We know your nonprofit’s messaging needs to connect emotionally with folks to motivate them to act.

We also know that fear and desire — both broadly defined — are excellent emotional motivators. 

So what do fear and desire look like in nonprofit messaging, and how has that changed over the last few years? We think the results from three years of word clouds from our webinar on conversion copywriting are interesting. Of course, the mission of the various attendees matters. But we still see some interesting trends.

“Your somebodies” refers to the target audiences receiving the nonprofit’s messaging. 

How Fears Have Changed

 2023

2022

2021

How Desires Have Changed

2023

2022

2021

Where do you see similarities and differences? Does any of this help you reframe the way you talk about your organization’s issues or the way you think about your nonprofit’s messaging?

Microcontent and conversion copywriting are two of the seven writing styles that every nonprofit communicator should master. And they are pretty freaking important. In fact, we are doing a whole webinar devoted to these two styles next week.

Learn more and join us for Getting People to Click: How to Write (Ethically!) for Opens, Clicks, and Conversions

There is a lot of overlap between these two, but knowing the important differences between “microcontent” vs “conversion copywriting” will help you strengthen them both.

What Is Microcontent?

Microcontent is the short but powerful copy that’s actually read. It’s what people look for when the skim.

Includes:

• Email subject lines
• Sender name
• Pre-header
• ALT text
• Headlines
• Subheads
• Calls to Action
• Captions
• A P.S.
• Sidebars
• First line of social media posts
• Hashtags

Read 6 Easy Ways to Punch Up Microcontent

What Is Conversion Copywriting?

Conversion Copywriting is persuasive writing that motivates immediate action like donating, clicking, or registering.

Where you use it:

• Landing Pages
• Ads
• Forms
• Buttons

Read Conversion Copywriting Tips for Nonprofits

To simplify it, microcontent gets ATTENTION. Conversion copywriting gets ACTION.

You can’t really have one without the other – you have to have someone’s attention before you can tell them what to do. But getting their attention does no good if you can’t inspire them to act.

To learn more about how to strengthen both of these writing styles, join us for next week’s webinar! Or become a free community member and join the conversation there.

Microcontent and conversion copywriting are two of the seven styles of nonprofit writing that we teach here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide.

To get people to act, your words need to connect with people’s emotions, namely fear or desire.

Fear isn’t just about being scared, but also includes things that produce worry and anxiety. Fear can look like problems, questions, roadblocks, anguish, injustice, things we want to avoid, and things we are afraid we might lose and therefore want to protect.

On the more positive side, desire can also look like many different things too, including hopes, dreams, pleasure, comfort, what we want to get, and what we could gain.

But what do fear or desire really look like in our supporters and others that our nonprofits are communicating with?

Here are some ideas to get you thinking.

In the nonprofit sector, fear within our communities can look like: 

• losing certain rights
• cuts in spending
• isolation or loneliness
• lack or loss of resources, access, or essentials
• injustice or unfairness (or the -isms)
• threats
• extinction
• losing control
• anxiety about something coming up
• confusion
• suffering
• long waits
• stress
• negative changes

In the nonprofit sector, desire within our communities can look like:

• connections
• inclusion
• rescues
• protection
• safety
• joy
• equity
• peace
• justice
• health
• satisfaction
• belonging
• kindness
• prompt response
• new opportunities
• wellness
• positive changes

As you are drafting the content for landing pages, forms, and emails where you want clicks and conversions, work toward language that makes some of these fears or desires clear.

Conversion copywriting is one of the seven writing styles that all nonprofit communications pros should master. While this style and microcontent overlap a lot, it’s important to know the differences. Generally, the goal of conversion copywriting is to motivate immediate action.

 

So why is this important?

When you want someone to do something, you have to ask. And how you ask matters.

Whether it’s clicking on a button, pop-up, or link to donate, volunteer, register or do anything else, when someone takes that action online, we call it a conversion.

The copy that you write, including what’s on the button or link text itself, the call to action next to the button, and copy around that call to action, must all be directed toward that one outcome: getting that click or conversion.

For example, Donate Now has become the default conversion call-to-action for nonprofit fundraising pages.

But what about the other text on the page? Or what do you do if your email click-through rates seem really low? Or your Facebook ads don’t seem to be working? If you even feel as though your call to action has been sabotaged? Take a look at your conversion copywriting.

 

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

 

To elicit an action, you have to solve a problem or serve a particular person’s need, where they are in their own journey. It’s all about knowing your target audience and what will move them.

 

Understanding the classic stages of awareness is helpful, especially if you are writing a landing page for a certain group of people. For example, people on your email list are at a different stage of awareness than someone in a Facebook Lookalike Audience who is being served an ad but is not currently following your organization in any way.

 

You always want to speak directly to that one person (use You, Your) and do so in a clear, direct way. Use action verbs as much as possible.

 

Only speak about that one call to action. That’s why it’s a best practice to strip away your website navigation from your fundraising and other landing pages. You don’t want to give them those options, but rather focus the attention on the single call to action to drive the conversion.

 

Emphasize the WHY and WHY NOW. Use phrases like “so that” and “because” to connect the call to action to the reason why they want to follow through. Also, include a sense of urgency whenever you can.

 

Find your “power words” that convert. It will take trial and error to discover what works for your cause and your list. Nonprofit Hub suggests these power words for nonprofits: Imagine, Investment, You, Quick, Easy, Hassle-Free, Because, Difference, Hurry, Introducing.

 

I also like these phrases and concepts that convert, suggested by Ray Edwards in Social Media Examiner interview:

 

• If, then
• If you don’t do anything it just gets worse
• What most people do . . .
• Imagine this . . .
• If the only thing you get is . . .
• Don’t let this happen (to you) . . .
• What if . . .
• You’re standing at the crossroads . . .

 

Take a look at some of your landing pages and email copy. How could you use some of these ideas to make some changes and see if they convert better?