How long should your next fundraising letter be? One page? Two pages? Six pages? What is the correct length for a direct mail appeal?

I’ll tell you in a minute.

But first, let me tell you how you should not decide on the length of your fundraising letter.

Don’t let your board decide

If you have a good board of directors, they have strong opinions. At least one of your directors will insist that no one reads these days and that you should confine your appeal to one page. Don’t listen to them.

Don’t let your accountant decide

The person in your nonprofit organization responsible for controlling costs and keeping you solvent (your business manager, CFO, or accountant) may suggest that the length of your letter is determined by the size of your budget. Since a two-page letter is more costly to print than a one-page letter, you should err on the side of fiscal prudence and mail a one-pager. Don’t listen to them.

Don’t let your printer or lettershop decide

If you made your living printing and mailing direct mail packages for nonprofit organizations, which package would earn you more revenue, a one-page letter or a four-page letter, all things being equal? And, assuming you put your own interests and profitability ahead of your customer’s, which solution would you push, the cheaper or the more expensive? That’s what I thought. So don’t listen to your printer or lettershop either.

Don’t let yourself decide

Are you prejudiced? I thought so. We all are. I’m not talking about racism or homophobia, just the human tendency to like or dislike certain things without being in possession of all the facts.

For example, a visiting preacher to our church recently told me that he buys General Motors cars (he drives a Buick) because, as he puts it, “If you want your neighbours to keep their jobs, you need to buy what they make, and not buy foreign.” He doesn’t consider that up to 80% of the parts on some General Motors vehicles are manufactured outside of North America. Or that he could buy a “foreign” car, such as a Toyota or Honda, that’s been built right here in North America by one of his neighbours. My prejudice for fundraising letters is away from the one-page letter. I dislike one-page letters. So I shouldn’t listen to myself.

Don’t let other nonprofits decide

Other charities may mail appeals that are always longer than yours or always shorter than yours, and they may be very successful doing so. Should you copy their example? No.

Don’t let the past decide

What worked in the past may work again tomorrow, but not likely. Just ask your nearest typewriter repair man. The length of your past appeals alone should not decide the length of your appeals today.

So how should you decide on the length of your direct mail appeal? Test. Don’t let preferences, or convictions or prejudices or arbitrary cost-cutting measures decide. Test longer appeals against shorter appeals (at the same time and to the same list, mind you) and discover for yourself how long your appeals should be. When you test a short letter against a long letter and one of them delivers a significantly higher response rate, average gift or net revenue, you know for sure how long your letter should be. For now, that is. Times change. So test, and keep on testing. Trust your test results and you won’t go wrong.

Alan Sharpe publishes Direct Mail Fundraising Today, the free, weekly email newsletter that helps nonprofit organizations raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors. Alan is the author of Breakthrough Fundraising Letters and 25 handbooks on direct mail fundraising. Alan is also a speaker and workshop leader who delivers public seminars and teleseminars on direct mail fundraising. Sign up for Alan’s newsletter at www.RaiserSharpe.com.