Imagine you receive two emails in your inbox simultaneously, both from nonprofits you’ve supported for several years. Their subject lines are as follows:
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Subject Line #1: Help Us By Donating to Our Nonprofit
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Subject Line #2: Sam, you can make a difference today!
Which one are you more likely to open first? Chances are, you picked the second one because it’s personalized and speaks to how you, as an individual, can make an impact.
You can replicate this approach for your own organization by optimizing your nonprofit’s email subject lines. This guide will help you create engaging subject lines that grab your audience’s attention, encourage them to click through, and inspire them to take action.
1. Keep it short and sweet.
Your subject line will form readers’ first impressions of your email and factor into their decision to open it. Quickly grab their attention by keeping your subject line short and sweet.
This concept is especially important for email newsletters. Your newsletter contains important information and updates; your subject line’s purpose is not to spoil the content within but to tease it to garner interest and encourage clicks.
Bloomerang’s email marketing guide recommends keeping your email subject lines between 30 and 50 characters—both to grab attention and ensure they’re not cut short on users’ devices. To make up for the lack of space and make your subject lines more engaging, you may even add emojis, especially considering subject lines with emojis perform 60% better than those without.
Example Subject Lines That Follow This Tip
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“Explore our new pet adoption program! 🐶”
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“Important updates await inside this newsletter!”
2. Add personalization.
Encourage readers to click through your emails by customizing your subject lines. Personalization shows you care about building individual relationships and delivering relevant content.
Personalize your subject lines by:
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Adding names. Use your CRM to input names and speak to them individually. Seeing their own names in their inbox will grab their attention and make your emails more enticing.
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Segmenting recipients. Group your subscribers based on similar characteristics, such as demographics, interests, or involvement history. Then, alter your subject lines for each group accordingly.
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Using automation. Leverage automation to input additional details—such as donors’ previous gift amounts—into your subject lines. You may also use artificial intelligence (AI) to create subject lines that align with your audience’s preferences and tweak them as needed.
By using all of these tips simultaneously, you can maximize the power of personalized communications.
Example Subject Lines That Follow This Tip
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“Dana, discover your $50 donation’s impact!”
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“Thank you for being a monthly donor, Elliot.”
3. Create a sense of urgency.
When appropriate, use subject lines to increase urgency and drive action. Reserve these subject lines for when you truly need supporters to act immediately to draw attention to the gravity of the situation.
When appropriate, use subject lines to increase urgency and drive action. Reserve these subject lines for when you truly need supporters to act immediately to draw attention to the gravity of the situation.
You may induce urgency by:
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Using action words. To encourage an immediate response, make your subject line as actionable as possible. Use words like “Give,” “Join,” and “Share” to drive action.
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Eliciting emotion. Appealing to supporters’ emotions can also encourage them to take action quickly. Words like “Hope,” “Care,” and “Transform” can evoke an emotional response.
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Highlighting impact. Let supporters know the impact they can make if they act now. This specificity helps subscribers understand why acting urgently is critical. For instance, you may drive supporters to your donation page by explaining that a corporate sponsor will match all gifts for the next week only.
Example Subject Lines That Follow This Tip
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“Join our event to raise funds for disaster relief.”
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“Bring hope to our community with your generosity.”
4. Pose a question.
Questions are a tried and true way to grab people’s attention in any form of writing, and your email subject lines are no different.
Your nonprofit may use questions to accomplish the following objectives:
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Pique supporters’ interest and make them curious about what the rest of your email entails.
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Spark dialogue between subscribers and your organization.
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Encourage readers to reflect upon an important topic.
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Introduce a follow-up email for an event or experience that asks supporters for feedback in the body.
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Highlight subscribers’ current and potential impact.
In addition to making your subject lines more interesting, using a question as your subject line can help you fit within the character limit of your email system since concise questions are usually the most impactful and easy to answer.
Example Subject Lines That Follow This Tip
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“Can we count on your help to change lives?”
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“How has climate change affected your community?”
5. Get creative.
Just because your subject lines are short doesn’t mean you can’t leverage the same attention-grabbing tactics you use for long-form content. Make your subject lines stand out by infusing them with creativity.
This may include:
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Using playful language that makes your subject lines less formal and more engaging
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Incorporating humor to show your organization’s willingness to connect with its audience
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Referencing current events or trends to deliver relevant, timely content
However, your email subject lines should still reflect your typical voice and tone to ensure supporters recognize your emails as belonging to your organization. Strategize with your team to determine how you can be creative within the confines of your branding or decide if it’s time for a rebrand.
Example Subject Lines That Follow This Tip
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“Let’s talk about today’s press conference.”
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“All paws on deck for National Animal Rescue Day!”
6. Enable A/B testing.
A/B testing can help you determine which tactics your audience responds best to. In this case, A/B testing involves creating two different subject lines and evaluating which receives a better response.
For instance, you may test these two subject lines:
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Subject Line #1: Thank you for making an impact on our nonprofit!
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Subject Line #2: [Name], thank you for making an impact!
It’s important to make only one major change so you can pinpoint the exact strategy that resonates with supporters. While both examples use similar language, the main difference here is that the second option includes the recipient’s name.
Once you launch your A/B test, track your results. You may leverage metrics like click-through and click-to-open rates to evaluate which subject lines your audience prefers.
Final Thoughts on Nonprofit Email Subject Lines
Don’t underestimate the power of an email subject line. While short, email subject lines can make all the difference between recipients ignoring your emails and clicking through to engage with your content.
Remember to use a variety of different strategies to optimize your subject lines. While you should always keep them concise, experiment with personalization, urgency, questions, and creativity to find what works best for your audience and drive better results.
By putting thought into your email subject line strategy and testing different tactics, you can increase email conversions and make email a more successful marketing and fundraising channel for your organization.
