Premiums are vital to many direct-mail, donor-acquisition progams. But address labels alone might not do the job.

By Amy Koop

Creative trends
Address labels traditionally have been the workhorses of the incentive world (25 percent of all unique acquisition campaigns mailed over the past three years included them), but we’re seeing some interesting creative break-outs by nonprofits. One tactic noted increasingly in acquisition over the past 12 months is “bundling” (including multiple premiums in one package). Typically, an address label sheet is one of the elements, along with additional items such as notepads, bookmarks and/or greeting cards. Nonprofits use this strategy to increase the perceived value of a mail piece, and in some cases to test safely into a new creative/premium by keeping a key element of the control. We’re also seeing back-end premiums bundled with front-end, a strategy employed to garner the higher response rates seen with up-front premiums while maintaining acceptable average gift levels (with the minimum ask usually required for a back-end premium).