You never know what trends will pop up unexpectedly in acquisition programs. Recently, we noticed that multi-buyer list performance has been waning in one client’s direct mail prospecting program. A quick check revealed that this depression coincided with when we’d started using commercially compiled lists. So we did some analysis to see if, in fact, compiled list multi-buyers were pulling down overall multi-buyer performance. For this client, that turned out to be the case.

The League of Women Voters has a mature prospecting program. Like many well-established direct marketing programs, it was necessary to prepare for the future marketplace and go beyond traditional trades and exchanges. Avalon designed a modeling program to increase the League’s ROI, and give it a competitive edge in the mailbox by more tightly targeting our prospective donors.

We wanted to share with you a couple more case studies from Avalon’s MAXI Award submissions – the first is a direct mail donor acquisition test, and the second a multi-channel campaign.

 

While our primary objective was to acquire new and valuable donors for our client Farm Sanctuary, it was also important to know if an acquisition audience would be more responsive to tragic or cute animal images on the carrier. The control package focused heavily on the cruelty of the factory farming system and featured a bleak image of a downed pig on the carrier. Conversely, we had had much success with an email campaign featuring a cute animal.

Held October 3-5 in Baltimore, the Convio Summit brought together hundreds of nonprofits and vendors to share what’s happening in the online space.  Geared towards touting the benefits of integrating mail, phone, web, mobile, and other channels, the Summit offered numerous sessions on how best to coordinate direct marketing channels while staying on message.

To create a successful control package, advocacy/political groups need to balance two competing needs.  First, the package must be pertinent to the ever-changing political climate. Second, it needs to maintain enough of an institutional focus for prospective long-term donors.  The League of Women Voters’ current control is a great example of achieving that balance.

One of the most interesting sessions I attended at the DMANF Conference last month was about coop databases … “List Coops: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”  We have all had experience testing (and rolling out) compiled lists in our acquisition programs – and are familiar with predicting demonstrated donor behavior via modeling … but what’s the big deal about nonprofit coop databases?  And what could be so ugly about them?

In the spirit of this year’s DMA Nonprofit Federation (DMANF) Conference theme: “Bringing Out the Best in the Big Apple: Best Thinking … Best Ideas … Best Solutions” we’re pulling out the best of the best in case you missed it!

It’s a critical part of any DM 101 session: don’t forget to welcome your donors as soon as possible after the first contact.  But what about new subscribers to your email list – wouldn’t it be more efficient to create an automated welcome series that not only solidified initial contact but also secured a gift?

Held July 20-22, the Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference proved to once again be a valuable resource to direct marketing professionals.  If you weren’t able to attend, I urge you to check out the Conference website – presentations are available for download.

















Photos Courtesy of Mark Van Bergh Photography

Target Analytics has just released its 2011 donorCentrics™ Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmark Report … and I wonder how much traction it will get in the direct marketing community.  Integrated marketing, multi-channel giving, cross-channel communication … we all talk about it and assume that if we provide donors various options they will simply give in the way in which we ask.  But is this true?  Do Internet acquired donors prefer to always give online or will they jump readily to the direct mail piece waiting in the mailbox?  And what about our trusty direct mail acquired donors – will they promptly go online to renew or respond to a special appeal when asked?  And, most importantly … are their differences in retention vis-à-vis method of acquisition?