Are You Engaging Donors or Disengaging Them?
The folks at e-Rewards must have gotten some initial responses, because the people creating these engagement emails quickly got carried away with themselves. So much so that the number of let’s-just-kick-back-and-do-something-crazy emails sometimes outpaces the surveys.
If they’d researched their own file, they’d know — by my age if nothing else — that I’m not within the target for this kind of thing. People like me are too busy, and the games they send are too juvenile. So now, whenever the subject line threatens that possible whimsy may be forthcoming, I delete the emails without opening them. Consequently, I’m probably deleting a few surveys and missing some Valuable Rewards points. The consequence for e-Rewards, though, is much greater. It’s likely to lose some revenue because the frivolous emails have driven me to pay less attention to its communications overall.
Willis Turner believes great writing has the power to change minds, save lives, and make people want to dance and sing. Willis is the creative director at Huntsinger & Jeffer. He worked as a lead writer and creative director in the traditional advertising world for more than 15 years before making the switch to fundraising 20 years ago. In his work with nonprofit organizations and associations, he has written thousands of appeals, renewals and acquisition communications for every medium. He creates direct-response campaigns, and collateral communications materials that get attention, tell powerful stories and persuade people to take action or make a donation.
