1. fpmagazine.com.au F&P Magazine | August September 2016 43
TALKING POINT
Kim Berry
Director of Communications and Fundraising
International Women’s Development Agency
Ariana Palmisano
Direct Marketing Manager
Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute
Katherine Ash
Donor Development Manager
Royal Flying Doctor Service – Queensland Section
Direct mail marketing forms the
basis for the fundraising programs
of many nonprofits. Read on to
find out what three very different
charities have been doing over the
past year to improve their results.
How
has your
direct mail
marketing
been
performing?
How has your direct mail
marketing been performing
over the past 12 months?
Our direct marketing program
was redeveloped in mid 2013,
resulting in a significant increase
across appeals, acquisition and
regular giving. Our appeal and
acquisition direct mail is hitting
key performance targets, and our
active donor base has increased
by 25% in the last 12 months.
This has been very satisfying
to observe.
Since introducing small,
cause-related premium
acquisition packs 18 months
ago, not unexpectedly our overall
average gift has declined with the
large volumes of new donors.
Now our focus is centred on
regular giving conversion and
retention along with developing
new products for mid- to high-
value donors that will help to
boost these values and further
engage our supporters.
What have you been
doing differently?
Working within tight budgets,
we are extremely resourceful.
Earlier this year we used return-
to-sender premiums from the
previous year in a mini in-house
acquisition. We made a profit on
first gifts and introduced 700 new
donors to the Royal Flying Doctor
Service. Using these premiums
is something we’ll continue to do
moving forward to help top up
the natural attrition of our yearly
premium acquisition mailing.
With the focus on regular
How has your direct mail
marketing been performing
over the past 12 months?
The Victor Chang Cardiac
Research Institute’s direct mail
program has performed solidly
over the past year, with gross
income increasing by a hefty
79% and our average direct mail
gift rate rising from $90.15
to $131.83. Furthermore, we
have been able to achieve
significant growth in our active
donor segment (0-12 months)
through re-activating the support
of lapsed donors and by a
successful acquisition campaign.
This combination has seen our
previously small pool of active
donors grow by a considerable
280% (or by 3,070 donors).
What have you been
doing differently?
With a revamped direct mail
program, the Victor Chang
Institute has mailed a wider pool
of lapsed donors to re-engage
and reactivate their support.
We have also started including
premiums in our ‘shoulder
appeals’ and made those appeals
two-wave as well. Ask strategies
have become more aggressive
too, looking more closely at a
donor’s capacity to give, that is,
the donor’s largest gift, not last
gift, has been used in ask formulas
for those whose largest gift was
in the previous 12 months.
We have also made appeals
more multi-channelled using
home page takeovers, sending
follow-up emails and making
How has your direct mail
marketing been performing
over the past 12 months?
The International Women’s
Development Agency has
seen mixed results over
the past 12 months. Our
Christmas appeal performed
better year on year but our
International Women’s Day
direct mail campaign did not
reach expectations compared
with the previous year.
Upon reflection, this was
no surprise as the International
Women’s Day results in 2015
were significantly boosted
by our End the Right to Rape
campaign. Our annual tax
appeal is currently being
finalised with mixed results.
What have you been
doing differently?
In the spirit of strategically
growing a sustainable donor
base, we have invested in a ‘test
and trial’ discipline over the next
few years, commencing with
our initial cold mail program for
the International Women’s Day
campaign earlier this year.
The results did not generate
the overall desired outcome for
our acquisition efforts, however
invaluable insights were gained
and swiftly acted upon in time
for the annual tax appeal.
As an example, feedback
we received suggested that
our International Women’s Day
collateral was not emotionally
compelling enough to engage
and convert the new targeted
giving, we have introduced
mop-up mailings to our phone
campaigns to non-answer
prospects in conversion and
upgrade. Using existing appeal
content, we have seen a 50%
bump on top of the regular givers
recruited over the phone, at a
very low cost per acquisition.
From a donor stewardship
perspective, we are further
segmenting and personalising
our direct mail to cater to mid-
and high-value donors, which
has resulted in response rates of
almost 50% for these segments.
We are utilising email and
SMS alongside mail to thank
donors and to provide patient
updates, feedback on the impact
of donations and information on
what they’re funding.
So regardless of the contact
details we possess, and with our
donors always at front of mind,
we are consistently thanking
and showing them the value of
their generosity.
Tell us about any wins
and/or challenges
We’ve been the benchmark
with Pareto Benchmarking for
second-gift rates for the last two
years and our retention is very
positive. However, across the
sector this is declining.
The challenge we have now
is maintaining this as more
premium-recruited donors
enter our active file, and finding
a balance between volume and
propensity to convert to regular
giving, major gifts and bequests.
segments, nor was the format
clear enough. Our tax appeal
collateral was therefore
reworked, including several lift
pieces to support our Unpaid,
Unsafe, Unheard campaign.
We streamlined our acquisition
efforts on two segments,
which was based on the results
of the International Women’s
Day mailing, and then ran AB
testing by splitting the segments
to receive either the standard
white outer envelope versus a
purple outer envelope.
We were able to establish that
our tax pack was stronger than
the International Women’s Day
one and, unsurprisingly, the
purple envelope generated
a slightly higher response.
We also identified which list
performed best. The tests did
not show any distinguishable
difference in the average
donation value.
The 2016/2017 financial year
will see us taking a minimum
viable testing approach to look
at a range of tactics, offers and
audiences to inform our future
growth strategies.
Tell us about any wins
and/or challenges
The greatest success this year
was managing appeals in the
face of significant staff turnover.
We saw half the team returning
to their origins around the globe,
however detailed handovers,
strong evaluations and clear
tracking made the transition
run fairly smoothly.
Anthea Iva
The Director of Redstone Marketing asks
three fundraisers for their perspective.
42 F&P Magazine | August September 2016 fpmagazine.com.au
‘asks’ on social media.
In terms of acquisition, the
focus has been on securing
second gifts versus attracting
large volumes, so we lodged our
acquisition campaign around six
weeks before tax time. We have
for the first time been able do list
swaps with other charities and
taken advantage of joining a data
co-op. We have also tested two
creative packs against each other,
both adaptations of existing
warm campaigns, to maximise
return on investment.
Tell us about any wins
and/or challenges
Our direct mail wins over the last
year include increasing our active
donor segment by 280%, gross
direct marketing income by 79%
and our average direct marketing
gift by over 42%.
The challenges have been
mostly digital. Traffic and bounce
rate on the Victor Chang website
hasn’t been conducive to growing
online appeal income. Also our
EDM conversion rate is not very
strong, which is not surprising
given a large percentage of our
donors were originally acquired
through events and we don’t
have many email addresses of
active donors.
Also, because many of our
donors were originally brought
on through events, they aren’t
very direct mail responsive. This,
married up with a still relatively
small active donor pool, has
put a limit on our warm appeal
fundraising income capabilities.