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How to Craft a Near-Perfect Request for Help and Get More People to Support You
Start by painting a picture
With a heavy heart, I hit the “Back to inbox” arrow in Gmail to take me away from the donation request I had just clicked on.
The request was too vague; “helping orphaned children” was not specific enough. Neither was, “we’re looking forward to your generous support” exactly replete with details.
Since it was a mail requesting a donation, I thought it would have shown me how to help and how much I should donate. The author lost the plot, at least with me.
Sometimes we also make requests that are not clear enough, and our recipients turn these requests down. While we get mad at the recipients for saying no, the cause of their action may be that we didn’t move them to make the decision we wanted.
Let me share with you how you can make your next email asking for support less vague and more inspiring, increasing the odds of readers supporting you.
Paint a picture of your beneficiary and a reason to help
In their book Made to Stick, Dan and Chip Heath refer to this principle as telling an emotional story.
“When it comes to our hearts, one individual trumps…
