mailbox to multichannel: turn an offline campaign into a multichannel success

2010 WASHINGTON NONPROFIT CONFERENCE January 28-29, 2010

Mailbox to Multichannel:

Turning a Successful Offline

Campaign into an

Extraordinary Multichannel

Success Story

Presented by:

Max Bunch, SVP Client Services, Stratmark

Danna Gonzalez, Account Supervisor, Stratmark/is7

Debbie Snyder, VP, Sales and Marketing, Stratmark

Lisa Wolf, SVP , Communications and Donor Relations, CURE

International

Donors don’t live in a single channel of communication.

Neither should your fundraising.

A Lesson from the Catalog Industry• 10 years ago a move to put catalogs online began

• Some catalogers went to online catalogs and stopped printing and mailing catalogs – and their income plunged 60%

• Without the printed catalog arriving in the mail, purchasers simply did not go on the web to order

• Research reveals that more than 1/3 of consumers prefer to respond to print promotions online

A Lesson from the Check Printing Industry• Check volume in the U.S. declined 38% from 1995-2006, and continues to

drop

• A growing number of donors do not write checks anymore—especially younger donors

• Some consumers actually put all of their bills - on their credit card because it is convenient and it earns miles or reward points

A Lesson from Direct Response Television• Infomercials on TV now expect more than 50% of buyers to order online

• Inbound telemarketing companies are facing a sharp drop in demand for their services, because consumers are moving to the online channel to respond to TV offers

What can nonprofit organizations learn from the commercial world’s experiences?

#1 – Offering check-only payment for donations reduces giving.

• Older donors write checks less frequently

• The world is moving away from using checks to pay bills and make donations

• Donors want payment options. In addition to the direct mail reply

device, be sure to include online giving options in your appeal

• Younger donors write no checks, or at the most, one or two checks a month for their rent and car payments

#2 - Online giving for most direct mail donors starts with the direct mail appeal.• The best approach to online giving for direct mail donors starts with a

unified multichannel direct response offer included in the familiar direct mail appeal

• When direct mail and online messages, themes and offers are not aligned it may reduce income and confuse the donor

• REMEMBER: Donors have one relationship with your organization, not seperate offline and an online relationships

• Review your communications schedule to ensure that your direct mail and online appeals are in sync and both offer an online donation option

• It is crucial that your online and direct mail messages are always consistent

Donors with a high propensity to give online can be located using outside data.

• Households can be matched with known “digital neighborhoods,” online banking, credit card use, online catalog buying behavior and many other indicators

• Models have now been perfected with other nonprofit organizations that allow donor households to be ranked in the likelihood that they will give online

• Households who rank high on these scores are the best candidates to target for online giving

#3 - When direct mail donors begin giving online their giving increases from 35% to 50% per year.• Online donations are typically higher average gifts than direct mail

donations and thus an increase in donor value

• In many cases when the organization does not offer online giving the donor has been suppressed because they have already given online to other organizations and prefer the instant communication that comes with giving online

• Donors who give to both direct mail and online campaigns have the highest

value—in one organization the annual value of the “both” donors was $1600 a year

• Many direct mail donors move to online monthly auto debit donors. As a result, their donor value increases

#4 - Online donors are the most likely donors to sign up for monthly auto debit giving.• Monthly auto debit giving is the most promising avenue of increasing

regular stewardship

• It is already becoming the backbone of donor support from younger donors in some organizations

• Promoting monthly auto debit donations is the next logical step to increasing consistent donations

Offering multichannel giving options can:• Increase your organization’s donor income for every donor that begins to

give online

• Produce an increase from 35% to 50% when donors begin to actively give online

• Bring back lapsed donors and increase donor retention

• Result in larger average donations, because online donors typically give larger gifts, give more often and easily make the transition into monthly auto debit donors

DIRECT MAIL

TELEMARKETINGINTERATCTIVE

MOVING FROM

SINGLE CHANNEL TO

MULTI-CHANNEL

DONOR

COMMUNICATION

DRTV

EVENT

TELEMARKETINGINTERATCTIVE

Step 1: Identify Potential Online Donors

Step 2: Give Donors Payment Options

Payment options other than writing a check should be included on every reply device soliciting a gift. This will require:

1. A visible unique landing page address (i.e. www.MyOrg.org/need) and a toll free phone number with the call to action “to help as soon as possible” or “to send your gift immediately”

2. A reply device which should always include an online donation option: “for your convenience and security please click… www.MyOrg.org/need… to submit your donation.” This not only gives the donor an additional donation option, it also allows you to capture additional email addresses

http://www.myorg.org/need

Use Your Direct Mail Reply Device to Point People Online

OR – Use a Direct Mail Buckslip Insert

OR –Use a Full-Page Direct Mail Reply Device to Point People Online

Step 3: Create landing pages and donation forms tied to your direct mail.Every direct mail solicitation will require some online creative:1. A custom landing page is required for every mailing tied to the creative

and the offer

– Use the logo, photo, headline or some visible tie to the mailing—but this does not have to be the identical creative as the printed piece

– Restate the offer and what the gift will do with specific amounts tailored to that

donor’s giving record (i.e., $5 will feed 10 people)

– Add additional gift arrays for the online offer as online donors tend to give higher initial gifts than offline donors

A Good Landing Page Supports Your Direct Mail Offer

Step 3: Create landing pages and donation forms tied to your direct mail.2. A payment processing landing page specific to that mailing campaign

must be constructed to allow a donor to quickly enter and process a credit card gift

A Good Donation Page Matches Your Direct Mail Offer & Makes Giving Easy

Step 4: Send every donor with an active email address a correlated email message timed to follow your direct mail piece sent to them.

