The Benefits of Direct Mail for Fundraising

Aug 19, 2020

In our previous blogs, we’ve discussed why direct mail is still alive and well. Reaching demographics that may not be as involved in social media or ones that don’t have an online presence means getting creative with your marketing campaigns. Especially while door-to-door campaigning and fundraising isn’t an option during a pandemic, direct mail campaigns can help deliver your message in a manner that piques a reader’s interest. The story is no different when it comes to direct mail for fundraising and nonprofit organizations.

As is the case with most marketing campaigns, creating a cohesive campaign that aligns digital strategy with a direct mail marketing strategy means capturing donors more consistently across all platforms. Research shows that donors who see a brand presence across social media, other online marketing avenues, and receive pieces of direct mail have a higher rate of multi-platform donations; their lifetime value to a charity or nonprofit organization is 100% higher than single platform donors. When donors interact with charities and nonprofits across multiple platforms, whether it’s through email, direct mail fliers or letters, social media, or even television and radio spots, they develop a deeper, more compassionate relationship with the organization they’re considering donating to.

Nonprofit direct mail marketing can reach a more specifically targeted audience, while helping deliver a personal, more human feel to your organization’s message.

How Direct Mail for Fundraising Boosts Donations

There was a time when direct mail was the top driver of donation response for nonprofits. After all, social media and paid online advertising have only been around for a few decades. MobileCause reports (see infographic below) that donors are 3 times more likely to donate to an organization online after receiving a piece of direct mail associated with your nonprofit. That’s huge! Just like any other type of consumer, it can take multiple touchpoints to finally close a sale, garner a donation, or encourage a constituent to hear your message.

When it comes to direct mail for fundraising, multiple reminders, touchpoints, and avenues to deliver your cause’s message are imperative to getting donations of any size. Unlike brands and businesses that offer services or products, charities are relying on the goodwill and giving nature of people. It’s not uncommon for donors to see your organization and consider donating, but then put it off due to inconvenience or time restraints. Direct mail pieces can assist with providing gentle but persistent reminders that place your organization front of mind to help get those donations.

In this infographic from MobileCause it is reported that 50 percent of donors are more likely to respond to fundraising efforts via direct mail if they’ve seen the message across multiple platforms.

For nonprofits, creating a human connection can be pivotal to growing your organization and creating awareness about your cause. Using direct mail in conjunction with your digital strategies can give your organization the opportunity to tell real stories, and put a physical piece of storytelling in the hands of a donor or potential donor. With that being said, it’s important to link your nonprofit direct mail marketing efforts with your digital campaigns. A few ways you can do this include:

• The use of QR codes and hashtags – You can utilize these methods to link your nonprofit direct mail to your digital presence by encouraging donors to begin their journey with you through your direct mail piece, and push them towards making a donation online. Contests, fun digital experiences, coupon codes, etc, can be a great way to inspire your donors to seek more information and take the next step to getting involved.
• Storytelling – Every charity has its own inspirational story, and, most likely, your organization has personal stories or experiences that represent your cause. You can send direct mail that begins a story, then encourages readers to head to your social media or website to get the whole story. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to further educate them, and you’ve now established more than one touchpoint for engaging your potential donors.
• Using unique PURLs (personalized web addresses) – By utilizing this method of marketing, you can directly track web traffic sent to your organization by your direct mail campaigns. This can give individuals who are interacting with your site a unique, more personalized experience based on your data management demographic targeting and corresponding messaging.

35% of donors state that they prefer to donate online after receiving direct mail, so ensuring that your online presence aligns with your direct mail campaign is key. By targeting specific messages to unique groups within your constituency, you can take advantage of ProList’s data processing and digital print personalization offerings to utilize already acquired donor information and translate it to unique, customized messaging in direct mail that really speaks to your various audiences.

Creating engaging, personalized, high-quality print and mail pieces in a variety of formats to meet specific program and budget requirements can be easy and hassle-free with ProList. For questions, or assistance in kicking off this integral piece of your organization’s marketing strategy, give us a call at 1-888-PROLIST or email sales@prolist.com . We’ll help you with audience targeting, mail piece creation, and quick turnaround for easy execution of every part of your direct mail marketing campaign.