As a fundraising coach, I take a critical look at fundraising letters and emails. It’s always thrilling to be pleasantly surprised!

Last week, I was pleasantly surprised to look in my inbox and see this email subject line:
GREAT email subject line for a fundraising email!

  1. Email subject line: “You made this happen.”

    Isn’t that a great email subject line?! I couldn’t wait to figure out what “this” was! What did I make happen.

  2. Then the email falls apart

    Unfortunately, Milton lost an opportunity. When I opened the email, this is what I saw:
    Great email subject - bummer of an inside

    Crickets. There isn’t even a creative use of “alt” tags.

  3. Remember: many of your donors don’t enable images. Be ready for that!

    Fortunately, when you click the “show images” button, you get to this is awesome image:
    Inside image of a GREAT email subject line for a fundraising email!

The importance of a strong email subject line

Do you see the importance of a strong email subject line? The line “You made this happen” aroused so much curiosity that I was willing to load images even after the school had fired a blank email to me. I knew the image must be really cool, so I did load it.

As you’re getting ready to finish your emails for the end of the year, please forget the awful “There’s still time” emails. Just because June 30 is the end of your fiscal year doesn’t mean it’s an important date to your donors. Your job is to inspire action, not naps!

Try something a little more creative. Like the great email subject line from Milton Academy’s email!

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