Knowing When to Hold 'Em

As direct-mail fundraisers, we are under constant pressure to test new list strategies, packages, offers, media and messaging in our never-ending mission to raise response rates and results. I would argue that at no time is that pressure to gamble with new approaches greater than in an election-year cycle in which you're competing with the high rollers of political fundraising. Yet that is precisely the time you need to stare your fears down and play your best hand — the one you know that works.
We adopted a very conservative approach with testing on behalf of our national rescue mission clients during this most recent election cycle, recognizing the mountainous challenge in going up against well-financed political campaigns that saturated mailboxes. Instead, we kept our focus on the agency's battle-tested control package, resisting the temptation to go out with some new and exciting — yet unproven — variations that we knew carried varying degrees of risk.