Not too long ago, my attention was brought to this great study about direct mail and its impact on on-line giving. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately as I sit with clients to map out their 2011 fundraising plans and I encourage you to think about it, too.
The study from Dunham + Company finds that “direct mail is a more important driver to on-line giving than on-line communications.” In other words, when donors were asked what prompted them to give on-line, 14% said it was a direct mail piece that inspired them. Only 6% said that it was some other on-line communication, like an e-appeal.
Even more, 1 in 3 donors (37%) who give on-line say that when they receive a direct mail appeal from a charity they use the charity’s website to give their donation rather than an enclosed envelope or other reply device.
What does this mean for us? First, be sure your channels are working together. Your on-line and off-line appeals and communications have to be aligned. What if a donor receives an appeal in the mail about a great new initiative, goes on-line to give, and sees nothing about that initiative? Will she complete that donation?
Second, it means that we can’t analyze the effectiveness of channels in isolation. While it used to be so straight-forward to analyze direct mail, we now have another avenue to consider. Are your on-line donations increasing while your direct mail results decreasing? How tempting it is to question the need for more expensive direct mail. But, don’t be too quick to judge! Look at the numbers first.
And third, look carefully at how a donor would make a gift on your website. Is the path easy and gratifying? Are there systems in place to thank someone right away? With donors using the website more and more to fulfill both on-line and off-line giving, it’s crucial that you invest time, attention, and resources into your on-line giving systems.
A couple of other findings in the study:
- The younger the donor, the more likely they are to use a charity’s website to respond to a direct mail appeal. One in two (50%) of generation X or Y donors say they give on-line in response to a direct mail appeal with 1 in 4 (26%) of boomers turning to on-line giving when they want to give as a result of receiving a direct mail appeal. Only 14% of those over 65 will do the same, as 3 out of 4 of this demographic prefer to give by mail.
- In addition, the study found that the higher the household income, the more likely the direct mail recipient was to donate on-line. Nearly half (46%) of households making $75k+ said they would donate on-line compared to 37% of households making $25k-$74k and about one-third (32%) of households which make less than $25k.
How does this play out for your donor database? For most of us, it’s a major impact. Boomers – particularly wealthier boomers – are our core supporters. And 25% of them get a mail piece and then get on-line to give? Wow. Think about that in your 2011 planning!
