No excuse for deception in email fundraising

I get a lot of political fundraising email. A lot.

Dozens of similar messages every day from a bewildering variety of Democratic-leaning organizations. So many that it’s not possible to keep track.

I used to open them and pay close attention, because they were from sophisticated email fundraisers who were running tests all the time.

Nowadays, I delete most of them unopened. It’s just overwhelming.

Now and then, one of them gets my attention. Like this one:

This type of trickery is crappy fundraising. Shame on them for getting attention with falsity.

I understand the challenge. They know they’re in crowded inboxes. They know they are soundalike with many other organizations clamoring for attention from people like me who are not sophisticated enough to know one org from another.

But tricking people to pay attention is the wrong solution.

It’s unethical.

Mystery and surprise are great ways to get people to open emails (and direct mail).

Deception is not. Even if it might work.

Shame on this organization and anyone else who resorts to deception.

Don’t follow their example!