Jules Brown

Like a lot of direct response copywriters, I rate the importance of the PS very highly. The reason is simple - all the research conducted on the way people read direct mail letters shows that after reading their name in the address line, most people flip straight to the end of your letter. And if there’s a PS there, they read it.

In other words, your PS is possibly the first thing your donors read after opening your direct mail. Plus, if your letter hooks the donor, and they read to the end, it will also be the last thing they read (or rather re-read) before they reach for their cheque book.

Consequently, the PS is probably the single most important line in any fundraising direct mail pack. And as such, it requires special attention. Ideally it should encapsulate the core proposition of your DM campaign, your ask, plus a little something extra to boost response.

So, having dealt with the why, here's the how. Five dos and don'ts to inspire your copywriter to boost your PS potential:

1. Don’t ask for ‘ancillary information’ to be put in your PS

The job of your PS is to inform the donor exactly what you’d like them to do next, how much you’d like them to give, why you need their gift, and what it will do for your beneficiaries.

It's not a place to mention your new TV ad, your latest press release or an upcoming public event. Or any other "stuff" that doesn't seem to have a natural home in the body of your fundraising letter. There is of course, one exception. And that's if you'd prefer your donors to know this 'fact' than to actually write you out a cheque.

2. Do put a one line description in your brief stating exactly why you need one specific donor to make this particular gift

Not a paragraph. Not a background statement. A short one liner, aimed at an individual donor, for example:

“Claire, I need your gift to…

… help us bring water to a village in Bangladesh”
… give an abandoned dog like Butch a new home”
… to keep our community outreach programme running”

And having done this, be prepared to rap your creative team firmly over the knuckles if you don’t see this line rephrased in the PS of your letter.

3. Don't ignore the power of a deadline

As Samuel Johnson once remarked: “It focuses a man’s mind wonderfully if he knows he is to be hanged in the morning.” Urgent need is important to donors. And let’s face it, at any given point in time, every non-profit has an urgent need for donations. Letting this assumption slide in your PS is not good enough. Just saying the word ‘urgent’, won’t cut it.

You need to demonstrate the urgency. And nothing focuses the mind like a deadline. There will be times that you can do this explicitly, emergency appeals being the classic example. But even when you have no organisational deadlines to meet, it’s sometimes easier than you’d think to create a sense of implied urgency.

Here’s a very simple example of how you can gently introduce a deadline without being specific about consequences:

P.S. If you can rush us your gift of $75 by Wednesday the 19th of August - I’m certain Butch will find a new loving home before the month is out… could you do that?

On the other hand, if you can tie the deadline to specific consequences, like keeping a vital service going; giving a child a simple eye operation before it’s too late; lobbying government ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote, etc… so much the better.

4. Do put aside a “Bonus Proof” of benefit

Think for a minute of the kind of “Not only but also” promises made at the end of DRTV commercials for shopping channel type products. Well, the “Bonus Proof” is a fundraising manager’s less sensational equivalent of this proven direct response technique.

It could be in the form of a different ask, e.g.

P.S. Your $75 today could find Butch a new home… but for a regular gift of just $15 a month you could help many more of his furry friends to find loving homes too…

Or a different case study that demonstrates the efficacy of the gift for which you’re asking, e.g:

P.S. Butch reminds me of a lovely dog called Spike, who went to a wonderful home just four weeks ago. All it took was a $75 gift from a caring supporter like you. Could you be the one to find Butch his new home?

The idea is to give the donor something extra, something not already in the letter, a bonus demonstration of how the gift you’re asking for will directly help your beneficiaries.

5. Do provide a contact point for supporters

Even though they’re emotionally invested in what you do, your donors rarely, if ever, get to see the tangible benefits of what they make possible firsthand. But by giving them the name of a someone who does (plus a postal address/e-mail/or if possible a phone number), you can give your donors the next best thing.

A human contact point - even if they never use it - draws your donors closer to you, makes them feel more valued, adds to your credibility, and gives donors a way to ask questions, or simply to tell you how much they like you.

The PS is the perfect place for this ‘point of contact’, because it adds value, warmth and credibility at the two most important points during your donor’s interaction with your letter… when they first take it out of the envelope… and just before they reach for their cheque book and pen.

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Needless to say, you’re not always going to be able to do all of these things - but three out of five should give you a much more powerful PS, and better response rates too. And all without affecting your budget - because it costs the same to write a brilliant PS as it does to write a bad one.