direct marketing damian o broin

66 ways to improve your direct marketing

Damian O’Broin – Ask Direct

Over 100!

Morewww.askdirect.ie

www.slideshare.net/damianob

damian@askdirect.ie

1Say ‘Thank You’ personally & promptly.

What happens when you make a donation...

•Only 83% sent an email thank you

•Only 72% posted a thank you

*mystery shopping August 2008

Speed of thank you % of charities

< 2 working days 28%

2-5 working days 22%

6-10 working days 17%

> 10 working days 5%

No written thank you 28%

2Tell stories. Real, vivid, memorable ones.

Mark’s mum doesn’t know he’s sleeping rough, and that’s not the worst of it...

Please Support Our

Emergency Appeal Today

“...For Mark it all started when he went into care aged just 11. Of course there have been plenty of struggles along the way, and frankly, he doesn’t blame anyone but himself. He’s in his thirties now, and only became homeless three years ago after returning to Ireland from the UK, reluctantly leaving his two children and broken marriage behind him...”

“...As if things weren’t bad enough, Mark’s life took an even worse turn shortly afterwards. He was knocked down by a vehicle that mounted the pavement and came to rest on his leg, badly injuring his ankle. While in hospital having his injuries treated, Mark’s leg wound became infected with the MRSA virus...”

3Write a longer letter.And long doesn’t mean 2 pages.

“All my experience says that for a great many products, long copy sells more than short. ... I could give you countless ... examples of long copy which has made the cash register ring, notably for Mercedes cars. Not only in the United States, but all over the world.

I believe, without any research to support me, that advertisements with long copy convey the impression that you have something important to say, whether people read the copy or not.

Direct response advertisers know that short copy doesn’t sell. In split run tests, long copy invariably outsells short copy.”

David Ogilvy

“Only amateurs use short copy”

4Personalise. And, <firstname>, not just by using my name here & there.

4 things to personalise

‣ Ask amount

‣ Theme or topic

‣ Giving history

‣ Survey data

5How much to ask for? The right amount.

6Don’t be scared.Ask for more money.

Ask for more!

Ask Amount % Response Average Gift

Last gift -50% 5.5% €72

Last gift +20% 8.4% €83

7Ask more often.

8In fact, make sure you do actually ask for money.

9Don’t ask for money.Sometimes.

10Make it different. Please.

11Envelopes have two sides.

Irish Heart Foundation reply envelope

Cork Simon outer envelope

Women’s Aid outer envelope

12Always have a PS.

90% of recipients read the PS first.The PS is the lead.

13Use a serif typeface for body copy. Not a sans serif.

Sans vs Serif

from Colin Wheildon, Type & Layout

Comprehension levels: Good Fair Poor

Serif type 67% 19% 14%

Sans serif type 12% 23% 65%

14Make the type bigger. We don’t all have perfect eyesight.

15And while you’re at it, make the forms bigger.

16... And the boxes. Don’t forget the boxes.

Typography Checklist‣ Serif face for body copy

‣ Avoid quirky faces and large amounts of italics

‣ 12pt type with at least 2pts of leading

‣ Lines between paragraphs

‣ Indent paragraphs

‣ Big tick boxes & plenty of room on forms

17–25Read these books.

‣ Why I Write - George Orwell

‣ Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - Robert B. Cialdini

‣ Made to Stick - Chip & Dan Heath

‣ The Elements of Style - Strunk & White

‣ The IDM Marketing Guide

Read these books

‣ The Political Brain - Drew Westen

‣ Good to Great and the Social Sectors - Jim Collins

‣ Type & Layout - Jim Wheildon

‣ Who will run the frog hospital? - Lorrie Moore

Read these books

26And read this one too...(*recommended by Conor Byrne)

Read this book too

‣ Common Sense Direct Marketing - Drayton Bird

27It’s not about you. It’s about the donor.

28Invite your donors over for a nice cup of tea.

29Don’t forget your lapsed donors.

Lapsed vs ColdAverage Cold Lapsed

Campaign (A) 0.30% 0.67%

Campaign (B) 0.80% 2.17%

Campaign (C) 2.66% 6.95%

30Call and say hi.

31Don’t personalise. In fact, drop the address completely.

32Be smart about your door drops.

33Add an envelope.

Enveloped door drops will double response. At least.

34Use a celebrity. Just make sure it’s the right one.

35Use an involvement device.

36If you’ve got the photos,flaunt ‘em.

37Ask your donors to recommend you.

38Ask your donors to ask their friends.

39Watch Mad Men.(BBC 4, Tuesday, 10pm).

40Say ‘thank you’ again.And again.

