host of radio shows and satellite TV channels. How can you get your fundraising appeal letter package to break through this noise and reach your donor? You need to start with your envelope.

    The benefits of getting your appeal letters opened and read are tremendous:

    • you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal
    • you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts
    • you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs
    • you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals
    • you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

    None of these benefits wil

    A Primer In Executive Compensation In Not-For-Profits
    A tremendous amount has been written about Executive Compensation, and lately, most of this information has been extremely unflattering. Much of the criticism has resulted from the gross excesses, misinterpretations of regulations, and the rash of criminal cases brought against the top management of a number of large firms, such as WorldCom, Tyco, Enron, and a host of others. Virtually every day another egregious example of corporate greed has come to light. The effect has been a huge increase in media attention, which in turn has acted as the stimulus for new government regulations aimed at curbing these abuses. While most of the regulation
    ng with the most pressing. The size, shape, weight and look of your envelope will determine if it gets opened or not.

    Competition from other media

    You are also competing with door-to-door fundraisers. And telephone canvassers. And telethons (television fundraisers). Not to mention the evening news, sitcoms, today's newspaper, CNN.com and a literal host of radio shows and satellite TV channels. How can you get your fundraising appeal letter package to break through this noise and reach your donor? You need to start with your envelope.

    The benefits of getting your appeal letters opened and read are tremendous:

    • you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal
    • you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts
    • you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs
    • you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals
    • you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause

    None of these benefits wil

    The Best Plus Size Suits For Job Interviews
    You've fine-tuned your resume and landed that important interview for the perfect job. Now, you need to figure out what plus size suits will make you look professional and stylish. There are many options for plus size suits, but let's narrow down the search to what will give you the sharp image that you need to impress your interviewers.What Type Of Job Are You Interviewing For?When you begin searching through the racks of plus size suits, keep in mind the position for which you are interviewing. If you are hoping for a job in a creative field such as advertising, art, fashion, or entertainment, you will want to choose more
  • you will likely immediately boost your response rate, since more donors will read your appeal and respond with a gift, all other things being equal
  • you will increase your gift income, since higher response rates mean more gifts
  • you will reduce your cost to raise a gift, because the increase in revenue will offset your mailing costs
  • you will improve your renewal rates, since more of your first-time donors will open, read and respond to your subsequent appeals
  • you will reduce your attrition rates, because you will keep more donors engaged and interested in your cause
  • None of these benefits will be yours unless your donors open your envelopes. That's where the battle for your donor's head and heart begins. Don't lose the battle there. Create envelopes that are simply irresistible. Here are some tips.

    Oversize Window

    If you are mailing a premium, have it appear through an oversize window.

    Unusual or Unexpected Dimensions

    Switch from a #10 window to something larger or smaller.

    Unique Addressing

    Address the letter by hand.

    Use Every Inch Available

    Put a dramatic photo on your envelope that stretches from one side right across to the other.

    Tease the Donor Inside

    Ask a question or pose a riddle that is answered inside.

    Multiple Windows

    Put another window on the envelope and have something interesting show through from the inside.

    Don't Use an Envelope

    Mail your letter in a box, a cylinder or something else that stands out.

    Postage

    Use a commemorative stamp.

    Lumpy Mail

    Put something three-dimensional, like a wrist band, in the envelope.

    Put the Donor on the Envelope

    Put a message to the donor on the front or back, using their first name.

    Add a Personal Touch

    Hand-write a note.

    The possibilities for creative and compelling envelopes are limited only by your imagination (and your budget, of course!). Strive to create the most irresistible envelopes you can, with every package you mail, and you will be rewarded with higher response rates and higher income.

    © 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the Author" message).

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