After receiving yet another tragic end of year appeal from The Intercept, I wondered who was actually doing a good job with these.
Journalists don't seem to put much time or effort into these appeals, maybe because they're used to them coming from someone else in their newsroom. Maybe because teams like The Intercept phone it in and they don't think they have to try either.
Or maybe it's because they don't think they work. I was surprised to see VERY FEW end of year appeal emails in my inbox, as someone who subscribes to at least 50 indie news outlets. Seriously, y'all aren't sending enough emails asking for money.
I did spot 8 solid end of year appeals and I'm capturing them below for your inspiration, along with why I think they are good. They are also now in our Swipe Files.
First, why I hate The Intercept's email.
Two reasons I hate this email. The first is that it's immediately confrontational. The subject line "I know you give a shit" sounds like something fighting lovers would say to each other. It's unnecessary aggressive for an ask of support.
The second reason is that it's full of huge problems that a single person can't effect on their own. "Authoritarianism" "War crimes" "Abuse of power" "Corruption" Make me lose hope right away why don't you! It's too grandiose and does not at all appeal to why a single reader might want to support, nor how a single reader can impact any of those massive societal problems.
I love to pick on The Intercept because I truly think they suck at this HOWEVER, they have self-reported that their lousy emails work. This goes back to my earlier point that YOU NEED TO SEND MORE EMAILS. If their lame ass messages are working, yours will too. When you send more emails, you can iterate on your message, appeal to different types of readers and overcome even your worst messaging.