Tips & Tricks for Successful Direct Mail Campaign

Fiona McPheePareto Fundraising

Successful Direct Mail

• Best kept secrets?• Tried and tested approaches• New developments

Main Message

Put your donors, not your organisation, at the centre of your direct mail program

Main Message

Put your donors, not your organisation, at the centre of your direct mail program

The DONOR FIRST philosophy. Treat

your donors as well as you do your beneficiaries.

What are we actually talking about?

Direct mail delivers

between 60% & 80% of income

Email driving between 5% & 15% of income

What are we actually talking about?

• Your direct mail program• Which possibly includes other channels

• Appeals• Solicitations to individuals – current or prospective donors• With an ask to take an action – make a cash gift, convert to

regular giving, fill in a survey, consider a bequest

The absolute basicsA personally presented offer / ask• Need, Solution, Call to Action• A single minded proposition

An emotional reason to justify immediate response• An emotionally driven story• Heart before head

A response device• Simple, easy to use (and to send back)

Be Single Minded

Improve Targeting

Tell a Story Make a Personal Ask

Most effort on top donors

Personalise

Make responding easy

Send a Reminder

Integrate Channels

Be Single Minded

Everything you do or need money for can be broken down or

grouped. Presenting everything you do makes it hard

for your donor to focus.

Be Single Minded

• Clarity– Clear about the need

Be Single Minded

• Clarity– Clear about the need– Clear about the impact

Be Single Minded• Clarity

– Clear about the need– Clear about the impact– Clear about what you need the donor/prospect to

do (call to action)

All Kris needs for Christmas is a Seeing Eye Dog.All I need is your gift of $50 before 15 December to give him one.

Be Single Minded

• Clarity– Clear about the need– Clear about the impact– Clear about what you need the donor/prospect to

do (call to action)– Create sense of urgency

Be Single Minded

• Clarity– Clear about the need– Clear about the impact– Clear about what you need the donor/prospect to

do (call to action)– Create sense of urgency– Clear about how to respond and by when

If our letters have crossed paths, I cannot thank you enough for your donation. But, if not please click here now to make a secure online contribution of whatever you can manage.

Many lives are being lost needlessly to heart attacks every day. We are losing our loved ones at an appalling rate, and all be because they are still waiting too long to call Triple Zero (000).

The only way to tackle this tragic problem is to reach out to families across Australia and to make sure everyone knows the warning signs off by heart.

This means grabbing people’s attention with powerful radio and television ads and directing as many people as possible to our website, something we cannot do without your financial help.

Which is why I must ask you once again to please make a secure online donation of whatever seems appropriate to you right now.

Email Follow Up

Be Single Minded

• Its got to be real1. The specific need you are addressing with this

ask2. In what way/s this need is being addressed3. Why your organisation is best positioned to

achieve this goal4. Why the work needs to happen now

Improve Targeting• Not everyone on your database• The most likely to give are those who have just

given – resting is wrong• Segment

– Basic RFV to get going– Contacting everyone is almost ALWAYS the wrong

thing to do – Process for consistency

Improve TargetingRecency Frequency Value0-12 months >1 a$1000+

13-24 1 b$500-$999.99

25-36 c$250-$499.99

37-48 d$100-$249.99

49-60 e$50-$99.99

61-72 f$25-$49.99

73-84 g$10-$24.99

85+ h$0.01-$9.99

Most Effort On Top DonorsPACK CONTENTS Top Donors

Additional A5 letter (English on one side, Chinese on the other) 4 page main letter ( x1 version English, x1 version Chinese) 1 page response form (English on one side, Chinese on the other) Reply Paid Envelope Lift Letter – Amy (English on one side, Chinese on the other) Photo (English and Chinese caption on back) Funding Proposal ( x1 version English, x1 version Chinese) C5 Plain Faced Outer (hand addressed & stamped)

High Value

Additional A5 letter (English on one side, Chinese on the other) 4 page main letter ( x1 version English, x1 version Chinese) 1 page response form (English on one side, Chinese on the other) Reply Paid Envelope Lift Letter – Amy (English on one side, Chinese on the other) Photo (English and Chinese caption on back) Funding Proposal ( x1 version English, x1 version Chinese) C5 Plain Faced Outer (inkjetted address & stamped)

