It’s not as simple as making it into the mailbox. Your letter needs to be opened.
I get a lot—a lot—of letters.
Each Monday morning, I open my mailbox, and an avalanche of mailings comes pouring out. A booklet of coupons from Costco. A CSA postcard telling me to “Buy fresh buy local!” A life insurance bill intended for my neighbor.
I tote these armfuls of mail back to the house, then get to work sorting. Do I open every envelope? Of course not. I couldn’t number the papercuts. So, what determines which envelopes I open? What catches my eye? And what does this demonstrate about how nonprofits should package fundraising mailings?
I’ll include this caveat: I am not the average recipient; I’m a nonprofit consultant with boatloads of professional curiosity about how organizations present themselves. But I’m still a human being who reacts to the same stimuli as an “average” donor. Our goal is to get someone to open an envelope and see what the offer is, and I fall prey to the same tricks as everyone else.
Let’s talk about what aspects of a letter catch a donor’s eye and inspire them to open, and then to give.
First of all, size matters. When I flip through a stack of #10 envelopes, my eyes quickly glaze over. To me, every #10 envelope automatically looks like a medical bill. That’s a terrible first impression for your nonprofit. So, imagine the pile of mail you drag out of your mailbox. What letters catch your eye? How do they stand out by size or color? From personal experience: 6x9 envelopes stand out, as do colorful envelopes.
Second, frequency matters. This actually isn’t linked just to the open rate. If a nonprofit sends me mail every one or two months, their name is far more likely to stick in my brain. I’ll start to feel a familiarity and affinity even if I’m not opening their letters (at first). That’s why we recommend that your nonprofit send physical pieces of mail four times per year at a minimum. Eight to ten times per year is even better—more if you are still seeing “profitable” returns.
In other words, being in the mail is better than not being in the mail. But that doesn’t mean you should inundate your donors with mailings—diminishing returns will set in quickly. Instead, be strategic about how you invest. Are you looking to attract high-dollar donors, or try to maximize the number of donors, big or small? Spending more on your package and sending it to higher-dollar current and prospective donors may have a higher ROI.
Story time: I had a client who needed to energize their fundraising program and enlisted us to craft a strategic plan and support for their major gifts program. We strongly recommended that they mail their existing major donor list more regularly, but they shied away from investing in direct mail. Instead, they sent the saddest, plainest #10 envelope I’ve ever seen (seriously, a medical bill was more visually appealing). Guess what? Those envelopes were thrown away and they had nowhere near the return they had wanted—or that we had estimated they could get.
Those #10 envelopes were flimsy, which brings us to another important principle: weight matters. A heavy envelope, heavy postcard, and heavy paper all make your reader take you more seriously, consciously or un-. You’ve sent them A Serious Piece of Mail, and they feel duty-bound to open it!
But it’s not just “serious” mail that donors will want to open. I’ll speak for myself here: there’s nothing I’m more excited to open than a handwritten card. Your nonprofit can tap into that personal excitement by making a piece of mail look and feel personal. Perhaps your nonprofit funds leukemia research. Have your letter come from an individual volunteer, and put their personal address on it. That’s a surefire way to snag a recipient’s attention!
One other tool for drawing donors in is a double-edged sword: the offer or incentive to donate. This is when a nonprofit glues nickels to the letter, includes personalized return address labels, or offers a gift in exchange for a donation. Yes, “rewards” for giving, like free stickers or a free book, are appealing and can draw in one-time donors, but gimmicks are no substitute for building substantive, deep relationships. Long-term relationships don’t evolve with donors who just want free “swag,” they’re built on shared values and a mutual passion for your mission.
These long-term giving relationships are predicated on what Jeremy Beer would call our longing for a sense of belonging. We don’t find fulfillment in swag bags; we want to belong to something bigger than ourselves. Your donors don’t just want an eye-catching envelope or promise of a snazzy fridge magnet; they want to know that, by giving to you, they make a far larger impact than they could ever have on their own.
Let’s loop right back to me sifting through my mail! I gravitate towards the larger, more colorful envelope from an organization whose name I recognize from previous mailings. The appeal feels personal. And, when I open the envelope, I’m drawn in by a letter that emphasizes the problems I’ll solve and the community I’ll join by giving.
Opening a letter is just the first step in the journey of giving.
If you want to see what nonprofits are sending me and how I decide which letters to open and which to toss, join me over on LinkedIn to see me sort through my weekly mail! This week, we're talking what your plan should be for adding new donors to your ranks. Join the conversation!
