Direct mail clinic #9 – How deep is your nerdiness?
Yes, John Lepp admits he’s a direct mail nerd. And now that he’s got that confession off his chest, he wants to share as many nerdy fundraising things as possible in this clinic. It’s full of tried and tested direct mail tricks.
- Written by
- Carolina Herrera
- Added
- March 25, 2025
When you’ve worked in direct mail for as long as John Lepp, you learn a thing or two. Or three. Or 300!
Fortunately, John is a self-proclaimed direct mail nerd and, in this clinic, he kindly shares his ‘not exhaustive’ list of tips and tricks.
We urge you to watch this short video with a notebook by your side. Because when you take the time to learn about these seemingly tiny and ‘dismissible’ things, you’ll realise that they can and WILL make a difference to the success of your fundraising appeals.
Yes, that’s right. The more of these small tricks that you add to your appeals, the more effective those appeals will be!
Some of the little changes John talks about relate to:
- paperclips – learn why they are important
- envelopes – discover how to make them look personal
- stamps – how you can use them effectively, for a small group of donors
- sizing – are you sending everyone the same size appeal?
- readability – understanding how your donors read letters
- a Johnson box – not many folks do this anymore, but it’s a great trick to try
- font size – okay we’ll just tell you this one now: always 14 point text or higher
- reply forms – stop making your donor work so hard to make that gift
- and MUCH more….
Don’t put it off a second longer, watch this video and learn from John’s many years of experience as a direct mail nerd (he said it, not us!).
Watch AOG direct mail clinic #9 – How deep is your nerdiness?
John Lepp (he/him) is a fundraiser, designer and donor champion with more than 20 years of experience working with charities across Canada and around the world. As partner at Agents of Good, he helps charities tell stories that inspire donors to give, both online and offline. John is a respected and coveted international speaker who has travelled the world encouraging fundraisers be more human and vulnerable with those other amazing humans we call donors.
His latest book, Creative Deviations offers plenty of tips for how fundraisers can infuse their storytelling, fundraising and direct response with more creativity.
