Sugarcoat it all you want, but offering premiums in an acquisition campaign is, essentially, bribery. And pretty unsubtle bribery at that.
You’re saying to a prospect, “Look, I’m afraid you don’t care enough about my organization’s work to support it out of
passion or principle, so I’ll offer you this trinket to try and buy your loyalty.”
The dilemma is obvious. You’re going to have much greater loyalty from people who support you because they believe in your cause. But those premiums sure can bring in more donors. At least in the short run.
To a development director, the promise of the premium can be very alluring. For a relatively small investment in mailing labels or tote bags or whatever, you can reasonably predict that significantly more people will respond to your mailing.
Direct Mail
April 14, 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy — Donations to 75 of the nation’s largest charities have fallen in the past year, adding to problems caused by a multi-year decline in the number of donors who give in response to direct-mail solicitations, online appeals, and telemarketing, according to a study released today.
According to a new white paper published by EU Services, companies and organizations in a variety of sectors — including publishing, finance, travel and nonprofit — are using variable data printing, micro websites, cross-media marketing, and web-to-print applications to sustain customer relationships. Consider how the following companies are using personalized communication with their customers to engender loyalty.
I’m beginning to think I’ve been placed on the equivalent of a No Fly List in one nonprofit’s direct-marketing database. Here’s what happened …
On Feb. 25, FundRaising Success hosted the webinar, “Integrated Direct Mail 101: An hour with Roger Craver.” Joining Roger, a fundraising guru and founder of Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co., for this lively conversation was his colleague Ryann Miller, managing director at the newly formed consultancy, DonorTrends.
Responding to the financial crisis, American companies sharply reduced their spending on direct-mail marketing last year, according to the Winterberry Group, a marketing consultancy. Winterberry said this was the first such decline in more than 60 years of record-keeping. The company arrived at the figures by surveying 305 companies in the direct-mail industry.
With the tightening of budgets, some large charities are scaling back on direct mail efforts, especially large scale donor acquisition mailings. However, the authors of a new book contend that it's important to keep direct mail as a fundraising strategy - just refine it so that it's more effective.
Rising postage rates and fewer solicitations from banks and credit-card companies have conspired to drive down direct mail in 2008.
2009? Recession? Bah. Don’t give me any of your whining. I have aches and pains, too. Oh, my back hurts … oh, I have a bum knee … oh, I just dislocated my shoulder … hey, my appendix just burst …
You don’t hear me complaining do you?
My advice: Tough it out, baby — and get back in the driver’s seat. I don’t think the plan really was for the meek to inherit the earth — at least not when it comes to direct marketing.
Anemic acquisition results. Sinking response rates. Shrinking average gifts. Serious budget shortfalls.