Standard

4 page main letter ( x1 version English, x1 version Chinese) 1 page response form (English on one side, Chinese on the other) Reply Paid Envelope Lift Letter – Amy (English on one side, Chinese on the other) Photo (English and Chinese caption on back) DLX Window Faced Outer

Tell A Story

What works best?• Human stories• Interviewing• Emotion • Blameless beneficiaries

Tell A Story

Not WHAT you do

but WHY you do it

make it personal, outcome focused

Told in the first

person

Real people, real characters

Have an opinion,

share feelings

Use quotes –

real voices

Make a Personal Ask

Make a Personal AskR F V Ask 1 Ask 2 Ask 3

0-12 >1 $500+ *1.5 *2.5 *4

0-12 >1 $100-$249.99 *1.5 *2.5 *4

0-12 >1 $50-$99.99 *1.5 *2.5 *4

0-12 1 $100-$249.99 *1.5 *2.5 *4

0-12 1 $50-$99.99 *1.5 *2.5 *4

13-24 >1 $100-$249.99 *1.25 *2 *3

If my last gift was $50: I would get asked for $75,

$125, $200

Make a Personal AskR F V Ask 1 Ask 2 Ask 3

0-12 >1 $500+ *1.5 *2.5 *4

0-12 >1 $100-$249.99 *1.5 *2.5 *4

0-12 >1 $50-$99.99 *1.5 *2.5 *4

0-12 1 $100-$249.99 *1.5 *2.5 *4

0-12 1 $50-$99.99 *1.5 *2.5 *4

13-24 >1 $100-$249.99 *1.25 *2 *3

•Focus on Ask 1•Repeat through out and on response devices•Use multipliers to create upgrade asks•Consider an extraordinary Ask 4•Always provide a my choice/ surprise me

Personalise• Personal: gender, age, area where they live• Behaviour: survey data, previous appeals• Type of support: regular giver, brand new donor, volunteer• Length of support• Emotional connection: name of sponsored child, name of

pet, name of a loved one lost, why someone first donated, country / area of interest, something supported in the past

Personalise

PersonaliseHeart Foundation Xmas Appeal

[VARIABLE PARAGRAPHS]

[REGULAR GIVERS]You are a fantastic supporter<, Personalised>, and I am deeply grateful for your monthly gifts of $<Amount>< since Date First Gift>. With your long-term support for our research program you have already helped save many lives. Now, by giving an additional gift today, you will help save many more.

[NEW DONORS]I know you are already aware of the importance of our work, and that you share our determination to protect families from tragedies like Sean’s death. The kind gift of $<Amount> you sent in <Date Last Gift> tells me that. So it is with great hope that I ask for your help again today.

[LAPSED]I know you are already aware of the importance of our work, and that you share our determination to protect families from tragedies like Sean’s death. The kindness of your past support leaves me in no doubt about that. So it is with great hope that I ask for your help again today.

[CASH]Your gifts <since Date First Gift>, and your most recent contribution in <Month>, have already helped to save many lives<, Personalised>. Now, by giving an additional gift today, you will help save many more.

Personalisation

Repetition of ask increases responsePersonal (and increased) ask amount increases average gift

The less thinking the donors needs to do,

the easier it is to respond

Relevance to each donor puts the ask in

the realm of possibility

Make Responding EasyRESPONSE DEVICES• Make it easy for the donor to respond• Test response channels (don’t distract)• Make sure the reply mechanism integrates with the

letter / ask delivery• Include an involvement device where possible and

there is a real opportunity• Get someone else to try and respond- was it easy?

Make Responding Easy

Make Responding Easy

Send a ReminderI am still $265,436 short of our $343,000 target which must be raised by 30 June. Please help us rewrite the future for children whose lives have been shattered by conflict and war, with a gift of $100 today.

Dear Fiona,

I wrote to you recently to ask for your assistance as a Save the Children Children’s Champion

to help us get 3 million children affected by war out of danger and into education before 2010.

I still need to raise $265,436 by 30 June, which is why I am writing again to ask you to please send your gift of $100 as a matter of urgency.

