In direct mail fundraising, more people see your mailing envelope than will ever see what is inside. That’s because donors and prospects alike spend only a few seconds examining your envelope before deciding whether to peruse it or pitch it.
Naturally, this tempts some fundraisers to start selling on the envelope, stressing the case for support, even asking for a donation. Which is a mistake, most of the time.
As Herschell Gordon Lewis so well observed, “The only purpose of the carrier envelope, other than keeping its contents from spilling out onto the street, is to get itself opened.”
This means that, in most cases, you should not spell out your case for support when mailing to a cold list (people who do not know you) or a house list (your existing donors in your database). Instead, you should tease them inside, using envelope teaser copy that is so intriguing and compelling that prospects simply have to open your envelope to satisfy their curiosity.
Here are some tips for creating envelopes that prospects and donors will open:
1. USE VARIETY. People tire of seeing the same envelope month after month. If they have pitched it once, they will pitch it again. So put your fundraising letter inside a different envelope (larger size, different color, for example).
2.BE PERSONAL. Nothing says bulk mail more than an envelope addressed to “The Occupant” instead of to a person by name. Whenever possible, address your direct mail appeal letters to a person with a first and last name.
3. AIM FOR ACCURACY. How do you feel when sales people or telemarketers mispronounce your name? Your prospects and donors feel the same way when your letter arrives with their name or initials misspelled. This tip was brought to you by Alan with one L, Sharpe with an E.
4. TEST YOUR TONE. Financial services companies that generate leads using direct mail have found (through testing) that envelopes that look official are more likely to be opened. Test envelopes that communicate a range of tones and see what happens. Then stay with the one that generates the highest net revenue.
Need some help?
Read these two great resources:
101 Irresistible Direct Mail Fundraising Envelopes. Borrow inspiration from the ingenuity and daring of more than 70 non-profit organizations. This is an electronic book delivered by mail on a CD-ROM in Adobe Acrobat format.
