#GivingTuesday + EOY Fundraising Tips

Closing out another decade, our team has been reflecting on the many changes and innovations in fundraising over the past 10 years…it’s a very long list. What hasn’t changed is the efficacy of people talking to people, and Hustle is here for that. We’ve come up with a (shorter) list to help you run the most successful end of year Hustle campaigns possible.

Final 10 tips of the decade…

1. Hustle like a human. This probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard this from us, but it’s still #1. You’re reaching out to supporters who are real humans with busy lives. Prioritize connecting with them on a human level about your work and impact. When they respond to you, be sure to get back to them with timely, relevant responses.
2. Target and re-target. Build your audience of relevant supporters for your initial outreach, then do the following things. a) Create a “Donated EOY19” tag in Hustle. Pull a list of supporters who have recently donated that you’d like to exclude, apply this tag to that list, and exclude contacts with that tag when you build your goals. b) Leverage the “Goal Results” targeting feature to launch a follow-up goal to contacts who haven’t responded. c) Create a tag for “Already Donated EOY19” that’s available for agents to use if someone says they have already donated. Exclude that tag from follow-up goals as well. More on targeting.
3. Amplify other channels. Organizations have seen higher conversion through other channels when paired with a Hustle text. If you have an email and/or mail piece set to land on a given day, send a text within a day to increase conversion through those channels and/or provide a link to give online.
4. Draft before you launch. Need a teammate to check your goal before you go live? Not ready to launch just yet? Creating a template for others to use? Leverage Goal Drafts.
5. Maximize deliverability. There are a couple easy, but important best practices worth following to optimize for deliverability of your messages. Make sure that you don’t use a link in your initial script…first ask the question, then provide the link in the response. Use direct links rather than bit.ly redirect links. Keep your message under 200 characters (160 if you can swing it). Include contact name and agent name to make sure the messages are unique. Avoid using symbols like $ to improve deliverability.
6. Script like a pro. Use custom fields like <last_gift_date> to personalize your scripts. Have some fun with them, and make sure you’re ending in a question to give your supporters a reason to engage. Learn a lot more right here.
7. A/B Test everything. Each year end is an opportunity to test what resonates with your supporters. Try segmenting your lists into groups to test engagement rate, action rate and conversion based on scripts and timing. The performance overview can help you with analytics.
8. Give agents what they need. Engagement rate drops significantly if you wait more than 20 minutes to respond to contacts. Utilize our Scripts feature to make sure additional responses are available to agents, so that they can respond as quickly as possible. Make necessary custom fields visible for agents. Also make sure they know your tagging strategy and how to Hustle.
9. Use Anyone. “Anyone” (aka First Come, First Serve) assignment strategy is the way to go unless you only want specific agents to message specific contacts. This will give your team the flexibility to share conversations over the course of the campaign and make sure all unread messages receive a reply. If you do want specific agents talking to specific contacts, we recommend considering a group for each agent to keep things simple.
10. Show some love. Supporters don’t always get a thanks without an ask as a fast follow. We know you appreciate them…make sure they know too. Launching a “Thank You” goal following a big campaign or nearing year end is a nice way to connect with community around impact rather than resources.

Bonus Pro Tip from Support!

Preview Messages: Note that the link in the preview won’t redirect in the test text if using “Share a Link” goal type. Additionally, the name of the contact will be your Admin’s name, not Agent’s name.