Email Tips and Worksheet When Writing To or Asking Something of your supporters

Introduction

Here are some email tips and a worksheet to help you plan and think about when writing to or asking something of your supporters. These resources have been shared kindly by the Australian Conservation Foundation.

Contents

• Write an email asking people to do something specific
• Tips on writing your email
• Email drafting template

Write an email asking people to do something specific

• Sending emails to a list of people is a great way to keep in contact and ask them to specific things like signing petitions and coming to events.

Plan your email

Before you start writing, make sure you know what you’re asking for and why:

• The moment – is there a reason you’re writing this email?
• The challenge – what is the problem or issue?
• The hopeful outcome – what’s our dream or ultimate goal?
• The ask – what specific thing are you asking people to do?
• Your theory of change – How will we get from here to the world we want to see? Why us? How will the ask make change?
• The audience – who are you sending your email to? Do they have diverse interests? Do they share concern about one key thing
• The tone – should this email make readers feel outraged? Inspired? Motivated? Hopeful?

Before you press send

• Ask someone with fresh eyes to proofread your email
• Check all the details (dates, times, contact details) are correct
• Make sure all hyperlinks work

How to structure a campaign email

[The text below is the same text as in the image. It has been written out to make it accessible for text readers.]

• SENDER
  FROM: Jane Smith
• SUBJECT LINE
  SUBJECT: Brunswickians unite!
• SALUTATION
  Hi [Firstname],
• THE HOOK
  Begin with the first sentence, to grab your attention.
• WHY YOU’RE RECEIVING THIS EMAIL
  Next comes a brief paragraph explaining why you are receiving this email. Is this an urgent moment in our campaign to change the world? A story about something moving? A critical issue that really matters?
• THE THEORY OF CHANGE
  This paragraph explains how together we can make a difference. What’s our opportunity? The choice we need to make?
• THE ASK
  Next, I ask you to do a SPECIFIC thing to make the biggest difference for the moment or challenge described above. Hyperlink this and make it bold.
• DETAILS
  If I’m inviting you to an event, include details like:
  Where:
  When:
  What:
• BACKGROUND INFO
  Give some background or additional information on why it’s important to take action together. Maybe bullet points or a quote about what we can achieve. If we all do this thing, then:
  • We can make this thing happen
  • This thing too!
  • Which will make this domino fall.
• INSPIRATION
  You might include another paragraph if you need to – maybe explain your theory of change in more detail – why doing this
  thing I’m asking you to do matters now and how together we can make the world a better place.
• ASK AGAIN
  To reinforce the importance of the ask, ask it again. Underlined and hyperlinked. Express solidarity in closing.
• SIGN OFF
  Jane

Tips on writing your email

[The text below is the same text as in the image. It has been written out to make it accessible for text readers.]

• TO
  To respect the privacy of people you’re emailing, BCC everyone’s email addresses.
• SENDER
  Use your name, or Jane, ACF Community Brunswick
• SUBJECT LINE
  Your email will sit among hundreds of other emails in an inbox, so think about what would make you open the email. Keep it clear, concise and compelling.
• THE HOOK
  Keep this short to grab your attention and pull the reader in. The average email is read for just 11.1 seconds before being archived or deleted.
• WHY YOU’RE RECEIVING THIS EMAIL
  Why are you receiving this email? Be friendly and to the point – don’t include too many details, facts or quotes. Keep it focused but evocative. Remember: people are busy and distracted. Why should they care about this now?
• THE THEORY OF CHANGE
  This is the cause-and-effect. Say what the reader can do and how this will help solve the problem. Why us, why now?
• THE ASK
  Be as clear as possible. Only include one kind of ask in the email – not ‘sign a petition’ and ‘come to an event.’ Ask people to do the specific thing, with a hyperlink to where they can take action/sign up/find out more.
• DETAILS
  If you’re inviting people to an event, include all of the details. Check they’re correct!
• BACKGROUND INFO AND INSPIRATION
  Explain why it’s so important for your readers to take action – reinforcing the case. Include personal stories and background info. Be concise and punchy, unless you’re painting a vivid picture.
• ASK AGAIN
  Reinforce your email by repeating the ask. Add a hyperlink.

Other rules (only to be broken with good reason!)

• Good email is highly structured! Follow this guide.
• Think about what makes life easier for the reader, not what makes life easier for us!
• If we are trying to get someone to do something, we should ask them clearly to do that thing, and the fewer different asks the better. Lots of options is easier for us but overwhelming for the reader, and the more options we provide the less likely the reader is to do any of them.
• Only ONE hyperlink destination, which may be repeated two or three times.
• This is not a newsletter, with lots of different options, it is a single ask email.
  ○ The exception is if there’s a step-down ask – something to do if the person can’t do what we most want
• Use the email to say what you want to say – don’t put the content in an attachment. That forces the reader to open a second thing just to read what you have to say!
• Emails come from a person, e.g. Helen, ACF Community Darebin
• Is there a user-centred theory of change? Spell out why our supporters should spend their time on this ask. Prove why it is plausible and worth it FOR THEM (not for ACF or your group). How will it make a difference to what they care about?
• For the same reason, it’s about “you”, “we” and “us” doing things – not them supporting ACF to do things or them doing us a favour.
• Tone is personal, casual, to a friend, not formal.
• Yes you really do have to tell the challenge, solution and ask in 150 words before the first link.
• Use bolding to highlight key phrases of the text but not entire paragraphs. Italics can emphasise the odd word, like you would if you were talking.
• NO HEADLINES in an email – there is a subject line for that.

Access Resources

• Email Drafting Template
• Tip Sheet