Increase your appeal this holiday season
July 2006
design, direct mail, fundraising
Once upon a time, direct mail was considered a novel idea for nonprofits. Few organizations were mailing and when they did, they received a healthy return on their investment. In the 1950’s, it cost about fifty cents to raise a dollar through direct mail. Those were the golden days!
Today, the scene is a lot less idyllic. More and more nonprofits use direct mail to acquire new donors, making competition fierce. Mailboxes are increasingly stuffed to capacity with everything from junk mail to bills, and the odds of getting your letter opened, much less getting a return gift, have dramatically decreased. It’s now estimated that the average cost to raise a dollar through direct mail is more than $2.20. With expenses often exceeding income and a .5% rate of return considered terrific for an acquisition mailing, it’s no wonder if direct mail appeals are starting to sound unappealing.
So, what can you do about it? For starters, don’t give up. With a little resolve, your direct mail campaign can be a modern-day success story. Here are some tips to help lead the way.
Five Tips to Improve your Direct Mail:
- Dress it up. Try to avoid looking like very other piece of direct mail. #10 (business-size) envelopes are a sure-fire tip-off that it’s direct mail. Consider using unusual formats such as 5x7, 4x6, and 5” or smaller squares. They usually cost about the same to mail but break through the mailbox clutter and entice recipients into opening them.
- Coordinate platforms. Integrate your direct mail message with a bigger campaign. Using a theme that is woven throughout your direct mail, website, PSAs, newsletters, and other channels allows each piece to build on what the recipient has already seen. According to a Vertis Customer Focus Survey conducted in 2005, one out of five people who respond to a direct mail appeal will visit the organization’s website before making a gift.
- Find a Unique Time. Organizations are mailing their year-end appeals earlier and earlier. While most of them will arrive in mailboxes just after Thanksgiving, many organizations are now mailing as early as October and even September in an attempt to beat the holiday rush. Why not consider making your major appeal off-season, or around a less popular holiday, like Valentine’s Day? After New Year’s there’s a lot less competition and choosing an alternative holiday affords even greater creative opportunities.
- Send Out Reinforcements. If you’re mailing to your house list, consider sending out emails that precede or chase the delivery. It’s a nice way to draw attention to your mailing. With a little luck and great creative, you might even get recipients looking forward to your appeal.
- Think Outside the Box/Package. Although there may be economies of scale when using the traditional letter-with-response-materials combination, most organizations don’t mail in huge quantities and can afford to be more creative in their packaging. For smaller mailings (less than 250,000) consider developing a creative concept that’s timely, but unique to your organization. Then link the concept with strong, memorable writing and design. Of course, it’s important to maintain your brand throughout, but this shouldn’t stop you from being original and insightful. For Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy’s 2006 mid-year appeal, approximately 5,000 people in their house file received a self-mailing package that resembled a tea bag. The concept was integrated with PPMD’s over-arching ‘I Will’ campaign. Recipients were invited to make a gift and attend a virtual tea party on Mother’s Day. This package brought in an average gift of $102 ($31 is the national average) not to mention, a wealth of goodwill, and buzz for the organization.
There are many ways to modernize your appeal. The important thing is to adapt with the times. With a little reinvention, direct mail will offer you and your organization many happy returns.