Direct mail fundraising is a method of fundraising in which your organization sends personalized letters to your donors to share updates and request donations. It is an immensely transformative tool which, when implemented correctly, can help support your nonprofit as a whole.
Furthermore, direct mail is also extremely beneficial in a world where much of donor engagement and communication takes place online. Direct mail can be a great way to break through the digital clutter and create a more personal connection with your donors.
As you can see, direct mail appeals provide you a connection with your donor’s like no other channel. And creating a more personal connection with your donors will likely lead to increased traffic and donations overall. Who doesn’t want that?
In order to build a foundation of communication between you and your donors, we suggest sending strategic direct mail appeals. Now, if you’re on the fence about the importance of improving your direct mail strategy, here are three reasons on why you should emphasize this approach. Direct mail appeals can help you:
- Increase donor stewardship levels
- Raise money from a safe, social distance
- Send traffic to your online donation page
Still not convinced you need to improve your direct mail strategy? Let’s dive in!
1. Increase donor stewardship levels
The first reason why you should improve your direct mail appeals is because of the power it has to increase your donor stewardship levels. You know you want your donor stewardship levels high, because that means you have a strong network of supporters who are willing to help fund a number of campaigns and are increasingly invested in your mission.
Furthermore, you want to make sure that you keep your organization at the top of your donors’ minds. The easiest way to keep your organization at top-of-mind is not by continually trying to sell your organization’s purpose to new and prospective supporters. Instead, you should try to engage with the donors who already care about your organization and want to support your mission. Luckily, you can do this in a number of ways—including with strategically crafted direct mail appeals.
While direct mail fundraising does happen to be one of the pricier options—because of necessities like paper, ink, stamps, envelopes, etc.—it doesn’t mean it should be neglected as a fundraising strategy! After all, other engagement strategies (such as digital, specifically) might be cheaper—but they also have significantly lower results in terms of revenue collected.
In fact, direct mail has one of the highest ROIs of any fundraising channel, making it a fantastic choice to bring in multiple fundraising dollars for every investment dollar spent. And the best way to maximize that investment? Executing the request for donations perfectly by implementing a CRM alongside your campaign!
2. Raise money from a safe, social distance
In the wake of the coronavirus, finding creative ways to fundraise can be difficult. Luckily, direct mail can be the solution you need. Direct mail not only gets delivered right to your donor’s doorsteps, but it also allows your organization to garner support while adhering to social distancing guidelines.
Furthermore, while many people are at home more often than not, it may be difficult to create a personal connection between donors and your organization—unless you utilize direct mail. With customizable direct mail appeals, you have the opportunity to make a personal connection with your donor from afar, making them feel welcome into your organization as a key player.
Fundraising during a pandemic isn’t easy, but direct mail and virtual solutions can be beneficial for your organization when trying to raise money and stay connected with your donors. One example of this could be to use direct mail to advertise an upcoming virtual event which your organization is holding. Then, by including links to your website or virtual event, you have the opportunity to connect with donors through numerous channels.
In doing this, not only are you adhering to social distancing guidelines, but you can connect with your donors on multiple levels to keep your organization at top-of mind for longer.
3. Send traffic to your online donation page
A big part of sending out direct mail appeals is making the donation process as quick and easy as possible. One way to do this is to include a prepaid, pre-addressed return envelope with which donors can send in their contributions. However, there are actually a number of other ways in which you can improve your conversion rate and streamline the overall giving process.
For example, you might incorporate a URL or QR code in your direct mail appeal to drive traffic to your website or online donation page. The only caveat is that if you are going to do this, you have to make sure that your website is user-friendly and 100% functional. Remember, any hindrances or difficulties from making the donation (like a bad website) will likely lead to an incomplete donation and a loss of that potential donor.
So, how can you avoid this? Here are a few guaranteed steps to take which can improve your nonprofit’s website and your digital campaigns:.
- Create high-quality and engaging content: Not only must you direct users to your website in the first place, you should fill it with the right content that will grab their attention and drive them further down the conversion funnel once they’re there.
- Leverage data: Leverage your collected data about your audience to make your website specifically appeal to those users. For example, if you see that the majority of your users explore your website from a mobile device, it’s critical that you design your site with the experience of mobile users in mind.
- Track and test metrics: Use web analytics (such as bounce rate, conversion rate, or average time on a page/site) to capture and track data about users’ responses to the website. Then, you can use these insights to improve your site and create a better user experience.
After completing these tips for your website design, you should be able to start sending more traffic to your sight and watching the conversions come in. Engaging with your donors through multiple channels is always beneficial—especially when partnered with direct mail.
All in all, direct mail is a useful tool to implement within your marketing strategy that can increase donor stewardship, follow social distancing guidelines, and send traffic to your website.
When you utilize this powerful channel as the backbone of communication between you and your donors, along with the tips and tricks mentioned in this article, you get to see the benefits such as increased donations, greater engagement overall, and increased donor retention. Best of luck!
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