Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Stop Trying to Convert Donors

Why convert? And to what end? To quote Tom Harrison, Russ Reid CEO, why are nonprofits mad at about 50% of their donors at any given time for donating (in the “wrong” way)? In its attempts at conversion the sector either makes too many assumptions or too few and too many attempts to convert the […]

Learn More May 14, 2013

More On Personal Touch

Yesterday we talked about the power of the Post-it note. Today, something even more powerful … handwriting. [Online fundraisers can tune out now.] Here’s a paean to handwriting by copywriter Karen Zapp: Why Direct Mail — the more personal the better — Will Not Die. Karen asks: “Would you send a sympathy card with a […]

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A Reminder About The Personal Touch

Here’s a curious little study — Post-it Note Persuasion: A Sticky Influence — forwarded to The Agitator by reader Tina Cincotti. In this research project, participants were sent a survey packet and asked to complete the survey. Some packets included an affixed personalized Post-it note. Some packets had no note or other variations. Those receiving […]

Learn More May 13, 2013

Mr and Mrs … Kiss Of Death

Blogger Kivi Leroux Miller wants to be recognized when she’s a donor. I don’t mean ‘recognized’ as in ‘applauded’. I mean she expects, at least upon reaching some giving level, that a nonprofit to which she donates actually knows that she is a ‘she’ and, making the point that the 2010s are not the 1950s, […]

Learn More May 10, 2013

Watch Your Pictures!

I subscribe to “Which Test Won” — a feed that proselytizes for A/B testing — both for the fun of testing my own instincts (and often disagreeing with their analysis) and just to remind myself that tweaks of copy, design and imagery, based upon testing, indeed matter. Here’s a recent test (actually a replay from […]

Learn More May 9, 2013

Golden Rules For Your Reply Form

Yesterday we passed along some pointers regarding converting online leads. One of the key bits of advice was not to direct someone responding to your online appeal to your website homepage. The appeal should link directly to a ‘purpose-built’ landing page … no distractions, direct reinforcement of your original (motivating) message, immediate closure of transaction. […]

Learn More May 8, 2013