A decade or so ago, when online retailing was starting to take off and online fundraising was getting some legs under it, the prominent CEO of an email/online fundraising software start-up announced at an industry conference that 60% of all online transactions were “online white mail.” Using the lingo of established direct mail marketers, he meant that the reason behind the gift…the marketing…the emotion…the motivation…were forever unknown and unknowable.
Being that my professional future hinged on discovering that motivation so I could repeat it again and again, this was unacceptable to me. With the goal of uncovering those unknown motivations, I lead a ground-breaking study along with the team at Carl Bloom Associates, the results of which were published as the cover story in the January 2013 issue of the Journal of the Association of National Advertisers Nonprofit Federation (at the time, it was the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation) – which found that, in short, one of the better ways to inspire an online transaction was to send direct mail. You can read the whole article below.
Those were the relative dark ages when viewed through today’s lens – now that there are so many more tools at hand, with the hyper targeting of SEM/SEO, social and display advertising, retargeting, affiliate, rich media and other forms of online engagement.
But the underlying principles of the study still ring true. Consumers, donors, joiners – anybody that you want to take an action – don’t act in a simple and uniform way. They may need multiple messages via multiple channels before they’re inspired to act. And when it comes time to take action, they’ll probably do it in unexpected ways. Now, as it was then, you have to use every tool to reach them. And you have to track results across all those contacts you’ve made.
A few years ago, a webinar from RKD Group, hosted by the Direct Marketing Fundraising Association, cautioned not to judge results by the “last touch” – calling it siloed, antiquated and dysfunctional. Rather, report on attribution across multiple contacts – which may be different from donor-to-donor – and of course, may require the use of their sophisticated, proprietary software. Without those resources though, as long as marketers have an understanding that channels work together in a coordinated way, you’re still ahead of most of your colleagues.
In two of my recent roles, at the Society for Corporate Governance and the Academy of Management, I’ve been able to introduce multi-channel marketing efforts and campaigns as really the first marketing professional on staff. In both cases, I reintroduced good ole direct mail. This especially made a huge difference in retention. Like many associations, both had fallen prey to the idea that email was free and had gotten rid of most or all of postal mail in their renewal series. And in both cases, reintroducing direct mail led to significant growth in retention and return on investment.
But every place and every situation is different. Don't overly rely on old tools but don't throw them out just because there's a newer toy. Test. Test. Test. And roll out with what works. Then keep testing.
One last important word: Don’t be misled by all this focus on fundraising. These trends are steady across all sectors – from non-profits to retailers to associations. Don’t believe me? I assume, like me, you received Amazon’s glossy printed and mailed clothing catalog a few years ago. It followed on the heels of their toy catalog from the year before - just in time for the holiday season. Where else would they expect us to respond, but at their website, online.
