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When sending Targeted Email to your subscribers, you want to make sure you are asking for the right amount for a contribution. You don't want to ask someone who last gave you $100, for a $5 contribution, and you don't want to ask someone who gave you $5 for $100.

Custom Contributions

There are several primary ways to customize ask amounts and contributions. The first of which is Optimized Ask. This feature is intended to be easier to use and is designed to potentially generate more revenue.

  • If you want to provide customized ask amounts on a linked form with no additional effort, simply leave the Optimized Ask option in Targeted Email

  • If you want to generate your own customized amounts based on HRC or MRC, Smart Links provides an easy way to do that without merge fields or macros.

  • If neither of these meet your needs, you can use merge fields and macros to fully customize and conditionalize the content.

Contribution-Related Merge Fields

You can use Contribution merge fields as a basis for your ask and make sure you are asking each donor for the right amount of money.

 

Merge Field

Description

{{HighestPreviousContributionAmount}}

Amount of the highest previous contribution made ("HPC")

{{MostRecentContributionAmount}}

Amount of the most recent contribution made ("MRC")

{{MostRecentContributionDate}}

Date the most recent contribution was made

{{MostRecentRecurringCommitmentAmount}

Amount of the most recent recurring contribution

{{MostRecentRecurringCommitmentDate}}

Date of most recent recurring contribution

{{FastActionFinalFour}}

Last 4 digits of  FastAction credit card 

{{OneTimeOptimizedAskArray}}

One-Time Optimized Ask Array - a comma-delimited array of donation amounts

{{OneTimeDefaultOptimizedAskAmount}}

One-Time Default Optimized Ask Amount - a single monthly amount

{{RecurringOptimizedAskArray}}

Recurring Optimized Ask Array - a comma-delimited array of monthly donation amounts

{{RecurringDefaultOptimizedAskArray}}

Recurring Default Optimized Ask Amount - a single monthly amount


Basic Use Cases


If you want to ask your donor for the same amount as their most recent contribution ("MRC"), you should insert the following merge field:

{{MostRecentContributionAmount}}


And if you are sending to subscribers who haven't contributed, you can add a default value:

{{MostRecentContributionAmount or '10'}}



You can also include the date they last contributed, so your email could look something like this:

We see that it has been over a year since your last contribution on {{MostRecentContributionDate}}.
Help us fight to clean our waterways by contributing {{format_currency(MostRecentContributionAmount)}} today!



In many instances, you will want to ask your donors to match their highest previous contribution ("HPC"). You can use the Highest Previous Contribution Amount merge field to ask for that specific amount:

{{HighestPreviousContributionAmount}}


Conditional Content


If you configure a contribution form to allow (but not require) recurring contributions, you may want to insert conditional content on the form's Thank You page and Confirmation Email so that different content will display for sustaining donors vs. those who make one-time contributions.

Thank you for your generous contribution of {{format_currency(ContributionAmount)}}! 
{{if RecurringContribution}} Recurring contributions like this really empower our organization. 
{{else}}Please consider making a recurring contribution. {{end}}


If you want to ask your donors for more than what they last gave, you can use calculations within the merge fields in order to ask for additional amounts. For example, if you want to ask for a 10% increase you can insert the following into your message:

{{if HighestPreviousContributionAmount}} {{format_currency(HighestPreviousContributionAmount * 1.1)}}
{{else}} $10 ​{{end}}


This will display a value of 10% more than the donor's highest previous contribution, or $10 if they never contributed.


You can also ask for a specific amount increase from their most recent contribution amount:

{{if MostRecentContributionAmount}} {{format_currency(MostRecentContributionAmount + 10)}} 
{{else}} $20 ​{{end}}


This will add $10 to their most recent contribution amount, or ask for $20 if they never contributed.

 

Macros


You can also create conditionals that use macros to compare the donor's contribution amount to a defined amount so that the ask depends on their contribution history.  

 

Note that it is necessary to use single quotes when comparing strings, such as contribution dates. For example, if you want to make an ask of your donor based on the date of their most recent contribution ("MRC"), the defined date would need to be formatted as 'YYYY-MM-DD' inside single quotes: 

{{if MostRecentContributionDate and greater_than(MostRecentContributionDate, '2017-01-01')}} 
this content will display if Most Recent Contribution Date is after 1/1/17 
{{else}} this content will display if Most Recent Contribution Date is not after 1/1/17 
{{end}}


You can use the macros listed below in conjunction with the contribution-related merge fields listed at the top of the article as well as custom currency and custom date fields. More information about the 'round_currency' and 'round_min_max' macros can be found in the Default Reusables in Targeted Email article.

