Two tricks to get more money from e-solicitations

This is a terrific article about ways to help your e-mail recipients respond to your call to action.  As fundraisers, usually our call to action is going to be DONATE NOW!  How to encourage people to do it?

• As always, make it easy.

People skim because they don't have a lot of time to leisurely read all the e-mails they get.  Have you heard the new term for "not-spam-but-not-from-someone-you-know-either"?  As in, the myriad e-mails you get from companies or organizations that you actually signed up for.  It's "bacon."  (Hat tip: Future Fundraising Now.)  It's not spam, but it still clogs up your arteries, I mean inbox.

So make it easy for people to see what to do.  Use a button, not a text link.  Make the button large, and easy to read, with bright, eye-catching colors.  

• Make it urgent.

Don't let people think, "I'll get around to it."  They never will, and the e-mail will disappear to the bottom of their inbox.  Use words like "now," or "today," to compel immediate action.