1. The email must contain all essential information about the appeal – optimized for online communication – and with donation button(s)

2. Test various formats to get the right options to the donor

3. Consider focus groups or online questionnaires to learn your direct mail donors’ preferences for online payment

Sample Email Message in Support of Direct Mail

Step 5: Carefully append email addresses to your file. 1. Increase income from existing direct mail donors by moving them online.

A careful append strategy will match 15% to 25% of your direct mail households with an email address

2. Only use the most careful and ethical append sources of email addresses that have “opted in” for offers from other organizations

3. Unify! You only get one first try for each donor so you do not want to misfire with a piecemeal strat competitive communication from different channels.

4. egy or allow4. It is always best to use a multichannel strategy (mail, email and phone)

to determine donor preferences as soon and as respectfully as possible. Remember these are already your organization’s most valuable donors

5. Messaging is key! Since these are current donors, recognize their previous efforts and cultivate accordingly.

6. In your donor communication program continue to test the synchronization of direct mail, email and online payment options

5 Lessons Learned

1. Offering a single channel (i.e. check-only payment) for donations reduces giving

2. Online giving for most direct mail donors starts with the direct mail offer that they received

3. Donors with a high propensity to give online can be located using outside data

4. When direct mail donors give online their annual value typically increases 35% to 50%

5. Donors who give online have proven to be the most likely to sign-up for monthly auto debit giving – which has proven to significantly increase their value as a donor

Summary• A carefully tested approach adding multichannel options to a direct mail

program is now necessary to increase income and to accommodate donors who prefer to give online

• Moving donors online is worth the effort – online donors have a much higher lifetime value

• BUT . . . not every donor will move to online payment

• It is important to target the right donors to avoid reducing response rates and income in the direct mail channel

• This is the beginning of the never-ending process to develop donor relationships that are flexible and that respond to donor preferences as your donors and the world change

• It is always best to use a multichannel strategy to determine donor preference as soon as possible

• Continue to test the synchronization of direct mail, email and online payment options

Case StudyCURE International Progressive Integration CampaignChallenges:• Little to no Brand Recognition • Limited Online Presence • Major donors made up majority of donor file

Objectives:• Increase Overall Brand Awareness• Improve Name Acquisition Efforts – Grow eMail database by 20%• Increase Number of Middle Donors – $10 to $399 gift range • Improve Segmentation by Acquiring Donors through Preferred Giving Channel

Background

• CURE Direct Mail (before integrated campaigns) –

Around 1.16% response rate

• Newly Redesigned Website Launched October 2007

• Average new eMail sign ups ~ 50 per month

• eMail appeal response/fundraising was below average

industry standards

The Approach

• Evaluate all offline and online campaigns to determine strongest offer

• Determined that the Clubfoot offer resonated the best without too much

explanation, and has performed the best with offline and current online

audience

• Develop a progressive multi-channel campaign centered around clubfoot to

achieve desired goals

Sign A Cast Campaign


Widget


Home Page Intercept

Home Page Banner


Announcement

eMail

Progressive Multichannel Integration Plan

Online: – CURE website, emails to current constituents – Social Media: Launch Virally across Social Networks –

MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

Offline– Events – Live Radio, Concerts (Includes Video Production)– Direct Mail– Newsletter Communications– Mobile Giving – Text to Give/Opt-In

Cultivation of Sign a Cast Acquired Friends

Cultivation of Sign a Cast

Online Intro Series

Follow Up eMail

Generic eNewsletter

Results:18 months of Sign a Cast campaign• eMail Database: 500% growth in total file• Fundraising: Over $250K revenue • Total Response:

– Increased Response Rate by 175% and 75% in subsequent Direct Mailings

– Increased Revenue by 500% for Clubfoot offerAFTER

BEFORE

Additional Benefits:Allowed for the following segmentation opportunities and improved donorcommunication:

- Preferred Communication Channel (Mobile, DM, Online)

- Acquisition Source (KSKY Event, State Fair, Salem List)

- Level of Support ( Donor, Non-donor, Volunteer)

Direct Mail, 90%

Online; 5%

Misc; 5%

BEFORE

Direct Mail; 17%

Online; 64%

Events; 10%

Mobile; 9%

AFTER

2010 Washington Nonprofit Conference 41

Case Studies Multi-Channel Fundraising

For the American Bible Society,

multichannel marketing

created a significant multiplier for their:

Bibles in China Campaign.

Direct Marketing Association42

If 5% of your donors responded

to a certain campaign

That means

95% did not

Did they like the appeal?

Did they not see the appeal?



Situation:

5% response from 400,000 donors …

but response

number of donors

and net income was in decline




Cultivation

Control Package:


Upper Donor Follow-Up

Handwritten note card was added and

it provided a 38% lift in response


General Donor Follow-Up

A Monarch downsized version of the initial appeal with a photo of a child

featured in story


Donors were directed

to a specific

China landing page

from an eAppeal and

a Direct Mail

Cultivation Appeal



Both eAppeal and

Direct Mail Appeal

were followed

for the first time

by Telemarketing



Calls followed direct

mail by two weeks

Call campaign was

completed in

two weeks



Results:

63% increase in overall campaign net income

82% increase in number of donors responding



Pre-campaign voice broadcast call

Recorded message – encouraging

donors to pray for upcoming initiative

Increased response by 19%

Increase in net revenue by 29%



Multichannel donor development gave the American Bible Society the chance to:

1. Match a donor to a desired communication channel

2. Increase visibility of an urgent message

3. Break through the clutter of many messages

4. Highlight the cause in emotional ways that would be impossible for just one channel

5. Motivate a percentage of donors with the chance to make a second gift


mailbox to multichannel: turn an offline campaign into a multichannel success

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