by guest blogger George Crankovic, Senior Writer at TrueSense Marketing.
Ever since the Obama campaign's famous one-word subject line -- "Hey" -- from 2012, it's practically a tradition for fundraisers to learn from political emails.
Take the email strategy from Hillary Clinton's campaign. Like all campaigns, they test and use a variety of email subject lines, and according to an NPR report, Why Political Fundraising Emails Work, there are a handful of subject-line themes that are working well for Team Hillary.
When you're trolling for a subject line for your email, it might be helpful to see how you can adapt these themes:
- Reaction to events. One of Hillary's subject lines was "What did you think of last night's debate?" Another was "So. Mad. Can't. Type." This was one of the best-performing themes for Hillary. For non-political fundraising, we can try to adapt it where possible, with lines like "What about that letter I sent you?" Or, "Worried about Zika?" Or, "Can't believe this matching grant."
- Invitations. Hillary's subject line was "Dinner with Bill?" For other fundraising, we might say "Running in our 10k?" Or "Seen this video from the Ecuador earthquake?"
- Merchandise. Hillary's subject line was "Shop the new holiday collection." For other fundraising, we'd probably refer to a gift catalog, like: "Shop this Save-a-Life Catalog." Or, "WOW - two goats - $10."
- General campaign messages. Hillary's subject line was "You shouldn't miss this." For other fundraising, it could be something like "I hope you get this in time." Or, "What if you don't see this?"
- Calls to action. Hillary's subject line was "Go vote!" For other fundraising, it might be "Save lives!" Or "Fight cancer!"
- Event announcements. Hillary's subject line was "See Hillary in Orlando." For other fundraising, it could be "See this little boy in Africa, he's starving." Or, "See what this volunteer's doing in Nepal."
The main thing, according to the experts in political emails, is for the subject as well as the entire email to strike a tone that's casual, like a human interaction. Good advice for all fundraising.
