Thanks In Advance

March 6, 2017      Tom Belford

Believe it or not, those three words — Thanks in advance — have magical properties.

Which this post is actually testing … I’ll come back to that in a moment.

Every fundraiser knows the importance of timely donor thank you’s.

But when it comes to online fundraising, turns out that it might be very helpful to thank in advance … 38% more helpful in fact.

Email software firm Boomerang looked at the response rates for over 350,000 emails, most asking for some sort of reply. As reported in Neuromarketing, here’s what they found:

“The analysis showed that emails ending with some variation of thanks (“thanks, thank you, or thanks in advance”) had the highest percentage of response rates, with a final total of 62%. In comparison, emails that closed without some variation of thank you (“regards,” “best,” etc.) had a response rate of just 46%.”

Here’s a bit more detail:

Pretty convincing … thanks in advance.

As for my test — if it works as an ending, does it work as an opener? I’ll be watching the open rate on the email delivering this post, and will report back on a week or so.

I thanked you in advance … and now I’m thanking you again for reading The Agitator today.

Tom

One response to “Thanks In Advance”

  1. claire axelrad says:
    March 6, 2017 at 3:09 am

    The reason this works has recently been explained in a new book by Robert Cialdini, and it’s being called the 7th principle of influence: “Pre-suasion.” I’ve written about it here: http://clairification.com/2016/09/05/revolutionary-way-influence-year-end-philanthropy/

    What Cialdini has done is added a new dimension, time, to the science of persuasion — taking ‘reciprocity’ to another level. He notes that there is a “privileged moment” when people are most receptive to what we have to say. If in that moment you can present them with something that will incline them to view your request favorably, you’ll set them up for success.

    One such strategy is thanking people in advance. It may not be a tangible gift, but psychologically it says “I know you’re a good person, and I thank you for that.” It inclines people to return the favor of the compliment.

    I’ve often heard folks say they find this phrase presumptuous. Some go so far as to say it doesn’t work because it’s rude. Then… Cialdini comes along with actual reasearch. Of course, I’d advise nonprofits to test this for themselves. 🙂

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