Step 5: Make Your Microcontent Even Better

​You’ve written your email message. Now you need to go back and rewrite a few small sections to make them even catchier. 
 
If your readers don’t see something interesting right away, after skimming your email for just a few seconds, your email is gone from their minds and therefore so is your organization. Grab your supporters’ attention and keep them reading by writing really good microcontent – those little phrases here and there where our eyes go first. 
 
Every email has four key pieces of microcontent: • The Subject Line • The From Line • The Headings and Subheadings • The Next Step or Call to Action
 
The Subject Line
The busier your supporters are, the more likely they are to look at your email subject line and nothing else before deciding whether to read it or delete it. Pack your subject lines with details about what’s inside, emphasizing the benefits to the reader of taking a few extra seconds to see what’s in the body of the message. That’s a tall order for a small space. Do your best to track which newsletters have the best open rates to see which subject lines seem to appeal most to your readers.

​• Change It Every Time. Your subject line should change with every edition. Don’t waste space with dates, edition numbers, sender info, etc. The only exception would be if you have a very short, memorable, and meaningful newsletter title. You can put the title first, often in brackets like this: [E-News Title] Subject Line Specific to This Email’s Content. 
 
• Beware of Telling People What to Do. While you should always include a next step in every email (and with every email article), some research shows that telling people what to do in the subject line itself can hurt your open rates, probably because it’s so easy to decide, “No, I don’t want to do that now. Delete.”  This is particularly true when asking people to “help” or “donate” or “register.” 
 
Specific calls to action are great within the body of the email, but lean toward the “personal value” words for the subject line. For example, “Where Your Best Friends Will Be Dancing All Night Long” will work better than “Register for Our All-Night Dance-a-thon Fundraiser.”
 
• Describe the Candy, Not the Wrapper. Tell us what goodies are inside the email, not about the packaging. In other words, don’t put “Environmental Homeowners Group Newsletter, Volume 5, Issue 7″ in your subject line. Instead, describe what’s in this edition of the newsletter, such as “How to Attract Birds and Butterflies to Your Yard.”

​Forgo wrappers like “Parenting Workshops” when your readers are craving candy like “Dinnertime and Bedtime Routines that Preserve Your Sanity.” Even if you have multiple topics in your newsletter, experiment with subject lines that emphasize only one or two topics. They’ll get your newsletter opened, giving a little more room to share all that you have.
 
• Keep It Short. You’ll find all kinds of advice on just how many characters are optimal for email subject lines. Some go as high as 60 characters, including spaces. Somewhere around 35 characters seems to be the ideal now, but some people argue that even shorter is better (more like 20 characters). You can play with subject line length and see what works for you, but do try to keep it under 60 characters tops.  

What really works with subject lines? Find out for yourself.
As with most email marketing rules, these will twist and bend and shimmy based on your particular situation and style. To find out what really works, save two versions of the same campaign and change only the subject line. Then split your audience in half and send one campaign to one group and the other to, well, you get the idea. Then see what kind of effect the subject line has on your open rates, clickthroughs, and your general popularity around town. Do they toast to your email-marketing prowess at parties? We certainly hope so.
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The From Line
While you want to change your subject line with every edition, your “From” field should stay the same. Put an unmistakable name there. For most nonprofits, this will be your organization’s name or a well-known campaign or initiative. Don’t use a staff person’s name unless at least 80% of the people on your mailing list will recognize it. If you decide to use a person’s name (it is more personal after all), include your acronym or other identifier right after the name. 

​The Headings and Subheadings
Readers will open your email based on the subject line and from field. What they do next depends on your headlines and subheadings. Descriptive headlines and subheads with active verbs and vivid nouns will grab your supporters’ attention and nudge them into actually reading the text. 
 
Just like in the subject line, your headlines need to answer the old “what’s in it for me?” question. Why should I take precious time out of my busy day to continue to read this email? Your supporters will give you their time, if you give them information they want, need, or are curious about. Or if reading your email will help them do something faster, cheaper, or easier. Or if your email makes them (especially if they are your donors) feel like their lives are a little bit more enjoyable, satisfying or meaningful.
 
Headlines and subheadings that make people think “This is useful” or “This is timely” or “This is about me” will always work. For example, an environmental group might send out a message with this article headline: “States Challenge Federal Drinking Water Regulations in Court.” While this may be an important public policy issue, the headline doesn’t sound very personal or relevant to an individual. But something like “Is Slightly Dirtier Drinking Water OK with You?” would get some attention, because that personal relevance is now right there in the headline.    The Next Step or Call to Action
 
They’ve read the email. Now show them how to take that next step that brings them closer to your organization and to their own values. Remember the filmable moment. Be very clear about exactly what that call to action is and how they do it.
 
Make it stand out on its own as its own paragraph. Bold it. Link it to the place on the Web where they need to go next to take that action. Use a big, colorful “Donate Now” button or make that link text so easy to see and undeniably compelling that they can’t help but click.
 
The Next Step or Call to Action
They’ve read the email. Now show them how to take that next step that brings them closer to your organization and to their own values. Remember the filmable moment. Be very clear about exactly what that call to action is and how they do it.
 
Make it stand out on its own as its own paragraph. Bold it. Link it to the place on the Web where they need to go next to take that action. Use a big, colorful “Donate Now” button or make that link text so easy to see and undeniably compelling that they can’t help but click.

​Use trigger emails to personalize the delivery.
 Personalizing *what* people read in your emails is important, but you can also create a personal connection based on *when* your emails arrive using your ESP's trigger email feature. They let you reach your recipients on their individual schedules, and they do it all automatically. In a word, they're neat.
 
For example, you can base personalized delivery on dates you're storing about your members, simplifying how you communicate with your supporters about birthdays, membership renewals, and surveys after a donation or event.

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taken with permission from, The Nonprofit Email Marketing Guide: 7 Steps to Better Email Fundraising & Communications.Written by Kivi Leroux Miller of NonprofitMarketingGuide.com.