Award Winning Blog - Agitator

What Jobs Do Your Donors Want Done?

In the commercial world about 95% of all new products fail. It’s not much different in the nonprofit sector when it comes to direct response tests aimed at beating the control. That’s because when it comes to planning new offerings and new appeals most organizations make the mistake of starting by segmenting their donor bases […]

Learn More December 4, 2013

Answer My Question

Let’s assume you’ve somehow captured the attention of a new donor prospect. Or maybe they simply showed up, uninvited, at your doorstep (i.e., website, Facebook page). Lucky you! I can sense you are trembling with anticipation. What next? What is the one question you must anticipate and answer to win that donation? Some possibilities … […]

Learn More December 3, 2013

Whose Story Is It, Anyway?

Yes, you’ve heard it before, including from The Agitator … “Use stories.” “Tell your donor a story.” “Stories engage emotionally.” Etc, etc. But will any story do? Obviously the same story doesn’t work for every prospective donor, however carefully targeted and apparently similar they might be. Consider the view of marketing guru Seth Godin. He […]

Learn More December 2, 2013

Giving Thanks

Chances are there’s not a U.S. Agitator reader online or reading The Agitator today. You see, it’s Thanksgiving. The preeminent day in the U.S. The one holiday all Americans seem to agree on and celebrate. Even celebrate to the extent of traveling thousands of miles, paying exorbitant airfares or increased gas prices for horrendous road […]

Learn More November 28, 2013

What’s Your Thanksgiving Story?

Our US readers will spend the next few days in thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to each of you! You’ll be encountering a healthy (?) serving of family and friends, many of whom will want to know the latest about your work and how it’s going. Sure, you could say, “Our online giving is up over its […]

Learn More November 27, 2013

Thank You MailChimp

As this study from email firm MailChimp indicates, a single word in the subject line can make a big difference in open rates. To reach its conclusions, in Choose Your Words Wisely MailChimp studied about 24 billion delivered emails, looking at subject lines composed in the aggregate of approximately 22,000 distinct words. Some findings … […]

Learn More November 26, 2013