What makes a successful winter digital fundraising appeal? This wonderful time of the year often brings in the most individual donations from supporters, but that means high stakes and lots of other great causes competing for attention.
Last winter we were lucky to partner with organisations including Refuge, Surfers Against Sewage, Birdlife International, Action Against Hunger and Global Fund For Children on their digital fundraising campaigns. Together we raised over £250,000 to power their vital work.
As always, we bake testing into every project, pushing beyond what we know works to see what else could drive even better results. So we’re sharing some of our top insights – the wins and the hard truths – to inspire your next winter appeal.
1. Try (much) bolder creative to cut through
In a crowded inbox or social feed, familiar, predictable content is easy to scroll past. Disrupting that is often all you need to channel attention and remind people why they should give. One of our standout email performers was a Coca-Cola spoof for Surfers Against Sewage, which raised the most income and achieved the highest average gift in their Big Give appeal series.
The takeaway: Don’t be afraid to take creative risks. Whether it’s something spiky, funny or just unusual, “stand out” content is often what drives the best results in a competitive climate.
2. Mix hope with urgency
We test message framings a lot, and often see ‘need’ outperform ‘hope’ in the short term. But we believe that building hope and sharing your vision for the world is essential to keep people taking action. With BirdLife International, we ran an email A/B test of hope vs urgency. This time, hope won. It generated more income and individual donations.
The takeaway: While urgency is vital for a deadline, mix it up with optimistic framings that show the tangible difference a donation will make. Keep your supporters believing change is possible.
Optimistic ask:
Urgent ask:
3. Direct-to-donate ads need a trusted brand
Meta ads can be a powerful tool for driving cash donations, but you need some crucial ingredients working together. As well as a tangible proposition, and clear ‘why now’ hook, brand recognition and trust can make a huge difference. It’s always worth testing this with a small budget and a handful of ad variants, but be ready to switch tactics if you’re not seeing a good return.
The takeaway: If your brand isn’t well-known, consider testing direct-to-donate ads at other times of year, or reactively when your issue is the spotlight. Or focus your winter paid media spend on retargeting people who are already aware of your work.
4. Go big on deadlines
The final 24 hours of a campaign are almost always the most productive. For Global Fund for Children, the “24 hours left” email drove the most clicks to donate, persuading supporters who might have been on the fence. This is especially powerful when teamed with match funding appeal.
The takeaway: Plan for a high volume of emails and ads at the very end of your appeal. And make deadline messaging prominent – think email subject lines and image overlays for ads.
5. Give your landing pages some tlc
Once you’ve got high performing propositions, emails and ads live, don’t let your newly inspired potential donors down by sending them somewhere confusing or underwhelming. A great landing page is:
- tailored to the source they’ve clicked through from
- tells an emotive story about the impact a donation will have
- includes social proof
- with a quick and easy payment process
The takeaway: Invest in your tech stack early. High-converting sign-up and donation journeys will make sure that people who click on your fundraising call to action actually go on to make that donation, and hopefully become a long-term supporter.
6. Start planning in June (Yes, really)
The most successful appeals weren’t built in October. With a long runway, our team can work with you to set goals and a strategic approach, conjure up magical creative, optimise your landing pages and put upsell journeys in place. That extra time is often the difference between an appeal that meets targets and one that smashes all expectations.
The takeaway: The groundwork for a successful winter appeal is laid in the summer. Sign up to get invites to our free webinar series – we’ll be running a winter fundraising one when it’s time to get planning.