41–45Subscribe to these blogs

‣ The Agitator www.theagitator.net

‣ Fundraising Recession Watch recessionwatch.blogspot.com

‣ Conor Byrne conorbyrne.wordpress.com

‣ Donor Power www.donorpowerblog.com

‣ Sean Triner seantriner.blogspot.com

Blogs

46Email your donors.

47Use personalised landing pages.

48Pay for search.(Yes, people do click on the ads).

Recruiting with Adwords

‣ Cost per click: < €0.50

‣ 7% of click-throughs signed-up (entered email address)

‣ Cost per new email address of €6.70

Campaign example 2008

49Make the most of video.

50Optimise your SEO.(Can I find you online?)

Google Ireland only search: “third world charities”

51Use Twitter to engage your donors. (*hat tip to Howard Lake).

“Try out the newer channels like Twitter. Some of your supporters will already be using it, so will love the opportunity to engage with you in this way. Twitter is a good way of building up an opt-in list, but don't use it for plain fundraising asks. It's more of a conversation - use it to listen and learn from your supporters" – Howard Lake, fundraising.co.uk

52Audience comes first.

53Use subscription & mail order lists before demographic ones.

54Apply as many relevant selectors to cold mailing lists as you can.

55–64Our top 10 copywriting tips.

Copywriting Top 10

‣ Use ‘I’ and ‘You’. Especially ‘You’

‣ Use simple English.

‣ Use short sentences and vary the lengths.

‣ Use short paragraphs and vary the lengths.

‣ Avoid jargon.

Copywriting Top 10‣ Use active rather than passive language.

‣ Make sure it sounds like someone talking.

‣ Ask for money, not support.

‣ Make it urgent.

‣ Be concise and to the point. But make it as long as it needs to be to convince the reader.

65Designate funds. Donors don’t want to pay for the paperclips.

66Test stuff.In fact, test lots of stuff.

Things to test‣ Ask amounts

‣ Additions - leaflet, car sticker, postcard...

‣ Stamp vs Ceadúnas

‣ Cash vs direct debit

‣ New pack vs control

‣ Plain envelope vs photo or teaser

67Get set up for direct debit. Now.(And apply for DD Plus tomorrow).

68Offer your monthly givers a holiday.

69We’re in a recession.So SPEND MORE MONEY!

‣ Prioritise donor care & retention.‣ Don’t forget about recruitment.‣ Be realistic. Plan for lower returns.‣ Invest in the areas that give you the best return.

All our data over the last six months suggests direct marketing is holding it’s own or increasing.

70Really get to know your data.

71Segment by recency, frequency& value.

< 12 months

12-24 months

24-36 months

36-48 months

> 4 years

1 gift

2+ gifts

€1000+

€250-€999

€100-€249

€50-99

< €50

Recency Value

Frequency

72Spend the most time and money on your best donors.

Pareto Principle

80% of your income will come from 20% of your donors.

73–8210 more tips.(*suggested by George in TW CAT)

George’s tips ‣ Authenticity.

‣ Ask volunteers for a donation.

‣ Hand-sign high value donors.

‣ Hide the matching codes.

‣ Variable tax copy - how much the extra will achieve.

‣ Stamp on outer envelope.

‣ Ask your trustees for their address books.

‣ Tell your donors what their donations have achieved.

‣ Use some thank you letters to recruit direct debits.

‣ Use reminder mailings to boost income.

83Forget ROI. It’s net income that matters.

Which would you prefer?(and which would your donors prefer?)

Cost Income ROI Net Income

Campaign (A) €25,000 €100,000 4:1 €75,000

Campaign (B) €50,000 €150,000 3:1 €100,000

84–89Use the six levers of influence.

The psychology of persuasion

‣ Reciprocation ...do your donors a favour.

‣ Commitment & consistency ...encourage donors to make a public commitment & remind them why they supported you in the first place.

‣ Social proof ...if everyone else is doing it then why aren’t we?

The psychology of persuasion

‣ Liking ...is your organisation likable?

‣ Authority ...look and sound like you know what you’re talking about.

‣ Scarcity ...what’s limited is valuable

90Add stuff.But only if it makes sense.

91Visit SOFII regularly.(www.sofii.org)

92You don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.

93Donate to loads of charities.Especially your own.

94Include an ask in your newsletter.(Or even just an reply envelope).

95Don’t forget to make the most of tax-efficient giving.

96-101George Orwell’s six commands for better writing.

Orwell’s Rules‣ Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech

which you are used to seeing in print.

‣ Never use a long word when a short one will do.

‣ If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

‣ Never use the passive where you can use the active.

‣ Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

‣ Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Thank Youwww.askdirect.ie

www.slideshare.net/damianob

damian@askdirect.ie