GREAT & smallHow to produce heroic direct marketing for humble charities

Damian O’Broin@damianobroin

4.5 million

9 million

Ireland

London

£0m £125m £250m £375m £500m

Total Voluntary Income

3000 11000

Typical Cash Donor File Sizes(Active 0-24 months)

There are advantages to being small...

Use the most powerful levers

Audience

Offer

Format

Creative

1% of the response - just 21 people - generated over 35% of the total income from the appeal.

20% ofdonors

80% ofincome

20% ofdonors

4%

80% of 80%= 64% of income

Pareto Pareto2

The Black Hole of Almost Major Donors

“There is absolutely no evidence that frequency of solicitation negatively impacts retention and

lifetime value. Period.”

This is at least 24 mailings per year

Lots of charities are here

Typical response rates

Offer

22

Format

Almost 50% better

response rate

Stay close to the core

“You used to speak the truth but now you’re clever”

Cultivate Intimacy

Personalisation

Personality

Personal Attention

“You” or “Your” is repeated 14 times on Page 1

(and donor’s name appears four times)

Personalisation

Personality

Personal Attention

Personalisation

Personality

Personal Attention

Fill it with passion & emotion

Act Small, Ask Big

5% response

Av Gift: £183.17

ROI 6.21

0"

200"

400"

600"

800"

1,000"

1,200"

1,400"

1,600"

1,800"

0.0%"

0.5%"

1.0%"

1.5%"

2.0%"

2.5%"

3.0%"

3.5%"

Face"to"Face"CS"

Face"to"Face"RG"

Child"Sponsorship"

Non"Face"to"Face"CS"

CS"and"Cash"

Cash"Donors"

Regular"Givers"

Loyal"F2F"Donors"

AcGve"Cash"Donors"

Non"Face"to"Face"RG"

RG"&"Cash"Donors"

Loyal"AcGve"Cash"Donors"

1k+"Donors"

Loyal"Non"F2F"Donors"

Conf"Bequest%" Confirmed"Volume"

69

Australian Benchmarking Data (Pareto Fundraising)

Confirmed bequestors by support type

Know the tricks

Reminder Income: 50%-80% of original mailing

Segment % Response

Survey + Post-it with handwritten message 76%

Survey with handwritten message on letter 48%

Cover letter / No handwritten message 36%

https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-surprising-persuasiveness-of-a-sticky-note

Segment % Response

Survey + Post-it with handwritten message 69%

Survey + Blank Post-it 43%

Cover letter / No handwritten message 34%

https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-surprising-persuasiveness-of-a-sticky-note

A good newsletter should raise at least 50% of an equivalent appeal

Surveys = Money + Data + Legacy Prospects

In 2010, Google Search ran...

8,157 A/B tests

2,800 1% tests

Only test things that

you can use in the future.

Use the knowledge

that’s already out there.

Incentives work.

Address labels work.

Nesting works.

Stamps work.

Long copy works.

Repeated asks work.

Photo cards work.

Gratitude and flattery work.

Demonstrating impact works.

Dog pictures work.

Premiums work.

Banker Premium

Response Rate 1.90% 6.24%

Average Gift €50 €35

ROI 0.54 0.87

CPA €93.33 €40.40

Head-to-head test standard vs premium pack

88

Stories work.

89

THANK YOU!

@damianobroin