When it comes to online fundraising, nothing is as effective as email. I’ve often said that email is the “killer app” for raising money online because nothing else online can match the reach and control you have over your email campaigns. When it comes to email, very few things are as important as your fundraising email subject lines.An email subject line is like an ad for the rest of your email. A recipient decides whether or not to open your email based on just the name of the sender, the subject line, and perhaps the first few words of your email.
Let's investigate how to write subject lines that will spur your donors to open your emails.
Before we take a look at what you should be doing to make your fundraising email subject lines more effective, let’s look at two things you definitely should not be doing if you want people to open and read your fundraising appeals:
Far too many nonprofits send out emails with boring subject lines and then wonder why those emails don’t get opened. I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve gotten over the years from nonprofits I support with subject lines like:
These subject lines are boring. They may describe the email's contents, but they don't excite your reader. The eyes of even your most ardent supporters will glaze over at the subject line “Support Our Year-End Appeal.”
The other side of the coin is fundraising email subject lines that are overly dramatic. This is a much smaller problem for most nonprofits than it is for for-profit marketers, but it still happens.
Overly sensational subject lines are subject lines that are so unbelievable that rather than creating curiosity in your recipient, it causes disbelief—the person knows it isn’t true, or the subject line causes the person to put their guard up, which makes them far less likely to donate even if they do open and read the email.
Examples of overly sensational fundraising email subject lines include:
(Don’t laugh at the last one . . . I once got a fundraising email that was pretty similar to that one, with a different celebrity’s name.)
To get people to open your emails, the subject line needs to be interesting, but not outrageous.
Now that you know what not to do in your fundraising email subject lines, let’s take a look at two things you NEED to do if you want to get donors and prospects to open your emails:
When someone reads your subject line, you want them to feel a genuine desire to open your email and get the rest of the story. While you want your subject line to relate to the content of your email, you don’t want it to tell the whole story . . . you want to leave people wanting more.
To illustrate this point, take a look at these two possible subject lines for an email appeal sent by a local homeless shelter. Which would you be more likely to open:
If you’re on the homeless shelter’s donor list and you get an email with the first subject line, you already know what’s inside: a fundraising pitch. The second subject line seems more personal, more direct, and makes you wonder, “Who is Jackie?”
This type of fundraising email subject line creates curiosity and is much more likely to be opened.
While you want your fundraising email subject lines to create curiosity, you also don't want them to overpromise. You don't want people who open your emails to feel duped.
For example, if your subject line is “3 Ways to Keep Your Children Safe in School,” you need to tell readers the three ways to keep their kids safe. If you just make a fundraising pitch, they'll feel conned.
Your subject lines should spark curiosity and increase your open rate, but they should always speak clearly and honestly to the reader.