How to send a donor a horrible thank you email


Thank you emails are critical. However, they’re pointless if you do them wrong. As a fun exercise, we thought we’d tell you what not to do instead of what you should do. Hopefully this will get the gears going ;)

How to send a donor a horrible thank you email

Use generic copy

Let’s be honest, individual emails are creepy and no one likes the personal touch. Why would anyone want to feel special anyway? Generic copy works best. One size fits all right?

Make sure your email is plain

This is an email, not the Mona Lisa people. Stop wasting your time. Remember, engaging images distract readers. Don’t be annoying, your email should look like everyone else’s.

Forget the call to action

Quit bothering them already! They did their part. No need to ask them to do more right? Have some respect. Jeez.

Don’t explain how their donation was used

No one cares about the details. Details are hard and boring. Why include them? People love vague answers. Are we right or are we right?

Emails should be text heavy

Didn’t you hear? Emails should be long. Get all you need to say down in one email and don’t bug your donors again. You don’t want to be a pest now do you? Besides, people love reading. It’s not like they’re busy or anything…

Forget about checking whether email links work or not

Let’s be serious. No one clicks on those links anyway. Besides, we’re trying to be as efficient as possible folks! Aren’t you confident in your skills? No need to double check something you’re surely going to nail down first time around.

All cheesy jokes aside, personalized and engaging emails are a MUST. Whatever you do, DO NOT follow these rules ;)

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