We all know that feeling. You’re looking at the results of a campaign, and they aren’t. . . well, great. Actually, it sucks.
If somehow you haven’t experienced this yet– you will.
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad (future) news, but this feeling is inevitable.
But in that moment of facing bad results, there’s something very important you need to do:
Nothing.
Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t EVER respond or take action. You should definitely review the campaign, see what happened, and come up with a plan. (Here are some tips on how to do that.) Just not right away.
Just like you shouldn’t send an email or text when angry, you shouldn’t make fundraising decisions right after getting bad results. Take a moment to make sure you don’t have a knee-jerk response.
Knee-jerk reactions lead to decisions like, “Let’s throw everything out and start completely over!” Or “We’re never doing a postcard again!” or “Everything is on fire, the boat is sinking, run for your life!”
Stop and take a moment to make sure you can review the results and really see what they’re telling you. They may not be telling you as bad a picture as you first think. Maybe the income was really low, BUT the response rate was incredible. That might not mean you throw the whole thing out, but instead you just need to look at your asks and other parts of the letter to optimize.
You want to make sure that whatever you decide to do, you’re making that choice rationally and with a clear mind.
If you aren’t sure what went wrong, then email us at howdy@oneicity.com. We’d love to plan a time to review things together.
