Among the Agitator/DonorVoice behavioral science principles related fundraising is that of urgency.

A sense of urgency signals the relative importance of a task, tackles our procrastination and motivates us to act.

On the other hand our behavioral scientists sound this warning: “Deadlines are often used to signal urgency, but they might backfire. Long deadlines give permission to procrastinate and a chance to forget about it. Short deadlines increase responses immediately, but no responses come in after it’s passed.”

BEWARE OF SHORT DEADLINES

Given postal delivery delays by the USPS the use –or misuse—of urgency and deadlines poses a real and dangerous problem of which every Agitator reader should beware.

Take for example this mailing from the ACLU as provided by the Denny Hatch in a March 23^rd post titled THE ACLU’s BIG FAT BOMB .

On March 20,2021 a giant envelope showed up in the Hatchs’ mailbox with a personalized letter to Peggy Hatch:

Please respond by:

January 30, 2021

As Denny notes, “no one in his or her right mind would send money nine weeks after the drop-dead cut-off date.

How To Properly Deal With Time Limits

Always generous with research and advice Denny went back into his and Don Jackson’s 1988 rule book—2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success and extracted these pointers:

“46. Limited-time offers

Any limited-time offer tends to force a quick decision and avoid procrastination. It’s usually best to mention a specific date, such as “This special offer expires April 5th,” rather than “This offer expires in 10 days.”

“47. Enrollment periods

Have been widely used by mail order insurance companies who include a specific cutoff date for the enrollment period. It implies that there are savings involved by processing an entire group of enrollments at one time.

“48. Pre-publication offer

Long a favorite with publishers who offer a special discount or savings before the official publication date of a new book. The rationale is that it helps them plan their printing quantity more accurately.

“49. Charter membership (or subscription) offer

Ideal for introducing new clubs, publications or other subscription services.  Usually includes a special price, gift or other incentive for charter members or subscribers.  And it appeals to those who like to be among the first to try new things. 

“50. Limited edition offer

A proven way to go for selling plates, coins, art prints or other collectible items.  The edition may be limited by date (e.g., a “firing period for plates”) or quantity.”

Denny reminds us that although this advice “was published 22 years prior to Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s venal conspiracy to trash U.S.P.S. efficiency so Democrat (aka African American) mail-in ballots would arrive too late to be counted.”

Denny  further adds:

“But… this was the ACLU’s big-time goof:

• It was (and is) common knowledge the U.S.P.S. delivery is in tatters. Clearly ACLU’s direct marketing team isn’t into following the news.
• No reason in hell existed to put a time limit on this survey mailing. There was no “Order by such-and-such a date and you save….” or any variations.“

Forewarned is forearmed.

Roger

P.S.  If you’re not familiar with Denny’s no-holds-barred insights and analysis of direct response copy and offers—topped off with a generous helping of “classics” and history” you’re missing out on a real treasure.  Do yourself a favor and sign up for Denny Hatch’s Marketing Blog: The Science and Art of Creating Wants.   It’s free and all it takes is an email from you to Denny—dennyhatch@yahoo.com   Just tell him The Agitator sent you and you’ll get a remarkable welcome and onboarding letter.

P.P.S.  The dessert for this post is Denny’s further analysis of other ‘broken rules’ in that ACLU mailing,  plus some wonderful commentary and history on the ‘Business of Survey Efforts Unmasked” as part of the post.