Since I started cutting and pasting content in the body of emails, I've seen my response rate go up dramatically. People actually read them and respond.
Adding attachments is like throwing up an obstacle. We can't afford to throw up obstacles when the competition for funds is so great.
For that reason, I'm reposting the balance of the blog I wrote in 2011. It is below:
Person to person fundraising is always the most beneficial scenario.
But sometimes you get involved with a lot of projects and have to cover a lot of ground quickly.
That's where electronic communications come in handy.
In my experience, it is OK to raise small amounts of money and even in-kind sponsors through email appeals for projects as long as you don't rely on attachments!
Think about the society we live in. Everyone is on the go. Everyone is doing the work of two people. Everyone gets bombarded with requests. Many people rely on mobile devices for their daily communications.
Personally, if I receive an email with an attachment, my biggest worry is that if I try to open it on a mobile device, it will stop me in my tracks, freeze up my Blackberry, or I won't be able to read it anyway without zooming, and who has time for all that?
In my experience, if I create a fundraising document and then cut and paste that document into the body of the email itself, there is a far greater chance that the person I am sending it to will not only read it, but respond, and hopefully, give me what I am looking for.
A lot of times fundraising is about eliminating barriers. Emails with attachments provide people with unnecessary barriers.
But sometimes you get involved with a lot of projects and have to cover a lot of ground quickly.
That's where electronic communications come in handy.
In my experience, it is OK to raise small amounts of money and even in-kind sponsors through email appeals for projects as long as you don't rely on attachments!
Think about the society we live in. Everyone is on the go. Everyone is doing the work of two people. Everyone gets bombarded with requests. Many people rely on mobile devices for their daily communications.
Personally, if I receive an email with an attachment, my biggest worry is that if I try to open it on a mobile device, it will stop me in my tracks, freeze up my Blackberry, or I won't be able to read it anyway without zooming, and who has time for all that?
In my experience, if I create a fundraising document and then cut and paste that document into the body of the email itself, there is a far greater chance that the person I am sending it to will not only read it, but respond, and hopefully, give me what I am looking for.
A lot of times fundraising is about eliminating barriers. Emails with attachments provide people with unnecessary barriers.
