Decisions and emotions

There is a great post on Copyblogger about the power of emotion in decision-making. Listed are "The 4 emotional appeals you need to master:" love, greed, fear, and duty/honor.

I would say that all of those except greed are great to tap into in your fundraising communications. (And maybe even greed, too, sometimes!)

Some examples of how these emotions could be used:

• Love: the love of one's fellow man, wanting to help those in need


• Fear: the fear that the planet will become uninhabitable, the fear that innocent children will go hungry


• Duty/Honor: the feeling that it's one's job to take care of the less fortunate, or to give back to the community

Emotional writing is even more important in fundraising because you (usually) aren't selling a product or service. You are selling the good feeling someone gets when they write a check to a cause they care about.