Raising money for a political campaign through email is inherently challenging. It can be difficult to get people to even read email messages, let alone click through to provide you with a donation. Every politician should understand that email conversion rates are low. However, an email blast requesting financial support does not have to be in vain.
Make the most of your opportunity to connect with potential donors by minding the subtleties of your email messages and email blasts can be an important part of your political fundraising strategy. Let’s take a quick look at a few tips that will help you make the most of every email you send to potential donors.
Top Fundraising Email Tips
Personalize the Introduction
The initial words the recipient reads should be tailored specifically to them. Email software can autofill message templates with recipients’ personal information, making message personalization easy. In particular, it is important to personalize the greeting of the message to create the impression that the email is meant for each specific recipient.
Aside from addressing the potential donor by name, it will also help to acknowledge the individual’s connection to your campaign or political party. Reaffirming this link will increase the chances of the recipient making a donation.
Recognize the Fact That Most Recipients Skim Through Messages
If you get someone to click on your email, most of them will only read the first couple sentences of the message, skim through the body and read the final sentence or two. In other words, your email messages need a strong start and finish. Spend the majority of the time you invest in your emails crafting compelling introductions and conclusions. Always be sure to thank the recipient at the end of the message.
Above all, repeat the name of the politician you are writing on behalf of, and make sure the message is sent from a real person – the candidate, the campaign manager, or another important person involved in the campaign. Making the message seem personal to the recipient can make a big difference in how likely they are to donate.
Highlight the Problem, Context, and Solution
The message should address a specific problem or your stance on a policy; otherwise the recipient will question why the message was sent in the first place. It’s important to specify a challenge society faces – preferably an urgent on – and that donating to your candidate is the first step to fixing those challenges.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that the underlying purpose of sending the message is to convince recipients to make a financial donation. Make it clear to the reader that raising funds will give you the opportunity to address the problem in question. Provide the donor with a chance to impact the problem, in the form of the financial support your campaign, party or other political organization needs. This justification is exactly what recipients need to feel compelled to make a sizable donation today, or even recurring donations as time goes on.
Keep It Simple
A simple and direct approach is much more likely to succeed than an overly complex style. The design, message, and wording of your email should be easily understood and relatable, regardless of the recipient’s education level, occupation, or other demographics.
You don’t want an overly wordy or complicated argument to distract recipients from what matters most: supporting your cause through a financial donation to your political campaign or political party.
Be Mindful of the Timing
Send your email messages at just the right time and your conversion rate will increase all the more. People are less likely to read messages at the start of the workday. Furthermore, few people are willing to invest any more than 30 seconds in reading an email from a politician or political party on a busy weekend afternoon.
The best time to send a political fundraising email message is during the late afternoon hours in the middle of the workweek. The next best time to transmit the message is in the early evening hours after dinnertime. When in doubt, perform a test run to gauge your specific audience’s responses to your messages. Send the message at two different times on separate days, analyze the response rate, and pivot accordingly.
Incorporate Images
Carefully select the images used in your fundraising email and strategically incorporate them throughout the text. Visuals are better at holding a person’s attention than blocks of texts. Above all, the images should be relevant to the problem you are attempting to solve with your request for financial support. Include images of that specific societal issue as well as your political team in action.
Pictures of your team canvassing, volunteering, or speaking in public settings will generate rapport with your target donors. Images that add faces to your political organization ultimately humanize your group, making your team that more relatable. Potential donors who relate to a politician and supporting staff will be more inclined to make financial donations immediately after receiving the request as well as in the months and years ahead. If you can connect with your readers on an emotional level, they may be more willing to donate to your campaign.
Request Recurring Financial Contributions
A single financial donation will certainly help your campaign, but recurring donations can really sustain and support a political campaign. Make it clear that you and your team are in it for the long haul. Communicate your need for ongoing financial support in your email and you will convince some recipients to make successive contributions.
The bottom line is it’s in your interest to highlight your need for financial support today and also in the long-term. Keep in mind: It takes the same amount of time to ask for a one-time contribution as it does for recurring donations. Think big, ask for continuous financial support and you just might receive it.
Work with Aristotle’s Campaign Management Solutions
Aristotle is here to help and support your political campaign. We provide consulting and data solutions for political campaigns and groups. Our Campaign Manager software is a cloud-based, political campaign management database solution that will help you manage and collect data during every step of your campaign. Contact us today to learn more about our software solutions.
