Be direct

BE DIRECT

©2009 re:group, inc. | 213 west liberty street | ann arbor, mi | 734.213.0200 | www.regroup.us

TRANSFORM YOUR BRAND.TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS.

WELCOME!

Agenda

• What do you want to learn?

• Overview

• Q&A

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“…back to basics approach…to navigate through uncertain economic times.”

Michael Nilsen - Association of Fundraising Professionals, USA Today

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TRUE? FALSE?

• Four-color always works better

• Long copy appeals always work better

• Average direct mail response rate is 2%

• Letters work better than flyers

• All donors will respond to a good message

• It doesn’t matter when you mail

• Email works better today than direct mail

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WHAT IS DIRECT MARKETING?

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DIRECT IS ALL ABOUT. . .

• Listening

• More personal messages

• Delivered in ways donors want

• Integrated into an overall effort

• Getting to the right donor with the right message at the right time

“…ensuring that donors who are the most loyal

continue to give…this generates the most

revenue with the least cost.”

– Mike Nilsen AFP

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HOW TO BE “DIRECT” – EFFICIENT AND AFFORDABLE

• Understand your audience–past, current,

future

• Understand the competition–who is asking,

when, how

• Evaluate the investment and effort required

• Review the “tools” that fit your organization

and your audience

• Understand the best way to reach donor–

when, where and how they want to be

contacted

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YOUR LISTS ARE PRECIOUS ASSETS

• Assign a “Caregiver”

• Have procedures for collecting data

• Don’t pollute them

• Schedule regular updating

• Have a privacy policy

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KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

• Who are your donors?

• Analyze past and present to build for future

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Donor Lapsed Annual Planned Giver Event Attend

Average Gift

Campaign

# of asks

Contact method



SEGMENTATION = RELEVANCE

• Clarify the reasons for your segmentation/

selection criterion

– Area of interest, capacity, geography

• Vary your initial message to each segment

– Personalize the message, distinguish your

delivery

• Track and evaluate your response by segment

– Document who responds

– Send a second message to non-respondents

30 days later (can pull 40-50% of the first

mailing response)

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• by Gift Size

• by Gift Type

• by Recency

Frequency

• by Demographics

• by Involvement

• by Area of interest

• by What they

request



MAKE SURE DATA IS ACTIONABLE

• Segmentation and acquisition

• Grouping donors by common attributes

• Finding others “like” them

• Trading and renting lists

• Referrals are great

• Cautions

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DATA ATTRIBUTES

Need to know

• Name, address, city, state, zip

• Phone

• Email

• Preferred contact method

• Donor History – Recency of gift

– Frequency of giving

– Monetary–amount of gifts

• Source of donor– DM campaign –list

– Referral

Nice to know

• Area of interest

• Past participation

• Volunteer

• In-kind

• Corporate/matching gift

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TEST, TRACK, LEARN

• Direct marketing allows you to test an idea and

determine it’s potential prior to investing in a

large effort

• Evaluate what’s been done

• Who received, opened, responded

• How effective–by different audiences

• Return on investment (ROI) by segment

• Average gift by segment

• Define your control package

• Campaign that has worked best over time

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DEFINE THE TEST

• What element are you going to test?

– Audience segments–who responds to what

– Message–which motivates to give

– Media–direct mail, eMail, phone, personal contact, combinations

– “The Ask”–suggested amounts, ways to pay

• How will you track the results?

• What is the timeline?

• If successful, can you “rollout” the campaign?

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SPECIFIC TO EMAIL

• Get a good email service provider (ESP)

– Allows for segmentation

– Addresses the recipient personally

– Has sign up forms for your web site

– Manages bounces, unsubscribe

– Helps with CAN-SPAM Act compliance

– Has analytics which track activity over time

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SPECIFIC TO EMAIL

• Double opt-in is best

• Your snail mail list can move online

• Respect ALL opt-outs

• Encourage the “Forward to a friend”

• Consider letting people self segment when they

sign up

• Your website must be accessible

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CONTENT

• How do you want the reader to feel?

• What do you want them to do?

• Start the conversation

• Make it personal, a fast read and relevant

• Tell stories

• Include people pictures

• Use a killer subject line (Change it up)

• People buy benefits, not features

• If an ask, make an easy call to action

• 500 words max (for email)

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THE POWER OF AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

“I am a 100 years old and

I can’t cook.”• Quote from a real recipient

• Placed on outside envelope in her handwriting

• Doubled response

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INTEGRATE COMMUNICATIONS

• Allow people to give by mail, on your website, by mobile or any other

way that is feasible

• Consider creating a separate landing page for each campaign so that

messaging is consistent and visits are trackable

• Extend and reinforce the campaign in all your other communications

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LONGITUDINAL STUDY

• Combination of Media

– Phone

– Personal

– Email

– Direct mail

– Mobile

– Social

• Over what period?

• Test and track what sequence works best

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EVALUATE

• What is your ROI?

• Comparative analysis

• Audience segment

• Message

• Media

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THANK YOU!

• Questions?????

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Documents

Be direct