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The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that leads us to overestimate the knowledge of our audience. If you allow this curse
It might seem too obvious to mention. But it’s critical that you’ve defined the objective of your email. Often, it’s to lead your
Imagine you’ve been asked to have an important conversation with ... ‘someone’. Chances are, you’ll be much happier to have that conversation if
What’s the magic number of emails you need to send to maximize supporter engagement and minimize fatigue?The answer is “five”. Kidding. It would
To steal a mantra from our friends in journalism: don’t bury the lede. The idea might have started in newspaper offices
What draws people to your cause? What motivated your supporters to take their first action? What did they feel when they first donated?
Here’s how the internal dialog usually goes: “We’re torn. We see other organizations sending from individual people but how do we know if
Let’s be honest, this stuff is hard. Never in human history has there been a communication medium more competitive than the Internet.
These folks are some of the most innovative and transformative communicators in (and beyond) our movement. And they’re on a mission to help
Okay, back up—what’s a ‘value proposition’? Think of your value proposition as the reason your reader should care about investing
The moment after someone completes an online action presents a critical opportunity. A well-crafted thank-you email will help cement this action as a
Don’t wait for supporter fatigue to set in before creating a plan to mitigate it. Nice idea, right? Most of us only recognize
Most organizations want to grow their online audience. Some of us rely entirely on our supporters to fuel actions and fundraising—the organizational
Cognitive biases are powerful mental distortions that affect the way we think and behave. They are so powerful that they can lead
In 2026, more emails are being viewed on iPhones than any other device. The average iPhone affords us a measly 41 characters
A token is a little snippet of encoded data that identifies a supporter and can be attached to links in your email broadcasts. When someone clicks on a tokenized link from an email to your website, your website can re-discover who that supporter is and continue to deliver a seamless, personalized experience. Your email broadcast system, website, and CRM will need the ability to ‘talk’ to each other to pull this off.
The tokenization process Tokenized links let you do all sorts of neat stuff
- Pre-fill any form fields using known contact details, enhancing data integrity and completion rates.
- Personalize landing pages (e.g. address your supporter by their first name).
- Match the content of an appeal to your supporter’s contribution level (e.g. if your supporter is a monthly donor you can personalize any fundraising asks to reflect their ongoing gift and offer them an upgrade form with tailored dollar handles; a non-donor hitting the same page might see a monthly pledge form and a different ask).
- Literally anything you know about your supporter can be used to enhance personalization on your website.
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Hi there! I’m Karen. I’m on a mission to reach my former self. Had I known 10 years ago what I know today, I could have achieved more good, made fewer mistakes, and had more weekends. Every time we share what works, we win faster. Let’s create digital experiences that move people — that grow our base and fuel our movements. Are you with me? Please share this with someone you know who wants to up their digital game!
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