If you have already sent your gift, then I thank you most sincerely for your support – it must be

that our letters have crossed in the post. If you have not yet had a chance to send your donation, then I ask you to please do so before 30 June, if at all possible.

In my previous letter I outlined the shocking situation for some 72 million children worldwide

who are growing up with no access to education. Around 37 million of these children are living in regions scarred by war and conflict.

Education saves children’s lives, which is why we launched our Rewrite the Future campaign

in 2006. Rewrite the Future is a hugely important project dedicated to securing an education for every boy and girl who has been denied one because they live in parts of the world devastated by conflict and war.

Today, I am asking you to please help us take the next important step forward by securing

safety and an education for a further 3 million children by 2010, including children like Henang. Henang, who you may remember from my letter, grew up in a society torn apart by years of

violent civil war in Nepal. One day, when he was just 13, Maoist guerrillas stormed into his classroom and kidnapped him. He was marched off at gunpoint to an uncertain fate far from his home:

“It was purely chance that it was me. When the Maoists came to our school and asked the way to the nearest village, terrified pupils ran in all directions. A guerrilla soldier pointed his pistol at me and threatened to kill me if I didn’t go with them.”

The next few months of Henang’s life were a living nightmare. Although he was just a young

boy, Henang was forced to take up arms with his captors. He suffered horrific violence at the hands of his commander and, unsurprisingly, made several desperate attempts to run away:

“Every time, I was caught and beaten by the commander. He always watched me, threatened me and hit me. I hated him.”

I am still $265,436 short of our $343,000 target which must be raised by 30 June.

Please help us rewrite the future for children whose lives have been shattered by conflict and war, with a gift of $100 today.

Dear Fiona,

I wrote to you recently to ask for your assistance as a Save the Children Children’s Champion to help us get 3 million children affected by war out of danger and into education before 2010.

I still need to raise $265,436 by 30 June, which is why I am writing again to ask you to please send your gift of $100 as a matter of urgency.

If you have already sent your gift, then I thank you most sincerely for your support – it must be that our letters have crossed in the post. If you have not yet had a chance to send your donation, then I ask you

to please do so before 30 June, if at all possible.

Integrate Channels

Pre and Post Emails

Appeal front and centre on the home page

Engaging landing page linking to donation page

Integrate Channels

Paid media banners

Facebook comms strategy with staggered information release and updates. Linking to the video.

Integrate Channels

Integrate Channels

Home Page take over Engaging landing & donation page

Bring It Together

Communication is in the first

person

Long enough, appropriate for

the channelRepeated asks

Deadline & target Story first, support second

Consistent messaging & asks across channels

Bring It TogetherFocus works best• Present:

– what the single most important thing is that you want them to do– why they should give you money– by when – how– All of this in the:

• first 3 paragraphs and the P.S. of your letters,• above the fold of your emails, • front and centre on your website, • above the fold on your web landing page,• via your social networks

Bringing It Together• Real works best

– If it already exists reproduce it– Letters, emails, drawings, pictures, quotes

from beneficiaries, donors and project workers

Bringing It Together• Spending more DOES make more when targeted

correctly• More pieces in a DM pack still generate higher

response

The absolute basicsA personally presented offer / ask• Need, Solution, Call to Action• A single minded proposition

An emotional reason to justify immediate response• An emotionally driven story

A response device• Simple, easy to use (and to send back)

GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS

Making more by being consistent

The Follow Up

Thank

Measure

Feedback

Review

Thanking• Develop an acknowledgment strategy

– who gets extra special treatment?• Thank promptly – with in 72 hours• Use the words ‘thank you’• Personalise the response & make it