 

Macro

Example

Content

Notes

greater_than

If Most Recent Contribution Amount is greater than $20, ask for $50. If it's less than or equal to $20, ask for $20.

 
{{if MostRecentContributionAmount and 
greater_than(MostRecentContributionAmount,20)}}
 $50 {{else}}  $20 {{end}}

The 'greater_than' macro requires 2 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the defined value against which the variable should be compared

greater_than_or_equal_to

If Most Recent Contribution Amount is greater than or equal to $20, ask for $50. If it's less than $20, ask for $20.

 
{{if MostRecentContributionAmount and 
greater_than_or_equal_to(MostRecentContributionAmount,20)}}
 $50 {{else}} $20 {{end}}

The 'greater_than_or_equal_to' macro requires 2 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the defined value against which the variable should be compared

less_than

If Most Recent Contribution Amount is less than $100, ask for $100. If it's greater than or equal to $100, ask for $150.

 
{{if MostRecentContributionAmount and 
less_than(MostRecentContributionAmount,100)}}
 $100 {{else}} $150 {{end}}

The 'less_than' macro requires 2 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the defined value against which the variable should be compared

less_than_or_equal_to

If Most Recent Contribution Amount is less than or equal to $100, ask for $100. If it's greater than $100, ask for $150.

 
{{if MostRecentContributionAmount and 
less_than_or_equal_to(MostRecentContributionAmount,100)}}
 $100 {{else}} $150 {{end}}

The 'less_than_or_equal_to' macro requires 2 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the defined value against which the variable should be compared

equals

If Most Recent Contribution Amount is equal to $20.17, ask for $20.18. If it is not equal to $20.17, ask for $20.

 
{{if MostRecentContributionAmount and 
equals(MostRecentContributionAmount,20.17)}}
 $20.18 {{else}} $20 {{end}}

The 'equals' macro requires 2 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the defined value against which the variable should be compared

not_equals 

If Most Recent Contribution Amount is not equal to $20.17, ask for $20. If it is equal to $20.17, ask for $20.18.

 
{{if MostRecentContributionAmount and 
not_equals(MostRecentContributionAmount,20.17)}}
 $20 {{else}} $20.18 {{end}}

The 'not_equals' macro requires 2 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the defined value against which the variable should be compared

round_nearest

Ask for Most Recent Contribution Amount multiplied by 1.25 and round to the nearest $5 increment

 
{{round_nearest(MostRecentContributionAmount*1.25,5)}}

The 'round_nearest' macro requires 2 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the desired multiple to which the variable should be rounded up or down

min_max

Ask for Most Recent Contribution Amount multiplied by 1.25, enforce a minimum of $10, and enforce a maximum of $100

 
{{min_max(MostRecentContributionAmount*1.25,10,100)}}

The 'min_max' macro requires 3 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the defined minimum value

  3. the defined maximum value

format_currency

Ask for Most Recent Contribution Amount multiplied by 1.25 and apply currency formatting. If the currency is not specified, it will default to USD.

 
{{format_currency(MostRecentContributionAmount*1.25,'USD')}}

The 'format_currency' macro requires 2 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the desired currency

Supported currencies include:

  • USD: US dollars

  • CAD: Canadian dollars

  • EUR: Euro

  • GBP: British pound

round_currency

Ask for Most Recent Contribution Amount multiplied by 1.25, round to the nearest $5 increment, enforce a minimum of $10, enforce a maximum of $100, and apply currency formatting. If the currency is not specified, it will default to USD.

 
{{round_currency(MostRecentContributionAmount*1.25,5,10,100)}}

The 'round_currency' macro combines the functionality of the round_nearest and min_max macros, and assumes that the value should be formatted as USD. It requires 4 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the desired multiple to which the variable should be rounded up or down

  3. the defined minimum value

  4. the defined maximum value

Supported currencies include:

  • USD: US dollars

  • CAD: Canadian dollars

  • EUR: Euro

  • GBP: British pound

round_min_max

Ask for Most Recent Contribution Amount multiplied by 1.25, round to the nearest 5, enforce a minimum of 10, and enforce a maximum of 100.

 
{{round_min_max(MostRecentContributionAmount*1.25,5,10,100)}}

The 'round_min_max' macro combines the functionality of the round_nearest and min_max macros, but does not apply currency formatting in case you want to pass the value as an amount option in a query string (?amtOpts=x). It requires 4 values in the following order:

  1. the variable, such as HPC or MRC

  2. the desired multiple to which the variable should be rounded up or down

  3. the defined minimum value

  4. the defined maximum value



 

 

 

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