General Tips for Campaign Emails

Here we have compiled some tips for campaign emails of all kinds. Much of this can be applied not only to fundraising campaigns, but also to all other types of campaigns, such as crowdfunding, membership campaigns, or crowd research campaigns.

• You sell (donation) products: CORRECTIV's campaigns do not follow a strict overall narrative. Each email is a sale of a separate donation product. These are the reasons why people might be willing to give you money. The media has a slightly harder time than NGOs that reforest the rainforest, for example. They can say relatively easily, 'With your donation of $50, we can plant a tree in the Amazon'. The media has to think a little more carefully about what the trees they are planting are.

• Text first: You don't necessarily need lots of visual elements. Graphics cause problems with many email clients anyway. Focus instead on writing a really good, snappy text for each individual email.

• People like you: At least the people you reach with your emails. Otherwise, they wouldn't follow you or open your emails. So you're doing them a favor when you write to them. Keep that in mind when designing and writing your campaign emails.

• Different elements: It doesn't always have to be the classic donation email; you can enrich it with other elements. Conduct a survey, include testimonials, send out petitions, do year-in-reviews, or distribute giveaways.

• The subject line: It should not repeat the entire content, but rather entice the recipient to open the email. It can be a little mysterious, urgent, or even sensational. The most important rule, however, is that the email content does not disappoint. If the subject line is “You'll never believe this,” the email will rarely deliver what it promises.