specific to the ask – no more generic, 1 paragraph thank you letters

Dear Fiona One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Proverbs 11:24-25 I write with grateful thanks for your gift of $100, a very kind response to my recent letter. This will help us greatly in our effort to purchase long life mosquito nets and other help for children whose lives are under threat. Truly, as Proverbs 11:24-25 states you have given freely and will be refreshed. Again and again I hear from the beneficiaries of the practical benefits of such generosity, like we did here from Oliva Mukole who has just given birth to her first baby. “Our usual illness has been malaria. But since September, I have had no malaria fever because we sleep under the net. I am grateful to the staff at the project for giving us these nets and for teaching us the importance of clearing bushes around our houses which were breeding places for the mosquitoes that give us malaria.” Through your help we are on the way to protecting the 12,149 children and their families, who we have identified as being in need of long life mosquito nets in Uganda. There is much other help we are also able to provide, thanks to your support – like treatment for polio, which has recently reappeared in Uganda. Surely, in the 21st century no child should be dying of polio or malaria or diarrhea or measles or a host of other easily curable conditions? Your gift is helping to fund our drive in the world’s poorest countries to stop children dying of these preventable conditions, not just in Uganda but wherever the need is pressing, like in Kenya where you sponsor Esther. You can be assured that Compassion, working with our Lord, will not rest until our mission is complete. With grateful thanks. Yours sincerely Paul O’Rourke CEO, Compassion

Again and again I hear from the beneficiaries of the practical benefits of such generosity, like we did here from Oliva Mukole who has just given birth to her first baby. “Our usual illness has been malaria. But since September, I have had no malaria fever because we sleep under the net. I am grateful to the staff at the project for giving us these nets and for teaching us the importance of clearing bushes around our houses which were breeding places for the mosquitoes that give us malaria.”

There is much other help we are also able to provide, thanks to your support – like treatment for polio, which has recently reappeared in Uganda. Surely, in the 21st century no child should be dying of polio or malaria or diarrhea or measles or a host of other easily curable conditions? Your gift is helping to fund our drive in the world’s poorest countries to stop children dying of these preventable conditions, not just in Uganda but wherever the need is pressing, like in Kenya where you sponsor Esther.

Acknowledgement StrategySegment Approach

Confirmed Bequestors

Major Donors Thank you phone call within 48 hoursHandwritten note on thank you letter

High Value Donors

RG & Cash Donors

All Others

OngoingThank (emotional

return on their investment)

Feedback (emotional return

on their investment)Ask

Increases giving &

increases frequency of

giving

The more times you ask the more gifts you will get (ask at least six times per year)

Dear Fiona,

I can’t get the image out of my mind. It was 2007 and I was walking into the children’s oncology ward at Sydney Children’s Hospital to farewell a little friend of mine, Ashleigh. It was her last day of treatment for rhabdomyosarcoma, a tumour in the base of her neck, and she was preparing to leave the hospital for home. She ran the full length of the hall and plunged herself into my arms, smiling and laughing.

 I was so overwhelmed with happiness for Ashleigh, her mum Linda and dad Wayne, as it was

the end of a two year journey of treatment to rid her of her cancer. Ashleigh and I had forged a bond that will stay with me forever. You see, it’s her face I see everyday when I come to work, it’s her face that inspires me to do as much as I can to raise as much money as I can to support the medical research work of Children’s Cancer Institute Australia and it’s her face that makes me feel privileged every day for the life I lead.

 You probably have read about Ashleigh in some of the communications I have sent you this

year but I wish you were with me that day and had the opportunity to meet Ashleigh. I am sure you would be as enchanted by her as I am. She is now nine years old and enjoying a happy and healthy life. She visits my office every few months, along with her little sister, Amber, who is very mischievous and adoring of her older sister.

 Like many children today, Ashleigh is with us because of the many advances made in

childhood cancer research over the last 30 years. These advances have not just been made possible because of the hard work and commitment of scientists but because of the wonderful support of people like you who see the value in investing in medical research. Fiona, thank you for your generous support over the past six months.

 We’ve told you a lot about the progress of our research work this year - and we have made

some great steps towards understanding and treating childhood cancer better. I hope our communications have kept you well informed about where your support has been most valued and how it continuously helps us in advancing our research goals of finding a cure for cancer and helping children like Ashleigh.

 The work being conducted by Professor Phil Hogg in the new ACRF Drug Discovery

Program has had a great start at the Institute. There has been increasing interest in the development of the anti-angiogenic drugs that we’ve talked so much to you about.

 These drugs target a tumour’s blood supply by interrupting the process of new blood vessel

formation known as angiogenesis.

Thank You

Fiona McPheefiona.mcphee@paretofundraising.com

Twitter: fimcpheePhone: +6421 336 905

Web: www.paretofundraising.com