My colleagues and I recently sent an email appeal letter to alumni that received positive reviews and yielded a good response. This is the first time, I believe, that our office used email for an appeal letter. It was graphically simple, authored by a current student, had only whatever content would fit "above the fold" (to avoid scrolling), and contained a link to an audio file so alumni could hear the student talk about his research and life. Our "open" rate was pretty high, although only 4% of the those who opened the email clicked on the audio link. I wish we knew if those who gave were among those who clicked on the audio... In any case, it was certainly nice to have some metrics for the appeal, rather than just wondering who actually opened a physical letter in the mail.

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