by guest blogger George Crankovic, Senior Writer at TrueSense Marketing.
One surefire way to grab donors is to include a great story about an individual. Just drop that story into your appeal, and you're good to go, right?
Not exactly. Here's why.
In a well-known study, participants were asked to give based on:
- A story about one starving child.
- Statistics about starving children
- A story about a starving child with statistics about starving children.
The all-stats/no story version cratered. But so did the story plus the statistics.
Even with a story, the focus in an appeal has to remain on one victim, not many. You can't force donors to extend their compassion to a mass of people. They won't do it. Here's a better way to go:
- Keep the identifiable victim at the forefront. Once you've presented the identifiable victim, weave that thread throughout the appeal, and don't abandon the victim at the critical point of the call to action. A call to action like, "Save people starving in Africa" attempts to force donors to extend their compassion to a mass of people. Your call to action should be something like, "Save Abeeku from starvation." If that causes restricted-gift problems, then make the "Save Abeeku from starvation" part the most prominent while downplaying the "and others like him" part.
- Choose the right image. This is vital -- show the identifiable victim in distress. Feature this image in the appeal, in the response device or online donation page, even on the reply envelope. And include a caption or other wording that reinforces the victim's name and plight.
- Be careful how you tell the story. If the story is just a recitation of events -- this happened to Abeeku, that happened, then this happened -- it probably won't arouse much empathy. Instead, a compelling story would be not only what happened to Abeeku but also why those events matter. Convey the drama of searching for food and coming up short, the despair of growing weaker and weaker, the helplessness of having nowhere to turn for help, the feeling that this day might be his last before he succumbs to starvation. Get donors to feel what Abeeku feels. They'll see a fellow human who sparks their empathy, and they'll give.
