The successful package described several of the organization’s key services and encouraged donors to send a gift to support these initiatives. The copy described how the SPCA feeds hungry pets, offers assistance to struggling pet owners, keeps more pets in their homes, and provides other help wherever it’s needed most. It included full-color photos of hungry pets with empty food bowls on the outer envelope and a compelling Kibble Connection photo collage with an urgent call-to-action on the back of the letter.

For the test, we wanted to heighten the emotion and immediacy of the ask without compromising the package’s existing strengths. So, we made no changes to the outer envelope since the package clearly already had a good open rate. Inside, however, we made significant revisions in both messaging and design. Instead of speaking in broad terms about pets, people, adoptions and meeting the shelter’s general needs, we narrowed the focus to tell the much more emotional story of a single animal in crisis.

We wrote about Kissy, a dog who had come to the SPCA fearful, badly undernourished, and clearly mistreated. Then we took readers behind the scenes and showed our medical team at work, painstakingly nursing Kissy back to health. Finally, instead of bright optimistic color photos on the collage, we used stark black-and-white images designed to evoke pathos and urgency.